Travel insurance for a trip to Asia
 

Hi folks,

I'd appreciate the advice of the American's on the board please, specifically on travel insurance for trips to SEA. We used to use a UK-based company called insureandgo.com but now that we are living in the good old US, I'm not sure which company to use. Travel insurance in the UK is quite different to the US. For a start, the basic options were for whether you needed a single trip policy or an annual trip policy (for as many trips as you like in a year, each trip not to exceed 30 days) and whether you needed coverage for Europe, worldwide or worldwide inc. USA and Canada. Provided the adults covered were under age 60 or 65 and had no pre-existing health conditions this was a relatively straightforward and painless process. Typically it would cost my partner and I around 85 pounds for a year to cover us both. But now that we live in the US, I can't figure out the best option. The other night I spent about 3 hours online and ended up getting back some crazy quotes (or I thought they were crazy) for $350+ and am still stumped. Does your regular health insurance cover you abroad? Should I just stick to travel insurance to cover baggage/delays?

Any help/advice would be much appreciated!

A highly recommended one is insuremytrip.com which allows you to look at many policies from many companies at once and choose which is right for you. Havne't used it myself, but I understand that it's the go-to source.

Hope that helps.

It really depends what you want to cover.

If you just want health insurance in case you get sick or hurt on a trip and need a doctor or hospital, your existing insurance in the US may or may not cover you. You would have to ask your existing insurance company. In the US many health insurance policies like you get at work cover you wherever you are. But even if it covers the medical expenses it would not cover not the cancellation or delay costs of your trip.

If you want other kinds of travel coverage like for the case where you get sick or a relative dies before your trip and you have to cancel the trip and want the travel costs covered that's different. Those kinds of package plans often include medical insurance coverage as a feature. (That package plan is probably what you were getting a quote for if you got something like $350 as it typically runs about 1% of the cost of your trip.)

A good website that explains the various choices is

http://www.insuremytrip.com/plans/index.html

You will see package plans, medical plans, evacuation plans, etc. in various tabs with explanations.

If you are a UK or other EU citizen, I would go back to your UK insurer and check to see whether they will provide coverage to you. Their coverage may be based on citizenship and not just residency. You may find other European carriers that will also offer you coverage. It is cheaper plus you already understand the coverage. I live in Hong Kong and find travel insurance very cheap, just as you did in the UK, and am always amazed at the premiums charged for it in the US.

Cicerone's idea to check with your old insurer is a good one. Unfortunately, there are no annual travel insurance policies. There are annual medical evacuation policies. My own (US) medical insurance policy covers me world-wide. I do have to pay the provider myself, but it gets refunded to me quickly once I return home and file a claim. The only travel insurance i carry is the med evac insurance. If you need to be medically evacuated, it is very expensive, so it feels wise to be to carry it.

As you've noticed, in the US, insurers usually bundle together policies that include all sorts of things you may not be interested in - baggage insurance, for instance. The more things they bundle together, the more they can charge you. So carefully consider what kinds of insurance you need. Buying only what you need will save you money.

Many of us self-insure. If your hotels are not pre-paid and it would only be a change fee for your airline tickets, it probably doesn't pay to buy trip insurance.

TravelGuard and Seven Corners both offer annual plans for travel medical and evacuation for US residents. There may be more companies as well, those are just the two I know of.

Like Kathie, my US medical insurance covers me abroad - but ONLY for emergencies, and ONLY if I start by visiting an emergency room. I carry medical evacuation insurance - used to be from tenweb.com (administered by Seven Corners) but they won't insure a trip longer than 90 days. I now have Travelers Liaison, also from Seven Corners, which will cover 6 or 12 month trips. They are much more reasonable than some outfits I've checked. I self-insure the rest - and I think my homeowners covers theft anywhere. (My current problem is that my flood insurance premium just tripled!!!)

Hi folks,

Thanks for all the advice. We decided not to rely on our health insurance and get a proper policy. I used the suggested website 'insuremytrip' (thanks laurie and molly) and got the TruTravel First Class policy for $288.

Cicerone- you're right, after paying such low premiums for a whole year worth of travel it sucks to pay more for only 1 trip but such is life, at least we'll have peace of mind.

Now to start planning the fun stuff, like where to eat, what to see and where to get a massage! :-)

Thanks again. As ever fodorites come to the rescue. :-)

GLP xx