StephenG

What experience and which companies for your travel insurance. Especially with illness in Europe and using the travel health insurance you purchased. Coverages seem to be cheaper than coverage here at home for someone 55 years old. Semi-retirement is tough just because of healthcare costs. 3 monthes in europe policy is way less than cobra or others here in socal.

Underhill

I had TravelGuard insurance about a year ago, and after I broke my shoulder and couldn't travel after all the company paid up fairly quickly.

alanRow

<< Coverages seem to be cheaper than coverage here at home for someone 55 years old >>

It's a different type of coverage - it's more a "pay your immediate bills & get you home" coverage, so health tourism is out.

Christina

It is usually that you pay the bills and get reimbursed later, but it's also an entirely different risk category and beneficiary population. Also, the benefits are very limited, and are for emergency care. I work in health insurance and with actuaries, and the insurance costs for travelers on vacations is just not likely to be as high as people who are permanent longterm residents of a place. The premiums on travelers' policies probably give the companies more profit than regular insurance, actually.

For example, if you are on vacation, you are not going to set up regular appointments and get allergy treatments over a year, as standard benes will. You are also not going to get hip or knee replacements (if you do, they aren't going to pay for it). YOu are not going to go for regular checkups or get regular visits for chronic diseases, nor are you going to be in the hospital long in most cases, if you as a traveler sprain your ankle or something.

YOu probably know, but Cobra isn't a particular type of insurance or a policy, it's just a law that allows you to buy into a former employers' pool and get that group premium (with a couple percent addon for administrative pay). For someone your age, it is usually the cheapest as they have group premiums, unless you worked for a pretty small company that had some real unusual expenses. Cobra can be more expensive for very young and healthy people who can get insurance on their own real cheap. Anyway, you can't use Cobra that long after leaving a job (18 months), so it's not a longterm solution.

Don't think you can use a travel policy just to move to Europe and get routine medical care, because they only cover emergency care usually. Then you can get into big trouble back home if you cancel your home health insurance, as you can lose your Cobra entitlement and insurers can than charge you different rates for pre-existing conditions if you are not covered for some time period.

USNR

On a trip to South America, my wife fell and fractured her wrist. Our travel health insurance paid for her full treatment, including her physical therapy. Mutual of Omaha paid promptly and completely.

Underhill

Travel health insurance is especially important for anyone with Medicare, as that does not cover you outside the U.S.

nessundorma

I've gotten sick twice abroad, badly enough to be hospitalized for several weeks. TraveEx insurance paid every single cost involved in my treatment abroad, as well as paying for extra nights' stays in hotel rooms and taking air flights when I was unable to take trains.

It is absolutely worth the money no matter what age you are.

linawood

I injured my knee last fall and we had to cut our trip short, and TravelGuard was such a huge help in organizing all our travel home (from the Gargano Peninsula through Milan to Seattle) and they paid or reimbursed us for all additional expenses without a problem. I was most grateful for the positive supportive help on the other end of the phone when I felt very vulnerable and hardly able to walk a step.

annw

I got acutely but briefly ill in Rome last year but the Italians took good care of me and not one cent charged to me.