suetibu

Hi! I am planning a trip to Italy for 6 persons. I was wondering if I should take out travel insurance to cover our airfare, apartment rental and medical needs...

In your experiences has this been useful?

Thanks,
Sudhin

FainaAgain

My absolutely healthy then 19-year-old went to Europe and had to be hospitalized with flu. I have a picture of him with IV sticking out of his hand.

Have I convinced you to get health insurance? But first check with your existing one if the worldwide emergency coverage is included.

Grandma

Well....several years ago we had a very expensive trip planned. Two weeks before departure my husband was hospitalized with a major infection.
Two years ago... we were set to sail on the QM2 when he developed double pneumonia. We were able to reschedule... but that meant cancelling orig. plans. We've traveled for years and always bought ins. Never needed it until we did!!
(Oh yes... I forgot to mention that a set back to his health in Moscow cost us $10K with airfare, hospital, etc. Again... ins. saved the day.)

poutine

Well, my mother just took a trip to China. She is 74 and bought extra medical insurance. Good thing. She was hospitalized with pneumonia the day before she was due to fly home - something you can get in any country. That was two months ago. She was medivac'd back to Canada two weeks ago, and is still in ICU, hopefully slowly recovering

You never know what will happen in life. I highly recommend good health insurance. You are paying to hope it never has kick in.....

I wouldn't skip the medical insurance. Travel insurance is not something I usually buy, but that is because I often use points, which insurance won't cover anyways.

ronkala

Instead of us trying to convince you, ask yourself if you can afford to lose the money if you have to cancel the trip, and if you have the money to pay for any medical emergencies that may occur while on the trip.

Margo_Chester

Also, call your own health insurance carrier and see what is/is not covered. Who knows - maybe you'll need more health coverage than you thought or maybe you would just want trip cancellation/interruption insurance. Make the decision after gathering the facts.

suze

hmmm... well i never do and nothing bad has happened to me. but that doesn't make it good advice or something i'd want to convince a stranger of.

kybourbon

And if you are on Medicare, you won't be covered in another country.

This is the same as asking if you need insurance on your house or car. Of course not, if nothing ever happens to either, but if it does......

If you decide to purchase, compare plans, prices and companies on www.insuremytrip.com

WillTravel

With six people, the chances of something going wrong are much, much greater than with just one.

Travelnut

At least one company offers a "cancel for any reason" policy:

http://www.travelsafe.com/
http://www.travelimpressions.com/newins.html

Read the fine print and look for references/feedback.

suetibu

Thank you. I will contact them,

Sudhin

NeoPatrick

"With six people, the chances of something going wrong are much, much greater than with just one."

And isn't the cost also 6 times greater for six than one?

I still maintain that unless you have a major reason to expect a problem, after a few trips of NOT buying the insurance, you'd be able to cover a problem with the money you saved NOT buying it for the other trips. I've never bought insurance, never needed it, and with the savings over the years, I could probably travel around the world. Let's be honest here, the odds are in the favor of the insurance company -- not you.

aussiefive

It really depends on your frame of mind and what you can afford. Consider these then decide: can you afford to lose all your deposits if your trip gets cancelled unexpectedly (has happened to us); can you afford to pay for an appendectomy in a foreign hospital? Can you afford the cost of the insurance if it you haven't needed it? You get the picture. Me - I am happy to pay insurance because when you do, nothing will go wrong. Things only go wrong when you haven't paid insurance. Same for the medical kit - no one ever gets as much as a scratch if we have it but if we don't we get broken limbs, headaches, ear infections, colds and flus. Murphy's Law.

crefloors

I always get it anymore. I bought it just after I paid for my airfare and put the charge for my hotel deposit on my credit card. If you want coverage for pre-existing conditions and a "cancel for any reason" policy, you have a limited time to get the policy after you pay for your trip. My premium was 139.00.

My brother has a friend who had to be evacuated from London and the cost was 50,000.00. I do NOT know any other particulars, like his own policy covered him or what ever.

I also think it depends on our own financial circumstances. Will your company pay anything, if so how much, will they re-emburse you or pay the bills? If you have to pay up front can you afford to and then wait for re-embursement? So in the end, you are the only one that can decide.

LoveItaly

Age doesn't have anything to do with whether or not one needs insurance. Some years ago my stepgrandson took a tour in Russia. He came down with chickenpocks. He did not have medical insurance. The hotel put him in a tent with a sleeping bag on their grounds as he was contagious. What a nightmare!

Having said that I have never purchased insurance. But I believe I will in the future. Not for a cancellation of the trip but for medical and evacuation coverage. Before I do I will want to check carefully the "not covered" section of the coverage. An insurance policy is a legal contract. Having been in the insurance business for decades I know how the insurance companies are great telling you what you are covered for. But the "exclusions"..that is the most important imformation to know about, trust me.

thursdaysd

I don't buy cancellation insurance, and my medical insurance covers me for emergency treatment abroad, but I do make sure I have medical evacuation insurance. Trip before last I broke my wrist in Switzerland and had to come home. The insurance co. (www.tenweb.com) provided a car and driver for the two hour drive to Geneva airport, and plane tickets back to the US. I can imagine much worse scenarios where I'd be glad of them, too.

LoveItaly

I would encourage anyone who is interested in tenweb.com to read all of their website. They are not an insurance company per their website and from what I read they do not cover your medical expenses when you are abroad. If they do you have to reimburse them. I am not saying that they are bad, but just be aware your medical expenses per the website will not be paid by them and if they do pay them you or your medical insurance company will have to reimburse them.

hanl

I always take out travel insurance to cover medical expenses, lost luggage, cancellation, repatriation, etc.

It's like with any insurance: you don't think you need it until you need it!

I was holidaying in the US a few years ago when my father died (parents lived in Scotland, I was based in France at the time). The insurance company took care of everything - rebooking my flight back to France (had nonrefundable non-changeable tickets) and even going as far as to book my onward flight to the UK. It only took one phone call and they sorted everything out.

Another, grimmer reason to consider travel insurance is the possibility that something might happen to you while abroad. Repatriating a body without insurance to cover the cost is something that could bankrupt some families.

Anyway, where I live this insurance doesn't cost much - around 20 or 30 euros per person for a two week trip. Given how much we spend on meals, flights and hotels when we're away, this is a pittance.

WillTravel

My family travel insurance costs about $100 per year, so it will take a very long time to pay for trips around the world on that. I don't think that's a bad deal.

For six people, with prepaid costs of say $10,000, the whole trip could be shot if one person gets sick, and the $10K is lost. If there's one person going with prepaid costs of say $1500, the risk is not so great.

GregY2

In my opinion it is not a question of travel insurance being useful, it is protection against low probability, high impact adverse events. If you have sufficent resources to cover the worst case events that could befall you then you may not want travel insurance: If your pockets are not that deep then you should have it. I find that most people insure their houses even though the likelihood of a house fire is extremely small - it is protection against catastrophic loss. Same principle.