garyincary

I received a lot of good input regarding whether I needed health/travel insurance during my trip to Ireland. My BC/BS does provide coverage in Ireland, and in fact, has doctors who are in network, in Dublin, Cork, and Galway. I have the same coverage in Ireland as I do here, through BC/BS. Given that, is there any other reason I may be missing, to purchase trip insurance, if my major concern is health insurance?

Thanks for your patience as I muddle through topics like this, of which I am pretty clueless!!

Christina

not really, I think that is the main reason. I rarely prepay anything, though. If you prepay a lot that is nonrefundable, you might consider the risks. But if you are young and healthy (so unlikely to need to cancel a trip), I don't think it's that important. I never used to buy it until I got a lot older and had health insurance that didn't cover me abroad. I never once would have used it in 30 years of traveling.

Depends on your tolerance for risk. I did have a friend who used it once for a lost bag or something and said they paid promptly. I think her bag was only lost for a few days, but she had to buy some stuff. Still, given that's the only time she ever used it, I'm sure she has paid more than that in premiums if she buys it every time she travels.

The premiums really go up with the amount of money you say you want to cover in the box when they ask you (which would be your nonrefundable items that you would lose). So if you put a very small amount in there, the cost isn't that high and you get the health insurance and lost baggage and travel delays for pretty little as they aren't included in that amount. That's what I do. But for me, it's still about a $75-100 fee for each trip.

So just put in $50 or something nominal in that box and see the premium, it might be worth it to you for that if you aren't sure.

tarfan24

We purchased trip insurance for our recent two week stay in London and Paris. We bought out for several reasons: concern for something happening to elderly MIL either before or during the trip, loss of job after prepaying airfare and apartments in each city 6+ months in advance and finally health insurance, medical evac coverage should something happen while there. About 5 years ago, my uncle fell on the 2nd day of a 14 day Mediterranean cruise, breaking his hip. Their trip insurance covered everything including medical evac home. Worth the few hundred bucks in our book for peace of mind.

Seamus

Check with BCBS to see if medical evacuation is a covered benefit on your policy (usually it is not.) If you are concerned about serious illness/injury that could require medical evacuation you could purchase a policy which includes that coverage. Medical evaluation is incredibly expensive - when my Mom was hospitalized in Zurich in the late 1990's the family next door was contending with a bill of close to $10K for medical evacuation of their elderly mother.

Your BCBS likely does not cover the cost of trip interruption should you need to cut short your travel (things like change fees or even cost of last minute ticket for airlines), which could be covered in a travel policy. Many travel policies also cover the expense for a family member/companion to travel to your location if you are hospitalized for a significant time should you be traveling alone.

I'd suggest you have a look at www.insuremytrip.com to get a sense of the various packages available. Many may include some coverage that you don't need but are included in the package with things you do wish to have covered. There is also a number you can call to speak with an agent, and when I did so they were knowledgeable and polite.

mocha_dolce

Travel insurance isn't only for your personal health issues that may arise abroad. By far the most likely occurrence for a claim is lost/delayed baggage; the most expensive: medical evacuation for a member of your party, repatriation of remains, etc. The latter are very rare, but extremely expensive at at time when you least want another worry. If you can't self insure (i.e. easily bear the cost of these things on your own), consider travel insurance. Even young and healthy people can have accidents or have relatives at home who might have health issues. DO read the fine print, though, because there are often exclusions for companies known to be in financial distress, bankruptcy, etc.

Gordon_R

But the risks are not confined to falling ill while away ON your trip, or being related to your age (the "young and healthy" comment). Anyone can have an accident before or during a trip, there could be a serious illness in the family, bereavement, your stuff could get stolen/lost... Just take a look at what's happening right now to this unfortunate lady who didn't take out any insurance and bought non-refundable tickets, hotel bookings etc:-

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...ircrutches.cfm

Have you looked to see how much a trip insurance policy might be? I suspect it's not that much in relation to the peace of mind it will give you. Over > 25 years of fairly extensive travelling internationally, I've had to make 3 or 4 claims for events I never thought could happen to me.

Gordon_R

Mocha-dolce - we were posting at the same time!

Christina

The risks are obviously higher if you are not young and healthy, that is my point. And we aren't talking about a lot of money here for most people on trip costs if you don't prepay expensive things (which most people do not). I don't think it makes sense to pay hundreds and hundreds of dollars over years of travel to insure the risk of losing some baggage, which is what one is considering with a broad view of this topic.

Of course no health insurance policy pays for travel delays, that isn't health.

Some people are afraid of everything even if the odds are extremely low in your life you'd ever use it, and the cost of the insurance is extremely high. You'd make more money putting that money in the bank over your lifetime than buying travel insurance because you might lose a suitcase with some clothes in it.

And trying to collect on any policy may be time-consuming and ultimately fruitless, if you really wanted to. Conditions of coverage are limited and a lot of insurers give people hassles and delays.

Medical evacuation is one consideration, but I don't personally think everyone should buy insurance every time they travel to cover items they should be self-insuring for (ie, buying some toiletries if your bag is lost for a few hours). And a lot of people don't understand medical evacuation insurance, it is not usually on demand, meaning you get it whenever you want it or just because you want it. It is usually only if medically necessary, which wold not be the case for most developed countries. I'm a statistician though, and work on insurance issues and actuaries, so I tend to look at overall odds and risks and don't panic over the extremely small risk of losing luggage as I could easily pay for such a thing myself if it ever happened. I never prepay hardly anything, either, and have never bought an airline ticket that wasn't changeable without a $100-200 change fee.

catherinehaas

I broke my arm really badly while I was at Giant's Causeway in Northern Ireland. I took 2 ambulances (one to an emergency center in Colerain and then one to the actual hospital in London Derry), had surgery, and spent 48 hours in a hospital. The bill was just over $5000 USD. BC BS was my insurance carrier at the time. The entire bill was less than the "covered, approved" amount for the same procedure here in the US. They paid the entire bill. I would say that medical insurance is probably not necessary; however, you might want to look into travel insurance to protect your trip. Some include medical evacuation as part of the premium.

flpab

Well worth it imo. I was refunded 1300.00 last month because of my mom's death while in Italy. I had to send in a copy of death cert, hotel in Rome and new ticket cost twice but did get a check.USAIR refunded the 250.00 change fee but charged me for a ticket price on the day.

chartley

I agree with Christina. Insurance is best suited to dealing with a very expensive but very unlikely risk. Anyone wealthy enough to travel between continents should be able to bear the whole cost of a lost holiday. What you lose is the holiday; you cannot lose more.

The real risk is health cover, especially for a European travelling to the United States. Being in hospital for a couple of days is going to cost more than the cost of your holiday. Repatriation on its own may not be particularly expensive, but if you need a medical escort for the journey, the cost would be considerable, as might the cost of a partner extending their own holiday to provide help and companionship.

My brother-in-law was taken ill in Colombia and required surgery on his heart. His insurance paid for his Spanish-speaking daughter to fly out to be with him, as well as a doctor to accompany him all the way back to his home in England. Would you want to bear that cost yourself?

Gordon_R

>>Anyone wealthy enough to travel between continents should be able to bear the whole cost of a lost holiday. <<

Sorry but that's just nonsense. I count myself lucky enough to be able to afford to travel to other countries - including those on the other side of the world - but we have to work bloody hard and save up for these trips. We also go to great lengths to get the cheapest flights and accommodation which often means non-refundable charges. There is no way we can blithely afford to right off several thousand GBP if we have to cancel or curtail due to unforeseen emergencies.

Pegontheroad

One of the reasons I get travel insurance is that I'm 77 years old, and there's always the possibility that I could die on one of my solo trips. My travel insurance will cover "repatriation of remains."

Don't laugh. It happened to a friend of mine on vacation in Hawaii. He was in his 50's, as I recall. He had a heart attack.

laurie_ann

There are different dimensions to the travel insurance question.

You seemed to figure out that your own illness or accident while traveling is covered already. So that's done.

But if you were sick or hurt before or during your trip and had to cancel some or all of it and your trip has a high fixed cost (meaning money you would lose if you had to reschedule or cancel) that you aren't comfortable to bear without reimbursement then travel insurance can make sense. For example I almost never buy it but I did twice: One time for an Alaskan cruise where we took my elderly in laws (cost of cruise for four was something like $12,000 and not refundable or changeable) and one time for an African safari (cost of safari for two was something like $8,000 and not refundable or changeable). For most other trips where I would just be out a few hundred dollars for an airline change fee and maybe the first night's hotel cost I don't purchase it.

I also have a separate annual medical evacuation plan through Medijet. So that covers all my trips.

If you think trip cancellation coverage would be of interest to you, be sure you look into the specific terms.

For example if you want to cancel for a relative's death or illness check how broad the definition in the policy is. Some will cover you for in laws some not. Some will cover only if the other person was going on the trip with you. Some not.

For another example check the terms about preexisting condition. Some will cover you for it but only if you purchase the insurance within a certain number of days after you make your first trip payment. Some cover that relative's preexisting conditions some not.

They are easy to compare among policies on a website like www.insuremytrip.com. I think you just click on the points in the summary of coverage and you can see more fulsome descriptions.