My husband and I are healthy in our 20's. How much medical coverage should we get and any particular companies anyone recommends?

Where do you live ?

United States

Seeing as you are obviously not senior citizens, your health insurance may well cover you, although evacuation insuranace should perhaps be looked into as that often is not covered enough, if necessary. Whereas with seniors, medicare does not cover for out of the country, that is why it is EXTREMELY IMPORTANT for us to take the coverage. Have a great trip. Halfpint

Why do you even want medical coverage, if you are young and healthy, and not leaving the country? You can go to www.insuremytrip.com and compare some policies. They are very helpful, if you call them and tell them what your concerns are. Then they help you pick out something that suits your needs. I only get coverage now that I`m getting older. Never did before.

Whoops, I see you are leaving the country.

You might want to look into DAN, the Divers Alert Network which has a policy for anyone in their annual membership of $29 that includes evacuation. Check their website www.diversalertnetwork.org

In my 20s, I wouldn't (and didn't) get any. Of course, if you are risk takers, it might be worthwhile.

Right, since you live in the US & I live in the UK, I can't recommend any companies. But it may help to know that the minimum we are advised to look for here, for travel within Europe, is £1m ($2m) cover for medical emergencies including repatriation.

Travel insurance usually also covers cancellation (by you for medical reasons or by hotels/airlines), permanent or temporary loss of baggage, theft of belongings etc. No sensible person here would travel abroad without it.

You usually have to pay a supplement if planning to dive or engage in winter sports.

If you're insured in the US, I'd check with your insurance company to see if you're covered in Europe. If so, you might consider evacuation insurance. If not, you definitely need to buy insurance, with evacuation insurance as an option. My wife and I use travelguard. If you decide to use travelguard, I'd recommend contacting them as soon as you make your plane reservations.

Being young and in good health does not innoculate one against accidents, so it may be worthwhile to get travel insurance. Medical coverage often also includes expenses beyond doctors and hospitals -- costs for the traveling companion to stay with the injured party during recovery, changing flight itinerary, etc.

huh, I'm quite sensible and have traveled abroad a lot without it. In fact, I work for insurance companies as a consultant, and have a master's in biostatistics, and work with actuaries, so I think I know a little about the actuarial risks. I haven't bought it because my health insurance covers me abroad, and I have no use for the other coverage issues, at least they are not worth the amount of premiums they charge. I don't prepay bills, know the other risks are minimal or of no importance to me, etc. Insurance companies make a lot of money from these policies and it's obviously because they charge more than they pay out, that's how insurance works. I don't believe in insuring trivial costs, that isn't what insurance should be for, it should be for catastrophic costs that you can't pay for yourself without reasonable hardship. I would buy it if I didn't have medical coverage abroad, of course, as I do believe in having health coverage. However, the other coverage things are probably not of any importance to someone in their 20s, barring unusual conditions (they aren't of any importance to me and I'm a lot older).

Christina is giving you some good advice. If you have health insurance, check with them to see how they would handle a claim from out of country. If it's just an out of network claim, then there is no reason to obtain travel insurance to cover the deductible, and you may end up with an either/or situation. It may be that you'll have to pay the foreign provider directly, then seek reimbursement from your insurer (i.e., the foreign provider won't process an insurance claim for you), but that's probably the biggest difficulty.

If you are worried about having some kind of catastrophic medical event and being stuck in Europe, you can purchase evacuation insurance to cover that expense, but for most folks that's a real longshot.

Now, if your trip is going to have a lot of non-refundable costs that have to be paid in advance, trip cancellation/interruption insurance may be a good idea for you depending on your risk tolerance. This type of coverage typically includes some medical coverage as well.

Christina : "I don't prepay bills".

How do you manage to book flights without pre-paying ?

"I have no use for the other coverage issues, at least they are not worth the amount of premiums they charge."

We pay £50 for annual cover for 2 of us, for everything - setting aside the medical or accident issue, I don't consider that excessive to cover lost luggage, theft and cancellation cover.

I'm 71 and in good health. I don't get medical insurance for travel, and I've been traveling for 40 years. My sister is younger but has had a heart attack. She did buy insurance last time we traveled.

Thanks. We checked and our credit card offer some protection and so does our medical insurance. We are trying to take on carry on bags so hopefully checked baggage missing wont' be an issue. Thanks we will save the $ for the trip.