travel insurance
 

Has anybody purchased travel insurance and had to use it? If so what company did you use and were you satisfied with their service. Thanks

I purchased mine from Travelex and got fantastic service when I landed in the hospital in Kanazawa (Japan) for 8 days. Every penny of my treatment was paid directly to the hospital, and an unplanned flight back to Tokyo was reimbursed, as was an extra night of hotel costs. (Continental Airlines waived the penalties for re-booking my tickets, but Travelex was prepared to pay them.)

In addition, Travelex provided me with a Japanese speaker who would phone the doctor (who didn't speak English) for explanations of my condition and treatment, and then call me with the translation. They would also relay any questions I had.

It was very plain to me that Travelex was prepared to make good on all added expenses related to my getting sick abroad. In addition, they were friendly, sympathetic during my illness, reassured us everything would be taken care of and treated me without suspicion when I presented them with receipts for my expenses. They just paid up.

Best $50 bucks I ever spent on travel arrangements. :-)

Baily, there have been a number of threads on this subject recently. When I click on your name, I see that you started three separate threads. It would be better protocol on this site for you to top one of these threads (click on your name, choose "post a reply," and simply ask for more suggestions. That enables other posters to see what has already been suggested, so they don't waste their time answering questions that have already been amply covered.

Mary Fran, On one of my messages I specifically asked about aaa insurance and on another I mistakenly put my message on a site other than Europe. I find it all a bit confusing and the more I learn onmyinsurance.com the more I seem to need further advice.Thanks for your suggestion however.

Bailey, what type of coverage are you looking for? Trip cancellation? Medical? Lost luggage?

We purchased trip cancellation insurance from TravelGuard for a Vantage China Tour we planned to take in September 2005, since we knew we would have to make a significant cash outlay all in one chunk. It came in very handy when I had a heart attack before the trip, so we had to cancel. We were promptly reimbursed for the amounts we had paid in advance. I don't remember what the cost was, unfortunately.

For our upcoming 27-day trip this May, I have purchased a medical insurance policy for about $90 from IMG. My own health insurance will cover only 60% of medical expenses outside my preferred provider network, so I purchased the insurance to cover the other 40%. I elected a $2,500 deductible to reduce the premium cost. I could handle that much expense but am just concerned about coverage for a major medical event, having seen a $56,000 statement from my hospital here when I had the heart attack and resulting open-heart surgery, which my insurance paid almost in full.

My sister, who is usually the more financially conscientious of the two of us, has been reluctant to purchase medical insurance coverage for the trip, even though her Medicare and suplemental coverage will not pay anything at all in Europe. That just seems spooky to me.

you can compare policies on www.insuremytrip.com

Mary Fran , I like your sister am on Medicare/tricare which offers no coverage. I am traveling with my daughter who will need that coverage although she is quite healthy. I am interested in medical, lost luggage, and trip cancellation. I looked once more at insuremy trip .com and will select something from there. Am leaning towards travelex.since it had such a good recommendation from a previous writer.It's a toss up at this point. Thanks again,

Mary_Fran, I hate to be so blunt, but I'd be very reluctant to travel with your sister in such a situation. If, heaven forbid, something should happen to your sister, you would no doubt be the one who was right there with her in the hospital, and it would be up to you to authorize paid coverage, so I would be concerned you'd get stuck with the bill. Not a pleasant thought for sure.

I've used CSA, TravelGuard, and now Travelex, depending on the needed coverage. Last year TravelGuard reimbursed me for the airfares to Washington, D.C. that we couldn't use when I broke my shoulder. The process of getting the refund was relatively simple.

WillTravel, I mentioned the medical insurance issue to my sister tonight, and I think she will be purchasing a policy.

Until I had my heart attack last January, I really never gave trip insurance a thought. Neither has my sister, who is older and has traveled extensively. I'd be willing to bet a majority of posters on this site have never considered the issue, never checked to see what their own insurance plans would cover, and have been lucky ... extremely lucky. I know that I will never consider traveling without it again, especially since the cost is relatively small, compared to the potential exposure.

For clarification, I meant that until my heart attack, Id never considered medical insurance for a trip. We did buy a trip cancellation policy when we were planning to take a package tour. That policy paid off to bail us out when we had to cancel the trip due to my heart attack.

For the upcoming trip, I purchased an inexpensive add-on to my Travelocity purchase of our round-trip tickets from the US to Europe. Other than that and the medical insurance coverage, it didn't seem economically feasible or necessary to purchase insurance for other possible casualties during our trip such as lost luggage.