NYCFoodSnob

<i><font color=#555555>"I think it's ridiculous to pay $600-$1000 for insurance"</font></i>

My business policy falls into this range but it covers me for the entire year. So, for a 6-week trip, I think the cost is ridiculous, too.

The insurance companies are hoping your level of fear and anxiety is high, so that you'll bite. One must always keep in mind the objectives of any for-profit business.

Isabella36

Thanks. I'm not biting, and neither is my mom! She is annoyed with insurance companies. She was telling me how when we all went to Italy for the first time as a family when my siblings & I were younger, (minus my dad as he was working), my parents didn't purchase travel insurance b/c there was no such thing ~ not that it didn't exist but it's not something most traditional Italians thought of getting. Even when my mom visited her family in 2006 with my brother & sister, they didn't get travel insurance. I'm not advocating not to but for what it costs, you might as well book another trip!
I think that everything will be fine. We are staying with family & friends, in good health, and will be mindful/careful in what we do. I think that we will use the money that we would have spent on travel insurance to treat ourselves to a trip to Paris! My mom would like to go so I will take her there. My travel insurance quote is b/w $450-$550. I think what I will do is upgrade my VISA to an AVION to cover interruption/delay, & baggage, and purchase only medical.

flygirl

Have you checked into MedJet? You can get a family policy for a fairly reasonable price. This is just insurance to get you home safely in the event of a medical emergency though - not "cancellation" or theft, etc. I got it for my parents when I took them to Italy/Switzerland a few years ago since my Dad had had hip surgery four months before we departed.