Travel Insurance - to buy or not
 

I need help in deciding whether to buy travel insurance. I have never done so in the past, but now I am 65 and on Medicare and my supplementary does not cover out of country expenses. I will be gone three weeks--one week at Pueblo Ingles and two weeks traveling in Andalusia, mostly by train, but three days by car. Traveling alone. Have some chronic medical conditions such as hypothyroidism and high blood pressure, but these are well controlled with medication. Thanks for sharing your opinions and experience!

Are you talking about medical insurance that will cover you while you're outside the United States, or are you talking about travel insurance that will either 1) pay for you to get home if you have a medical emergency, or 2) pay for your fixed expenses if your trip is cancelled?

I don't buy the first, because my insurance does cover me outside the US, and I don't buy the third, because it's not worth the expense to me (I've never cancelled a trip in my life, and I'm close to your age -- if I had bought trip cancellation insurance for every one of my trips in that time, I could have paid for another trip!). I did, however, purchase MedJet medevac insurance when we went to Southeast Asia because I wanted to be able to be flown to the hospital in the city of my choice (including home) in the event of a medical emergency, rather than having to be treated at a hospital in either Vietnam or Cambodia.

Definitely buy trip insurance! The insuremytrip.com site is excellent for comparing policies/prices, and customer service is very good. We've used TravelGuard, among others, and had good claim service.

P.S.

You will need to buy insurance within 10 to 15 days in order to cover pre-existing conditions.

Make that 10 to 15 days of making the final payment for your trip (airfare, whatever).

Check out Travel Guard's Pack 'N Go policy! I stumbled upon it for my last trip and it's a great deal.

It gives you $25,000 for medical expenses; $500,000 for emergency evacuation "to the nearest adequate medical facility" and for repatriation of remains.

Plus minor coverage of $1,000 or less for each of the following: trip interruption, missed connection, trip delay, lost baggage (all of which I could care less about.)

At age 65 for 21 days travel your rate would be $62 + $5 service fee. And you can buy it up to the day you leave since there is no trip cancellation coverage.

I can't vouche for Travel Guard because while I've always travelled with coverage I've never had to use it, thankfully!

http://buy.travelguard.com/tgi2/proc...169&prc=007814

Underhill, I think it is within 10- 15 days of making the initial payment. I just bought ins. from Travel Guard, and that's the date they asked for. Maybe other companies have different requirements, but all I have looked at want initial date.

And yes, I sure agree that you need medical coverage if your supplemental does not cover you overseas regardless of how healthy you are.

Sounds like I have a problem. This is a last minute trip and I leave next Tuesday. So the coverage wouldn't kick in until 10 - 15 days after that?

I'm on the "Insure my trip" website, and the plans range from under 100 to over 400 dollars! I'm sure you get better coverage with more money, but really $400?

bookmarking

Insurance companies are ruthless! Please bear in mind that your policy won't cover pre existing conditions. So any problems arising from your "hypothyroidism and high blood pressure" and any other chronic medical conditions unfortunately won't be covered by your policy. You my find a policy that does but the premium will be astronomic. My wife did her Achilles tendon 7 years ago. Although she recovered and has had no problems since, several insurance companies still class it as a pre existing condition and exclude it from coverage.

We use a credit card that automatically provides travel insurance as long as 70% of the trip is paid for on that card. Can you check the card you used for air fares and accommodation? You may already be covered.

I bought my planes tickets in February..Will I have problems buying insurance I am leaving in September.

"Sounds like I have a problem. This is a last minute trip and I leave next Tuesday. So the coverage wouldn't kick in until 10 - 15 days after that?"

The insurance will be valid for whatever dates you purchase it for. The 10-15 days is the window for purchasing insurance after you have make your initial payment for your trip (bought your airline tix usually) in order to have a pre-existing condition covered. This has nothing to do with when the insurance is valid, but rather when you purchase it in relation to paying for the trip. It is to guard against people who will wait until they have something wrong with them to purchase the insurance.

So if you are still within that 10-15 day window from when you bought your airline tickets, you can get your pre-existing conditions covered. If you are not, you can still buy insurance, but if your thyroid issue flares up, that wouldn't be covered - on the otherhand, if you fall and break your ankle on the trip, that would be covered.

"I bought my planes tickets in February..Will I have problems buying insurance I am leaving in September."

Not unless you have a pre-existing condition that you want covered.

Thyroid issues rarely have "flare ups" that need immediate attention; it's generally a matter of maintenance and unlikely to cause trip disruption/cancellation regardless of whether you have bought insurance in time for pre-existing clause.

I wouldn't even think of travelling out of the country without travel medical ins. sprain your ankle- you could be looking at a thousand dollars. something serious- tens of thousands.

Insurance companies are ruthless! Please bear in mind that your policy won't cover pre existing conditions.
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Not so. There are travel insurance policies that cover pre-existing, of course, they are more money.

Additionally medical care has improved dramatically in the last 15 years and below is a chart which compares many coutnries on medical expenses.

"Not so. There are travel insurance policies that cover pre-existing, of course, they are more money."

Yep I agree Big Al - I wrote "You my find a policy that does but the premium will be astronomic." I take into account OP's age and existing medical issues.

"Thyroid issues rarely have "flare ups" that need immediate attention"

I just picked one of the OPs exisiting conditions to use as a hypothetical example. Sorry it wasn't medically sound. The point remains about pre-existing conditions though...