Travel Insurance - worth it? Maybe.
 

Every time we have gone to Europe my wife has bought travel insurance. I probably would not have bought it but I am more of a risk taker. One time for us it paid off when my wife came down with pneumonia right at trip time and we had to cancel. The insurance paid back the air and hotel expenses we lost. (over $1000). The insurance we have bought also covers medical expenses and medical transportation.

Recently a cousin and his wife were on a group tour to Rome. His wife fell and broke her hip in St. Peters. That would have been bad enough at home but in this case it continues to be a nightmare. The group went on without them. The cousin had to change hotels several times because of no reservations. The wife could not be put on a plane unless she was in first class where they could lay her down and a nurse had to accompany her. They are still trying to get out of Rome a week or so later. The insurance would have at least paid the expenses.

Hi, we decided to purchase travel insurance including MedEvac coverage now due to a medical emergency that occured to one of us two weeks ago. It's two months before we leave and the trip is costly to us. However, we learned the hard way that due to our preexisting conditions no travel insurance company will cover for MedEvac or trip interruption. But stupidly they would have covered us had we purchased the insurance when we had paid for our airline tickets two months ago! They waive the preexisting conditions for a two week period once you purchase your trip. This does not make any sense to me but that's the fact. We know better next time.

Francophile, I know that can seem illogical, but I do consulting in health insurance and work with actuaries, and there are valid actuarial reasons for those stipulations of only covering pre-existing conditions if the insurance is bought within a short time of the trip purchase. It's too complicated to explain simply, but it isn't illogical.

IN any case, since you mainly wanted the evacuation insurance (which would be the major concern for me, unless someone had no health insurance at all--it still would be the big one), there are companies that specialize in that and you can buy a policy from them without any preexisting qualifications and it is better coverage because it is "on demand", meaning if you want it, not solely if it is medically necessary.

That is Medjet, although it appears they've changed owners/names (now are called Air Amublancecard) and now this is their URL
http://www.airambulancecard.com/

They have a family policy for about $300 a year which could be useful for you, and nice if you do travel frequently.

Can anyone recommend a few insurance companies? We're planning a trip to Italy in October and were tossing around the idea of insurance and I'd like to compare costs and coverage. Thanks.

www.insuremytrip.com is a good place to compare cost and coverage from a wide selection of insurers.

Christina, thank you very much for your kind, detailed information. I am glad to know that there is such a company around to insure people with the preexisting med. conditions. I will check it out.

There are actually quite a few companies that will cover pre-existing conditions as long as the insurance is purchased within a certain time-frame from the first trip payment (air tickets, cruise tickets, etc.). Usually that period is from 10 to 14 days.

The only glitch I've found is that you might not be covered for a pre-existing condition for which you filed a claim within the past 120 days. So anything related to my broken shoulder wouldn't be covered, but everything else will be.

Quite a few insurers give you 10 days to review the actual policy after you buy it so you can cancel it without penalty.

Hi franco,

You might find this useful:

http://www.diversalertnetwork.org/me...p/benefits.asp

Basic membership gives you 100k worth of evacuation insurance (not medical coverage- but just to get you home) for diving or non-diving accidents or injuries from anywhere 50 miles from your home or farther. The family membership is $44

((I))

Good information, Ira. Thanks.

I was scrolling down to post the Divers Alert Network info that I see Ira already posted. I studied their downloadable brochure in preparation for a recent trip, and it looks like a great deal. I decided not to buy the insurance this time; however, if I ever decide to buy evac insurance, I'll definitely use this plan. I found out about it on an earlier Fodor post.