Trip Travel Insurance Search
 

For a 3 week trip to France in June, I have just done an extensive internet investigation for travel insurance for a group of six. (3 generations) We want trip cancellation/interruption, medical, plane tickets... the usual comprehensive plan. I cannot get pre existing condition waiver because I started putting down deposits last year. The benefits for all seem about the same. The prices range from $1070 (Access America) to $1808(Travel Guard). Others in between are Travel Insured, CSA and TravelEx. Advice? Warnings? Comments?

What is the scenario you most want to buy protection against its occurrence?<BR><BR><BR>I think that all travel insurance is a bad purchase, but then again, I travel a lot.<BR><BR>Best wishes,<BR><BR>Rex<BR>[email protected]<BR>

janeg-can you explain to me just what is a &quot;pre existing condition waiver&quot; i too will be using travel insurance in the near future . and i am not familiar with some terms .thanks

Go to statravel.com or council travel... much better rates! :D

If you book the travel insurance shortly after booking trip, the pre-exsisting condition is waived.

Green Dragon. statravel.com &amp; council travel only have $1000 trip cancellation insurance. <BR>Rex. Not sure what explanation you want. With 6 people involved, there are things that can happen. <BR>So, anybody have experience with the named companies &amp; why such a price spread?

Rex, if you travel a lot and you are a doctor, why do you think Travel Insurance is a bad purchase?

I don't have any definitive answer as to why they differ so much, but I do consulting in health insurance and might have some ideas. One is the obvious, that the benefits really are different and you should double-check. The second is just that due to the various ages of your group, residence or something peculiar, you've just hit some risk category that one insurer prices a lot different than the other. Those two companies are generally pretty comparable, I think, in premiums. Have you used www.insuremytrip.com to doublecheck? It gives multiple quotes of products in seconds. <BR><BR>That seems like a lot of money to pay for insurance, especially since it won't cover pre-existing conditions and perhaps not financial problems/bankruptcy since you didn't buy it when you placed deposits. I guess it depends how much money you are insuring for that price. These policies just aren't very good values when you compare coverage to the premiums, that's all, but I can understand wanting it if some of your group doesn't have health insurance that will cover them abroad.<BR><BR>I would just check to make sure it really covers what you most fear. I think Travel Guard has some new feature where they insure you against just changing your mind for no reason, so it might be more expensive for that clause. I don't think it would apply to you so long after you first paid deposits, though, but that still might be reflected in the pricing.<BR><BR>The above website may explain these terms for those who aren't familiar with them. A pre-existing condition waiver means that they may deny payment for claims that arise from any condition you already had when you bought the insurance and you were treated for during some period before the trip date (usually 60 days), except some conditions that are regularly managed well by drugs. You can't get trip cancellation benefits if you want to cancel because a close family member dies or gets seriously ill from a pre-existing condition during that period, either, I think.<BR><BR>I don't buy travel insurance either, and I would presume Rex' point is that if you travel a lot, you'd spend a fortune on insurance if you bought it all the time. Also, many people are covered under their regular health insurance policy for those reasons, and may not have many financial consequences if the trip needed to be cancelled because they don't prepay much. I'm in that situation as I usually don't have anything prepaid except my airline ticket and those can be changed for a fee, if necessary.

I guess my point was that insurance seems to be a good way to throw away money and have expectations fail to match the benefits the insurance will offer.<BR><BR>If you're thinking you can canel because &quot;world conditions are too scary&quot;, you may find that you'll get no sympathy from airlines, tour operators, not insurers.<BR><BR>Medical &quot;evacuation&quot; insurance? They might or might not provide for your &quot;evacuation&quot; - - say from some little town to anywhere there is a &quot;CHU&quot; (University Hospital Center), but very unlikely they will fly you home. So, you saved a $250 ambulance ride, and paid $1000 to $1800 for that?<BR><BR>If I had spent $200 to $300 per person for each of the trips taken by family members or friends (who would have spent it from THEIT own pocket - - nothing to do with me really), the accumulated sum might have totaled $10,000 in the past 15 years. With virtually no payout, that I can think of.<BR><BR>I did have the experience of a serious trip cancellation (cut short), whe five family members (uncles and aunts of my wife) had to return unexpectedly for the death/funeral of a family member.<BR><BR>Delta Airlines accommodated them most generaously at not one penny out of pocket (to the airline), partly because we had our wits and had the funeral home fax documentation immediately. They did end up out of pocket about $250 per couple for a (Paris) hotel night (awaiting a flight the next day) not on the itinerary (substituted for one that was pre-paid om the small town we were staying next - - and it did not refund their money).<BR><BR>So, I am cognizant of how insurance COULD pay off. I just continue to believe that financial reserves are the only insurance I choose to put my monet into.<BR>

JaneG,<BR><BR>IMO, there are far too many types of coverage which fall under the loose category of &quot;travel insurance&quot; to generalize - and since I live in Switzerland, I can't offer any specifics regarding the plans you mention. <BR><BR>However, as several posters have already mentioned, you may not need a comprehensive plan in the first place.<BR><BR>Here are some of the major categories and my personal opinion on their usefulness:<BR><BR>a) trip cancellation BEFORE departure<BR>This covers you should you NEED to cancel due to illness, injury, political unrest etc. (detailed conditions vary between different policies). This coverage is probably the least important, as the worst that can happen is that you &quot;lose&quot; money you have already spent anyway - not that it's fun, but if you're young, healthy and not travelling to a politicall unstable destination, the risk is quite low. You mention not being able to get a preexisting condition waiver - that's another strike against paying anything for this type of coverage. Just try and limit your deposits.<BR><BR>b) trip interruption insurance<BR>This covers the EXTRA costs which would ensue should you need to return prematurely (death or sudden illness of a close relative, ilness of a participant etc.) or if you can't proceed on your itinerary due to political unrest of acts of nature. This coverage can be useful for instance if you're an only child with an elderly single parent, or if you're headed to a politically unstable area or one with a history of natural catastrophes (i.e. hurricanes, earthquakes etc.). Again, a judgment call IMO.<BR><BR>c) Trip extension/missed connection insurance<BR>This category of coverage kicks in when you are unable to continue your itinerary as planned but don't want to (or can't) return, i.e. missed flight connections, cancellations of ferries due to bad weather, illness of another participant etc. This can come in quite handy, especially if you have a complex itinerary (i.e. a through plane journey involving 2 separate tickets).<BR><BR>(continued)<BR>

d) Medical evacuation insurance<BR>This type of coverage is very broad and terms are often rather unclear. Sometimes, only transportation to the nearest adequate medical facilities is included, while other insurance firms specifically provide for transportation to the beneficiary's country of residence. If you're travelling in France, you won't be sent on a Learjet bound for the US unless the coverage specifically provides for this, as obviously adequate medical facilities are available locally. However, I doubt Rex's claim that an emergency transfer will cost around 250$ if say you're injured hiking in the Provence and they need to fly you by helicopter to Aix or Marseille - that could cost thousands of $$! So, this type of coverage is certainly useful, but it really isn't sufficient unless combined with...<BR><BR>e) Medical treatment insurance:<BR>This covers you for medical treatment expenses when you fall ill or are injured while on your trip. THIS COVERAGE IS ABSOLUTELY ESSENTIAL! Imagine having a heart attack abroad and needing emergency bypass surgery - the cost could be staggering! While many (but not all) European countries have universal &quot;free&quot; medical coverage, this only applies to their OWN residents (with reciprocal benefits extended to residents of other EU countries - e.g. the infamous E 111 form). AFAIK, as a US or Canadian resident, you're on your own. The importance of such coverage cannot be overstated IMO.<BR><BR>f) Additional coverage:<BR>This includes categories such as rental car insurance (CDW and theft are sufficient as 3rd part liability insurance is always included in the base rental rate) and luggage/property insurance. This coverage is obviously very useful.<BR><BR>In summary, I would not travel abroad without sufficient coverage of the d), e) and f) types, while the b) and c) type would also be useful for certain types of itineraries. All these coverage types protect you against ADDITIONAL outlays. On the other hand, type a) coverage only provides for a refund in case things go wrong - this will not bankrupt you, as these are sunk costs anyway. <BR><BR>Finally, check your existing coverage carefully before purchasing any additional insurance! Perhaps your health insurance, household policy and/or credit card already provide you with all or part of the necessary coverage.<BR><BR>Hope this helps,<BR>Andre

For those of you in the know (Andre in particular), how about a suggestion for a place to begin a search for medical treatment coverage, or a good firm to try. <BR><BR>I have a mid 20's son who intends to spend a year or two studying/working in Europe. The organization he is working through has told him to provide health insurance for himself. He is a US citizen and will not have a US health insurance policy in effect while abroad.

janeg,<BR>I won't get into the plus and negatives purchasing this insurance. It is definitely a personal thing, age, health, plans made well in advance etc.<BR>However, if you check, you will find that the pre existing condition is waived if the person has not had a change in his previoius medications for the past six months previous to the trip. Check this out with the insurance providers for clarifaction.

You could try these 2 sites<BR><BR>http://www.medexpat.com<BR><BR>http://www.medibroker.com/

Thank you for all your replies &amp; advice. For our group it is advisable to get travel insurance. A large part of our expense in an apartment in Paris and a barge trip. The latter being a very large part. In December, I got burned trying to reschedule airplane tix because of an injury. Rescheduling of apartment &amp; barge is very unfeasible<BR><BR>Christina: I do not see much difference in the companies' coverage.<BR><BR>Soooo my question really is: has anybody had experience with the named companies &amp; why such a price spread?<BR> <BR>

I was just reading the benefits of my brokerage platinum card and find that there is extensive trip insurance covered by it if we have charged our trip on the credit card. This is medical insurance for the most part I believe. It may not be apropos to this post but others of you may find it helpful.

Julies,<BR><BR>This is a very difficult question to answer without further specifics:<BR>- what country or countries will your son be living in?<BR><BR>- what type of an arrangement is this exactly (student exchange program, company internship...)?<BR><BR>Basically your son will be covered by a mandatory basic health insurance scheme (he might have to pay premiums for this) if he takes up residency in a European country. Residency is generally required if he intends to study or work there, the main exception being if he is on some sort of &quot;expatriate&quot; work contract.<BR><BR>Additional facts you provide could enable me to give you more detailed info.<BR><BR>Andre

Jane - I have had experience with Travel Guard and with Travel Insured. We booked our trip and bought insurance within 7 days of our deposit. This meant that got pre-existing coverage and tour operator and airline bankruptcy and default insurance too. We went to Italy last year and our bags were lost for 4 days. After the first 24 hours, we went and bought clothes and necessaties we needed. When we got back home I filed a claim with Travel Insured and after 2 weeks, we got re-imbursed for all the items we bought, no questions asked.<BR><BR>A couple of years ago we used Travel Guard for our trip to Ireland. I got VERY sick before we left and had to delay our departure for 3 days. They hasseled us quite a bit. In the end, things were fine, but there were a few tense moments there.<BR><BR>Anyway, I personally think once you are plopping down thousands of dollars for a trip, what is so hard about spending a bit more to have some peace of mind.<BR><BR>I never make a big trip without travel insurance.<BR><BR>As far as it being too late for you to get the pre-existing condition coverage, usually if you have not been treated with the past 3-6 months for the condition, you are still covered.<BR><BR>Best of luck to you!!

Jane - I forgot to address your question about the price difference. I think it is just like anything you buy, there will always be different prices for things. Whether you want to buy a new car or a new stereo, 5 different companies will offer the same thing at 5 different prices. I do know that Access America, Travel Insured and CSA have good reputations, BUT, you might want to check with your local Better Business Bureau.

AAA recommended Access America. Consumer Reports likes CSA. My local travel agent only does TravelEx... Our HMO's don't do a thing out of the country. Guess I will go with the lowest bidder. Thanks all.