What is the best travel insurance company?
 

I have just started to shop for this. Has anyone had a good experience with a company for a claim? Is there anything about this insurance I should pay particular attention to?

I had to submit a trip cancellation claim with Travel Guard in 2006, and they were excellent to deal with.

I always use a Travel Guard but have never had to make a claim. What, exactly, do yiu want insurance for? Medical? Trip cancellation, delays, lost baggage and the like? I think people sometimes assume that it fully covers trip cancellation. Generally you have to purchase an additional rider for that within a couple of weeks of paying your first expenses associated with the trip and, even then, there are limitations. Read the fine print.

It somewhat depends on which country you are in, and what you want to insure. Not everyone here is from the US.

I like to compare polices at www.insuremytrip.com.
The phone reps are VERY helpful.

What do you want to cover? I only buy cancellation/interruption if I have an expensive pre-paid component to the trip, which is rare. But I don't have sick or elderly relatives or traveling companions.

I do buy medical coverage (now I am on Medicare) and medical evacuation and repatriation insurance. You need to be careful wih this. Do you want primary or secondary medical insurance? Are you happy with evacuation insurance that just gets you to the nearest hospital, or do you want coverage that will also get you home?

I live in the US and buy mine from Seven Corners. I had a good experience with tenweb.com, getting home from Switzerland with a broken wrist, but turned out the underlying coverage was with Seven Corners.

I now realize I was vague. I am from the US and am looking for trip interruption and cancellation insurance in case one of us become ill.

I just use insuremytrip.com also and pick the cheapest one that has the coverage I want. I think all the ones on there are mainstream companies, but you can see their AMBest ratings and ratings.

I've never had to make a claim so can't really say based on that, I usually buy from CSA, Travelex, Roundtrip or Travelguard. A friend of mine did have to make a claim from CSA and it was handled very quickly and properly, no problems. But hers was a lost luggage or something, I forget, she wasn't cancelling the entire trip, I think she missed a connection due to some problems, maybe had extra expenses for a day.

If you already have a trip planned, may be too late as you have to buy it within a short time frame of your first payment of some kind for a trip to get pre-existing conditions coverage. There is a little variation in that time period which you can check. Of course, they cover totally unexpected illnesses unrelated to something you already know about.

The key is to compare the benefits and the exclusions, not just the financial pay outs. AM Best ratings are usual, but you also want to know the extent of complaints on claims.

We had to cancel a trip due to unexpected cancer surgery and radiation. We needed to submit all doctors clinical notes. Travel Guard paid us 100% of the claim one month after files were submitted to them($15,000.) We have used them ever since.

" am looking for trip interruption and cancellation insurance in case one of us become ill."

What if one of you becomes ill or has an accident <b>during</b> the trip? Will your US medical insurance cover you? What about getting home?

I think any typical travel policy that covers trip interruption and cancellation due to illness includes medical coverage during the trip itself. Because that is what the interruption part means. The OP never said he was only concerned about before the trip, actually, that wouldn't be trip interruption.

The keys are to decide what kinds of coverage you need, what amount of coverage you want, and to read the fine print very carefully, so you know what the insurance company will and will not pay for.

Do you want to be able to cancel at any time, for any reason? Have trip interruption insurance? Repatriation of your remains if you die on the trip? Transportation to a medical facility, or to a medical facility of your choice? Coverage in case a family member back home dies or becomes seriously injured? Insurance in case you lose your job? Baggage insurance? You get the idea.

I would also check the terms of your current insurance (health, homeowners, credit card, whatever) carefully, so you know what coverage you already do, or do not, have.

The insurance comparison websites (squaremouth, insuremytrip) might get you started. I personally would buy a policy directly from the company, but that's up to you.

Also, you can buy a policy that just covers one particular trip/set of dates, or an annual policy. You might look into both options. When researching travel insurance for a planned European trip later this year, we discovered that we could get an annual policy that covers us not only for our big trip later this year, but any trip where we are more than 100 miles from home.

Again, read the fine print, and know what you are getting.

I've (thankfully) never had to make a claim, so I can't help with personal experience there.

Hope you find something that suits.

We have Allianz for Greece in October; comprehensive policy.

How much are people paying for 2-week, 3-week, etc. trips?

Just trying to get an idea of what people are paying.

Some cards will offer some travel insurance benefits, like the Chase Sapphire Reserve card, which claims travel delay, cancellation insurance, some medical reimbursements and even medical evacuation.

A lot of these policies say they offer up to $100k for medical evacuation but does that always mean covering your return to the US?

Or if it's in Europe, would they say you can get good medical care there so they wouldn't cover evacuation back to the US?

Or maybe you're in Africa somewhere and they would only evacuate you to Europe rather than all the way back to the US?

I also compare policies for MY needs on www.insuremytrip.com
That said, almost all policies require that you buy within 15 days of any initial trip payment IF you want preexisting conditions covered.
I used Travelguard some years ago, and submitted a claim for trip cancellation when we learned my DAD needed unexpected heart surgery 5 days before my departure.
All covered! If preex conditions or other family conditions are in play, choose accordingly!

I use Allianz. Just save all paperwork/receipts.

Medical evacuation does NOT necessarily cover getting you home, that is often called repatriation (distinct from repatriating remains, also an issue). You have to read the fine print, it often just means getting you to the nearest suitable medical facility (their definition of suitable). If you are in Europe you can probably do that yourself. If it is not clear you need to call the company and ask - some Fodorites on the Asia board buy coverage from DAN, but when I called them they said they would not have covered flying me home from Switzerland after I broke my wrist.

You also need to consider coverage for getting your travel companion home if you are not traveling solo, or coverage for having someone come to be with you if you are traveling solo or both of you are in an accident.