My wife (she is in her 60s) and I (late 70s) are headed - hopefully - to Switzerland for one week in September 2022. We purchased the cheap Allianz / Delta award tickets insurance - 4 years ago and has been cancelled (and modified to the next trip) 4 times due to Covid. We are not concerned about trip cancellation, interruption, delay, etc. but due to age and pre-existing medical conditions want at least higher limits on the emergency medical and transportation coverage (Allianz / Delta is limited to $500).

Read "glover" posting that had great information (mentioned Seven Corners, squaremouth.com and insuremytrip.com). Any experience with Allianz offering increased medical coverage? Any experience with Med Jet Assist, Travel Guard or Global Rescue (Peter Greenberg recommends these)? Other suggestions? Asking for us and 2 other seniors tagging along.

Thanks

I recently bought an Allianz policy through AA with $25,000 medical coverage but with no pre-existing conditions. I imagine that’s the reason for the low coverage. I did call them to ask about Covid coverage so you might call & ask if you can add additional medical. It’s a place to start. If not, try insuremytrip.com which has been recommended by people here & where I’d have headed next if Allianz hadn’t worked.

Most policies will only cover pre-existing conditions if you buy the insurance within 14 days of the the first payment. Since that was four years ago you may be best off trying to get your Allianz benefits increased. You might also call Seven Corners to ask abut their policies. You do need to be aware that as a person in their late 70s there will be limits on how much coverage you can buy. I don't think Seven Corners will cover you for more than $50,000 medical but they should cover $100,000 for evacuation /repatriation. (Be careful that an evacuation policy will get you home and not just to the nearest facility.) I once wound up in an emergency room in Switzerland and the first thing they asked about was my insurance coverage....

We have had several large travel medical claims that were 100% paid within a month withTravel Guard. We had a friend who did not have travel medical insurance and needed to be returned to the US on a medical jet, $75,000. Get the insurance!

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I just go with several firms, depending on best price for a particular trip. I"ve used Allianz, Travelguard, Travelex and a couple others, I think. A friend used Allianz and did have a claim (I never did) and said they were excellent.

The cost is pretty cheap for the medical and evacuation, which is why I get it as I hardly ever prepay anything, and the few things I do, I am perfectly happoy to bear the risk. What affects the price of the premium is what you put in as the dollar amt covered (which as they note is ONLY for funds you cannot be reimbused). I never even buy an air ticket where I can't at least get a credit if I cancel.

I have never even seen one of those policies with such low limits on medical as $500, no wonder it was cheap. Even the cheapest policies generally cover evacuation at rates from $250K to $1MM, and medical from maybe $25K and upwards.

So just go to insuremytrip.com or squaremouth, etc and compare plans for what you want. I just checked and for a two week trip to France ensuring $500 for a 70 yr old in my state, the cheapest policies were around $75-$100 and some had up to $1M in evacuation coverage. The baggage, delay etc coverage is just a bonus to me, I get it for the medical.

I do not know why you are focusing on firms like Medjet which is solely evacuation. On regular policies, as I said, that is included but of course it only is usable if you really need it and are in a place without decent medical care, it's not on demand. If you want the deluxe ones on demand, etc., you will of course pay more, I don't know anything about them. Because I've never been interested, I don't even know if Medjet policies are on demand, although I suspect they have one like that. Checking, they charge $400 for a one year policy for a family for med evac only. Now one advantage would be that would be only an annual fee and it would also cover you for domestic travel. But it is not on demand, it is for serious illnesses. Their exclusons --

Medjet medical transport services are not available to a Member with mild lesions, simple injuries such as sprains, simple fractures or mild illnesses that can be treated by local doctors and do not prevent the Member from continuing his or her trip or returning home without medical attention.

At your ages, I would think you would want the medical coverage also, unless you somehow have a policy at home that covers you abroad, most people don't. For me, buying a comprehensive one for all the delays etc plus medical plus evacuation is preferable.