We 're going to Costa Rica next month and for the first time are thinking of taking out travel insurance, mostly for the medical aspects. Our health insurance doesn't cover us down there.

I've read the posts on the various forums but couldn't find any where someone had been unfortunate enough to need to use it. I'd like to know any experiences - good or bad - that might guide us to which company to use. Or more importantly, maybe, which to avoid.

Thanks,
Fran

make sure you have medical evacuation insurance in addition to any needed trip cancel insurance. amex has a med evac insurance plan that covers unlimited trips annually.

Hi Fran -- use insuremytrip.com & you can put in your own criteria. We had a claim once but it was a domestic location. Make sure you get medical plus evacuation, cancellation AND interruption.

Do it!! I never leave home without it.In The Ombudsman coupl eof issues back, ths sad sad story of the couple from Iowa.They went to Africa, rented a car.Had an accident.Had to be evacuated first to Germany then home.They are safe.But the bill for the medical treatment was $150K...Before the trip, they were 5 years away from retirement.Do I need to finish the story....

Thanks for the quick replies.

There is no question that we'll get the insurance, just trying to decide which company. I've done the comparison at Insure My Trip and that has helped us narrow it down.

Our main concern is the medical and evac part because we're flying on FF miles, and have unrefundables of less than $700.00. We're only 2 years from retirement so don't want to end up like those people BeachBoi mentioned.

Haven't been out of the U.S. in ages. Our medical insurance is great as long as we're here. But is non-existent outside our borders.

Hope to make a decision by tomorrow.

Thanks again,
Fran

Fran..Another note about insurance: it's pay up front, get reimbursed later.I usually go thru Travelguard. Best of luck and glad to hear it is a go for you getting the insurance.A friend's mom went to Cancun couple of years ago.She was going up some stairs.All of a sudden here comes a drunk guy tumbling down, knowcking her down.She is as we speak not toally "recovered". And, of course had not taken any insurance.

We recently took out a policy with Traveguard for an upcoming trip. I just reread the fine print, and no, we do NOT have to pay upfront for medical care.

We had to cancel a trip because of ill health and we had no trouble getting our money very promptly from Travelex.

I think you might be wise to buy a policy with primary coverage, but the people at insuremytrip are very helpful.

Good luck.

For what it's worth, I've had to make medical claims two times, once with Travelguard and once with Travelex. They were both easy to work with. I'd happily use either company again.

Beware of the medical evacuation portion. They ofter have a limit which is well below what actual evacuataion will cost.

Medical care out of the US is often times very inexpensive. I don't know Costa Rica but in Guatemala it's VERY inexpensive - at least to Americans.

Thanks for all the replies.

Travelguard and Trevelex are among the ones we're considering.

DH doesn't have to teach until tomorrow afternoon so we hope to settle this in the morning.

Thanks again,
Fran

A former employer covered those in third world travels with "International SOS" for possible medevac. It wasn't very expensive and it was a comfort to know it was there.
See: http://www.internationalsos.com/en/i...TOKEN=97174033

Have a great trip

P.S. Not for a minute suggesting Costa Rica is third world.. oops.

NYTimes article re: trip insurance of May 5, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/06/tr...tml?ref=travel

Thanks for the articles.

We decided to go with CSA since our major concern was regarding medical and evac coverage and they had the most "bang for the buck" so to speak and a great reputation from all I could find to read.

This is one vacation expense I hope not to utilize.

Less than 3 days and we're off.

Fran