I just thought I would share a reason for travel insurance, specifically "primary" travel insurance.

I have older clients who went on an Alaskan cruise. Left Florida, went to Seattle. Didn't do well on the plane ride and ended up renting a wheel chair somewhere in Seattle to have for the entire cruise.

On Day 3 of the cruise while on an excursion, he started having seizures and fell flat on his face. He was rushed to the hospital in Juneau, where he spent 3 nights there. They were moved to a hotel right next to the hospital for 3 nights and the insurance company is flying them home Saturday. The insurance company has handled everything. I'm not 100% sure, but they may even be flying a nurse home with them (On Call International is handling the flight portion). While it is possible his regular medical insurance would have handled some of this since he is actually in the US right now, it could have been very different if he was somewhere else.

Primary medical insurance - pays first. They will wire $$ to the hospital if it is something major, otherwise you file for reimbursement. Secondary coverage you have to file with your insurance company first, and they will pay what is left over (up to policy limits).

Travel insurance is not very expensive, especially if you are getting medical coverage only. The insurance you purchase through the cruise lines, etc, is all secondary and the medical coverage limits are much lower. Granted, it is still better than nothing. Most like the cruise line/vendor insurance because they have "cancel for any reason" options in there, which I like too. The medical coverage is just crap.

Arch RoamRight is primary insurance (what my clients have). I believe Travel Insured and Allianz is as well, but I would be sure to ask.

For medical coverage only, often the policies are less than $100 for 2 people (depends on age and length of trip). For people in their 30's I've seen it under $50. Now if you want cancellation coverage that does up the cost, but still not something crazy.

I have a trip to France in a few weeks (July 1 - 15). I have no intention of canceling the trip but with world events and this type of issue you describe, you never know. Does the cost of the insurance go up the closer you get to the trip? Is there a "best time" to acquire the insurance?

Thank you!

Unless you purchase insurance when you book, you can't cancel for "any" reason at this point. You would only be able to cancel for a "covered" reason and you have to have documentation. So like you get the flu, death in the immediate family, etc.

If you try to buy it now, I doubt things like riots, etc would be covered because it's a "known event". Kind of like buying insurance after you are sick (which coverage would he denied).

Pricing is based on the cost and length of the trip, as well as age. So I've had insurance cost over $1k for a 90 year old woman and her daughter on a European trip.

Also pre-existing conditions aren't usually covered unless you purchase it at the time you book your trip (can vary per provider).

**please note I am not a licensed insurance agent and you would need to verify coverage with whomever you purchased insurance through.

Thank you! very helpful.

I would not travel internationally without confirming you have a way to return home in a critical emergency - particularly a health emergency.

Most other things can be a setback, monetarily or otherwise. Getting stuck abroad and at the mercy of the local healthcare system, regardless of country, is not ideal.

Thanks for sharing. Reminds me to ensure we have our coverages in place for an upcoming trip.

Just bumping this again since I know there was a recent question about insurance, and another reason why to have it.

While I don't have all of the costs or anything yet, a Texager booked a company trip with me and purchased Roamright insurance. Today one of their employees broke their foot and was taken to the ER in Cancun. While in this case they will pay up front and get reimbursed, all of it should be completely covered. As a travel agent, this takes so much stress off of us, especially knowing how many thousands places like Mexico, Jamaica require up front before they will treat you in a hospital.

I am sure I will get more info as we go on (they are now back at the hotel), just another reason that $75-$150 policy can save you thousands. The insurance company was going to fly them home today if necessary.

I was able to get them upgraded to business class (at my cost) for the extra legroom on the way home. I am just grateful they are going to be okay.

I sell Travel Insured…..it is worth the few extra dollars on an expensive trip.

Where do you even get travel insurance and how much is it? Wife and I have been probably 15 international trips together and never once purchased travel specific insurance. Honestly, never even remotely considered it.

Just online. I sell RoamRight. Travel Insured is another good one. I used to sell Travel Guard and CSA too but I pretty much stick with RR now thanks to how great they are.

If you're just doing medical and travel only and not any cancellation protection, it's often under $100 for two people. I've had it as low as 30 some thing for two people it's all based on age. When you start including cancellation coverage the cost can increase but still not dramatically. The person that was injured today their portion was about $90 something dollars and it had trip cancellation protection.

I can also sell it, my email is in my signature.

If you travel much, you might want to consider an annual travel insurance policy. Most travel insurance companies offer them. Mine covers all trips over 100 miles (think this pretty standard but don't remember for sure). I travel a lot both domestically and internationally so it makes the cost per trip very reasonable for what I want coverage for. Pretty much keep it in effect all the time.

ocag said:

---

If you travel much, you might want to consider an annual travel insurance policy. Most travel insurance companies offer them. Mine covers all trips over 100 miles (think this pretty standard but don't remember for sure). I travel a lot both domestically and internationally so it makes the cost per trip very reasonable for what I want coverage for. Pretty much keep it in effect all the time.

---

Correct. I have an annual policy under Allianz. With that said, the cancelation limits are much lower and medical isn't quite as good. But that is what I have. Mine was around $450 for my family of 3.

Which tier do you have with Allianz? I was going to get RR for my trip this month but its more than the annual Allianz plan.

Are you covering the cancellation part of the trip, or just medical? Cause that would seem odd, I rarely see it over $100 for medical only.

My Allianz plan is AllTrips Premier Plan

I will say I'm not 100% its primary, I need to find out. I know most of their plans are. I do know single trips on RR have higher medical coverage, but RR's annual plan had lower coverage than this Allianz one.

This plan is
$2k trip interruption
$500k emergency transportation
$2k baggage delay
$2k trip cancellation
$50k travel accident coverage
$50k emergency medical
$2k baggage loss
$1500 travel delay

What is weird is I can't sell this policy as a travel agent, for some reason it isn't available to us. I had to purchase it like I was a regular consumer.

Im looking for a medical plan, but being a scuba trip, it is sometimes not covered or at a premium. Just trying to find the best option, cause an annual plan seems like a great idea. Not all my trips are diving, but about half are.

Oh yes, there is added coverage needed to cover scuba diving.

So do you think go with RR or Allianz? or am I making this more difficult than it should be? lol

The annual plan probably won't cover scuba diving, you would need to call them. With RR it's added coverage. I don't think you can go wrong with either, I think it's just about making sure what you need to be covered is covered.

What about insurance through a credit card? Any success or horror stories there?

Honestly I have no clue. I'm sure I have it through mine but not something I'm banking on. Some clients tell me they have it so I let it go.

So I did a ton of shopping and finally settled on the RR one trip with diving, $79 out the door. I am still looking into annual plans because the quote I got from Allianz for just me was $1050. I do not think the rep took my info down right, that seemed excessive. I wanted something without the extreme sports option and I think he included it.

This is the plan I have. It was around $450 for my fam of 3.

https://www.allianztravelinsurance.com/find-a-plan/alltrips-premier.htm?accam=F202942&gbraid=0AAAAADkrlDp-TyLT9POVyhmvPMtHV2WBW&gclid=CjwKCAjw-7OlBhB8EiwAnoOEk2X7OfilFuR_Y3KaDPsqtV_JLGkZP-VgnjU2CnRhBupBkajL5Jy0lxoCEwoQAvD_BwE

What about skydiving?

You would need to ask the company. High risk activities aren't covered under normal plans. Some things you can purchase extra coverage for, some things not at all.

I believe that was listed on the extreme sports add on for the policy I got. It was $30 extra per trip.

Thank you for the PSA! Do you have any thoughts on Medjet? I like that their Medjet assist plan appears to offer coverage to the hospital of your choice in your home country vs. the Allianz plan which offers coverage up to $500k to the nearest hospital or acceptable facility. I'm not so much looking for the basic travel insurance coverages that Allianz offers.

I've not sold MedJet but I've heard great things about it.

I will say one thing we learned this past week is once you were home the medical insurance stops. Someone broke their foot in Mexico and needed surgery. They flew home and now have to file with their own insurance company (and pay the deductible). Just one thing to consider. While I wouldn't have wanted to have surgery in Mexico, had they done so they would have had it 100% covered.

This is helpful! It's not something I've even considered until these couple of threads popped up. Thank you for sharing your knowledge!

JMAC

Thanks for the link to this thread over on the GB.

It reminded me that I met a woman who had a trip planned to the Black Sea with her husband some years back. It was a cruise, if I remember correctly.

She had a recurrence of cancer after being disease-free for 17 years, and it was not long before the start of their planned trip.

They had trip insurance. It saved them $19,000.

This thread is a good reminder.

Thank you!!

A friend had Allianz for medical but also purchased Medjet for evacuation.

His spouse became seriously ill in Hawaii. Allianz was fine with medical transportation and believed the hospital in Hawaii was appropriate for her condition. It was but they both wanted to be at home around families physicians/hospitals.

Medjet flew them home. No questions asked.