Travel Insurance - who buys it?

[ForeverSki]

One more thing — third-party trip insurance usually covers transportation to rejoin a cruise ship if delayed at port, or additional cost to return home. Credit card based trip interruption/delay usually only reimburses you for non-refundable tickets you didn’t/couldn’t use, not necessarily the additional cost of another flight or lodging. Although it might be covered under medical if the delay is medically related. A good question to ask is, if you were snowed in for a couple of days and incurred additional lodging plus rebooking a flight for a higher cost, would the trip interruption/delay insurance cover it? Many people would self-insure for those situations rather than paying 5-6% for the additional coverage.

 

[Lauren]

Anyone here purchase insurance that includes backcountry/sidecountry protection? So many take an exception to "extreme" skiing, i.e. anything out of bounds.

Recommendations?

 

[Itinerant skier]

Anyone here purchase insurance that includes backcountry/sidecountry protection? So many take an exception to "extreme" skiing, i.e. anything out of bounds.

Recommendations?

Consider Global Rescue or Ripcord. Membership programs rather than traditional insurance, they specialize in "extreme" type activities.

I mentioned this recently in another thread on the topic. Get travel insurance /membership of one sort or another. This is my job, so I am a bit biased, but most people never think they will need our services. Most won't, but if you do, we cost between $7,000 and $10,000 per flight hour. Buy. The. Insurance. Don't be the family forced to raid the retirement account or worse, post a gofundme on Facebook to get flown home after an illness or injury.

 

[Lauren]

Consider Global Rescue or Ripcord. Membership programs rather than traditional insurance, they specialize in "extreme" type activities.

I mentioned this recently in another thread on the topic. Get travel insurance /membership of one sort or another. This is my job, so I am a bit biased, but most people never think they will need our services. Most won't, but if you do, we cost between $7,000 and $10,000 per flight hour. Buy. The. Insurance. Don't be the family forced to raid the retirement account or worse, post a gofundme on Facebook to get flown home after an illness or injury.

Thank you. I’ll take a look at both of those companies. I completely agree that insurance is necessary. I have some coverage through my credit card, as others have mentioned (Chase Sapphire Reserve), but after my husband’s cousin landed himself in the hospital in Chile when we were on a trip, it made me reevaluate my options (he had purchased insurance that covered the vast majority of his bill). I’m ironing out the last details for a trip to Japan in a few weeks and realized I hadn’t looked into this yet.

 

[Ski&ride]

Do all these insurance start when you leave home?

Any of these insurance covers say injury that makes it impossible to go on a trip 2 weeks or 2 months later? (flights/hotel)

 

[Lauren]

Do all these insurance start when you leave home?

I've spent an excessive amount of time researching these past couple weeks. Most that I looked into give different options for different durations. You would generally select your departure date (and when the insurance starts), and how long you want the insurance for (7 day/2 weeks/1 month/etc). Some of the membership options will give you the option of 1-year membership that will cover any and all trips during that timeframe.

 

[Pat AKA mustski]

The nationwide insurance covers anything that is more than 100 miles from home for an entire year. It does not include cancellation insurance. I have that through my credit card.

 

[Ski&ride]

Some of the membership options will give you the option of 1-year membership that will cover any and all trips during that timeframe.

Do you mind sharing some links?

Hotel and airlines are offering their booking specific coverage. Basically cancellation insurance. But I’m wondering if a season long policy might actually comes out cheaper, and may even covers more.

 

[Pequenita]

In hindsight, I should have bought travel insurance for my heliski trip, and I will if I go on other one and for all future international trips. I do not live far enough from where I ski for many of the annual policies to cover me.

A lot of SAR in the US is "free" because they are frequently volunteer groups affiliated with a police or sheriff department. Should I need extraction, I would make a generous donation to that SAR. My medical insurance covers a significant amount of a flight to the medical facility. So the remaining part that insurance would help cover is if I am so injured that I cannot return home via a personal vehicle or commercial flight, and I think that would depend on a trip-by-trip basis whether to get insured. I can personally suck up the financial impact of a commercial flight cancellation or trip delay, and portions are covered by my credit card.

You do want to read the fine print on the annual policies. Many of them aren't so much insurance but rather companies that organize the logistics for you if you are injured or require rescue, and you need to call them first to coordinate rescues, not 911 or the local SAR. But as I mentioned, in the US, a lot of rescues are paid by taxpayers, not the rescued party.

If it's regular travel insurance, it's probably different.

Last ETA: @elemmac -- fyi https://americanalpineclub.org/rescue

 

[Lauren]

Do you mind sharing some links?

Hotel and airlines are offering their booking specific coverage. Basically cancellation insurance. But I’m wondering if a season long policy might actually comes out cheaper, and may even covers more.

I had looked into Ripcord Rescue, Global Rescue and MedJet (as serious contenders). If you go onto any of their sites, they’re pretty easy to navigate, and their customer service was great for questions...I focused on companies that offer medical evacuation insurances. After talking with my credit card benefits rep I realized that my credit card (Chase Sapphire Reserve) covers the majority of the same protections that those companies did, as long as I book my trip with my card (less coverage for Rescue, but still sufficient for my needs).

I would like to clarify that most of the companies I looked into constitute a trip as 100 miles from home (as @Pat AKA mustski mentioned above).

 

[Sibhusky]

Any of these insurance covers say injury that makes it impossible to go on a trip 2 weeks or 2 months later? (flights/hotel)

I always buy "cancel for any reason" insurance because I travel with others. It covers all kinds of eventualities. Basically, if my daughter can't go because of work, I'll get my expenses back as well, because she is listed as a travel companion. This would also apply to medical issues, but you have to watch those and buy the insurance within a certain number of days of booking.

 

[karlo]

Anyone here purchase insurance that includes backcountry/sidecountry protection? So many take an exception to "extreme" skiing, i.e. anything out of bounds.

Recommendations?

Where one needs to be evacuated, for sure. I’d have my own insurance if the guide’s doesn’t cover it.

Consider Global Rescue or Ripcord. Membership programs rather than traditional insurance, they specialize in "extreme" type activities.

Extreme is a relative term. I’d look at it from the point of view of cost and probability. What’s the cost to be evacuated from a site, what are the types of events that my result in a need, what are the probabilities.

If I’m doing offpiste next to groomers in EU and am likely to be able to crawl over to a groomer for free ski patrol services, I wouldn’t bother. If I’m going offpiste down the backside from a resort, I’d have insurance, my own or a guide’s. If I’m truly in the backcountry, ditto to the latter.

I use Global Rescue. Fortunately, I can’t say if their services are good or bad.

 

[Pat AKA mustski]

Quite a few companies do not cover "extreme" skiing. Nationwide is one of them. When I called to clarify the definition, I was told that anything outside of ski area boundaries is considered extreme. Since we don't backcountry ski that works for us. Probably, glades and some side country stuff is a grey area; hence my joke about dragging our bodies back on piste before calling ski patrol.

 

[dbostedo]

Probably, glades and some side country stuff is a grey area

In-bounds glades wouldn't be a problem. But side-country is no different than backcountry. (Which is why some dislike the term, as some people seem to think side- country is somehow safer.)

 

[Pat AKA mustski]

^^^ very likely true. I am wondering about glades in Europe though since off piste is not patrolled.

 

[noncrazycanuck]

we always have travel insurance (the wifes former jobs cover it) but depending on where you go, it may not be worth paying a lot extra for.
below is what i've paid while out of Canada - never actually used our insurance yet ,thankfully.

Sweden (a while ago) doctor visit and the medication -$12 Canadian
Cuba/Mexico/Dominican several of our group have had doctor visits at some point and has always been free and almost free for meds
Thailand - grandkids trips to doctors and all meds they needed, no charge
wife's trip to very nice hospital, comfy seats,no waiting ,2 doctors multiple staff mri blood work and meds $56
Netherlands- after my wife got run over, ambulance, and xrays blood work, bandaging - bill was " no charge your Canadian and thank you "
France -hospital visit,blood work xrays multiple scans after a concusion - eventually a bill came in the mail for <200 Canadian. I expected more zeros.

however
Point Roberts, Washington State a nieghbor had a heart attack ,rather than tossing him over the fence back into Canada ( our go to plan for guests)
some one called 911, local Point Roberts Medics showed up and they flew him to Bellingham. Last I heard the bill was over 100k and rising.

 

[dbostedo]

Cuba/Mexico/Dominican several of our group have had doctor visits at some point and has always been free and almost free for meds

In the Dominican Republic, I had x-rays, an overnight hospital stay, 2 IV bags of antibiotics, and a couple if prescriptions, and it was ~$1100. Cheap compared to some places. But not free.

 

[Ski&ride]

I always buy "cancel for any reason" insurance because I travel with others. It covers all kinds of eventualities. Basically, if my daughter can't go because of work, I'll get my expenses back as well, because she is listed as a travel companion. This would also apply to medical issues, but you have to watch those and buy the insurance within a certain number of days of booking.

Are you talking about those offered by package tour operation like a cruise or something?

For ski trip, it’s a la cart, flight, hotel, rental car, lift tickets... Which company offers insurance refunds you those when your companion can’t go due to work?

 

[Sibhusky]

Are you talking about those offered by package tour operation like a cruise or something?

For ski trip, it’s a la cart, flight, hotel, rental car, lift tickets... Which company offers insurance refunds you those when your companion can’t go due to work?

No , a la carte. I don't do package tours. There's places that you give them the whole trip total and they insure it all.

 

[Eleeski]

I need insurance to cover my trip when the snow's crappy? Sigh. We are still enjoying the trip!

Eric