Travel Insurance - who buys it?

[Pat AKA mustski]

Since, I just re-upped my travel insurance for the year, I got to wondering who else purchases it and what they buy. The Nationwide base policy is $59/year but I want the higher medical evacuation dollars just in case. I buy an annual policy which for $79/year covers both Bob and I. It does not cover extreme skiing, or helicopter skiing, but it does include all in bounds skiing. So if you are skiing out of bounds with Bob and something happens, please drag his body back in bounds before calling ski patrol. JUST KIDDING! Here is the coverage in a nutshell.

 

[dbostedo]

I've bought trip insurance for a few expensive international trips... but for most of my domestic trips, I go without.

 

[mdf]

I bought insurance for my helicopter skiing that I had to cancel. It was 10% of the total cost, but well worth it.

For garden variety domestic trips, I alternate between "its a rip-off, no way" and "it might have paid for the three nights I spent in Dallas when the entire East coast was shut down by a blizzard, and it's cheap enough to not be a big deal it they refuse to pay".

 

[Decreed_It]

I do, sometimes. For Steamboat and Telluride trips this year, it's cheap relative to total travel costs. Not for Alta. I should look into the full season option, especially if the travel cancellation benefits are good.

Is your primary concern medical/health risk?

 

[kayco53]

I see it quite often here in BC that people from the states get hurt and then worry about insurance. For non Canadians ie no MSP Ambulance or helicopter rides can be expensive as well as hospital care.When I went to MT Baker on a regular basis Insurance to go to the US is only about $120 a year cdn. So I doubt it much worse the other way around.

 

[Pat AKA mustski]

I do, sometimes. For Steamboat and Telluride trips this year, it's cheap relative to total travel costs. Not for Alta. I should look into the full season option, especially if the travel cancellation benefits are good.

Is your primary concern medical/health risk?

My primary concern is medical evacuation costs. I worry about out of country trips more than within the USA. The rest is just perks. If my luggage gets lost and I have to purchase clothing at a ski resort, it will be nice to have some coverage.

 

[mdf]

The canceled helicopter trip I mentioned above was tacked onto the Whistler gathering. I also got medical insurance for the whole trip, since I wasn't if my regular insurance covered Canada. So I submitted the bill for the clinic visit with X-ray for my knee. The insurance refused to pay, saying it was covered by my primary health insurance back home. Since I have a high-deductible plan, that meant I got to pay for it. Luckily health services are cheap in Canada.

(I think a side benefit of universal coverage is that Canadian health care doesn't have the "mark it up so we can discount it" pricing model we have here.)

 

[FlyingAce]

Many credit card companies already have trip interruption or lost luggage coverage if you use their card to pay for the trip. Have you looked into that?

 

[Sibhusky]

I used it years ago and it covered lost reservations, new plane tickets, additional lodging and meals, and hospitalization. I've bought it again for a trip in September. Pricey last time at $371, but, I got $15000 out of it.

 

[DanoT]

Travel&Medical insurance for Canadians traveling to the US has gotten a lot more costly in the past few years. I now pay over $800Cdn for what used to be $350 or so for a month's coverage. Of course I am an old guy and the coverage also includes boarding/transporting my dog if I am hospitalized, transporting my vehicle home and more.

 

[goaliedad]

We only buy it for expensive, long cruises, where the risk of medical, evacuation, or other issues is relatively high. Haven't done any heli-ski or other ski-related things that I couldn't self-insure.

 

[mdf]

Many credit card companies already have trip interruption or lost luggage coverage if you use their card to pay for the trip. Have you looked into that?

Many credit card companies are ditching benefits. Make sure the ones you think you have are still valid.
See for example
https://www.pugski.com/threads/dont-rent-a-car-with-a-citi-credit-card.16293/

 

[VickiK]

I buy it, in case something dire happens and plans need to be cancelled, bc it's cheap relative to total travel costs.

 

[Pat AKA mustski]

Many credit card companies already have trip interruption or lost luggage coverage if you use their card to pay for the trip. Have you looked into that?

I use the Chase Saphire and it covers all that. As I said the insurance I buy is only $79/year and it covers up to $250,000 in medical evacuation costs.

We only buy it for expensive, long cruises, where the risk of medical, evacuation, or other issues is relatively high. Haven't done any heli-ski or other ski-related things that I couldn't self-insure.

We like to cruise also. The $79/year covers all our trips for 12 months. I look at this way, if one of us has to be life flighted via helicopter to a hospital, I'd like to be sure that won't be an out of pocket cost. I hope we never need that, but some ski resorts are quite a distance from full service hospitals.

 

[ForeverSki]

I did a little research into this not too long ago due to the Costco card discontinuing travel benefits. I ended up getting the Chase Sapphire Reserve card. There are two types of benefits that may or may not be covered by the same insurer - trip cancellation/interruption and emergency medical expense/evacuation.

Many credit cards include trip cancellation/interruption benefits, but maybe only for transportation like airfare and rail. The Sapphire Reserve also covers non-refundable lodging, car rentals, and tours.

My health insurance covers ambulance services, to include air ambulance, if it is medically necessary and the transportation is to the nearest hospital. It does not cover any further transportation to return home. The Sapphire Reserve coverage is secondary and would pay whatever my health insurance doesn’t pay, up to $100K. It pays for transportation home after the hospital visit and also covers flying a relative to you if you must stay in the hospital for longer than a week. I’d like to think between my health insurance and the Sapphire Reserve, I’m good for emergency medical.

So far I haven’t had to use any of these benefits. I do get specific trip insurance for cruises though. The medical coverage is primary so we don’t have to go through our own health insurance first, which I didn’t know ahead of time. It also has missed port coverage. We used both on our last cruise and the reimbursement nearly paid for the insurance cost.

 

[bbinder]

I usually skip travel insurance because I have heard so many horror stories about trying to collect on a claim, but purchased it for the the family trip we had planned to South Africa this past September. Good thing too: my younger daughter ended up needing back surgery in early September due to progressive debilitating pain. We were able to collect in full and rebooked the trip. Daria is pain free now and looking forward to skiing.

 

[crgildart]

I assume it helps if the credit card bank is also a major insurance company. I use a USAA card for purchases where the chances of a problem are higher than zero then pay it off immediately. We just went to submit passport paperwork and fees earlier this week so we can ponder some international vacations and not have that hoop to jump through before pulling the trigger. I guess I would definitely take a deeper dive in to the credit card benefits and additional travel insurance options if we leave the motherland.

 

[EricG]

I purchased trip interruption/baggage delay ($20) for my upcoming March trip as I am 0 for 2 in getting my skis/board arrive with in a day or 2 of my arrival. my last 2 trips have resulted in my boards being delayed several days or the last time a week. Now that I purchased the coverage my boards will arrive with me.

 

[Pat AKA mustski]

I purchased trip interruption/baggage delay ($20) for my upcoming March trip as I am 0 for 2 in getting my skis/board arrive with in a day or 2 of my arrival. my last 2 trips have resulted in my boards being delayed several days or the last time a week. Now that I purchased the coverage my boards will arrive with me.

yup. Murphy’s Law! I won’t ski without my health insurance card in my pocket!

 

[ForeverSki]

I assume it helps if the credit card bank is also a major insurance company. I use a USAA card for purchases where the chances of a problem are higher than zero then pay it off immediately. We just went to submit passport paperwork and fees earlier this week so we can ponder some international vacations and not have that hoop to jump through before pulling the trigger. I guess I would definitely take a deeper dive in to the credit card benefits and additional travel insurance options if we leave the motherland.

USAA actually sells trip insurance as well. The cost is comparable to others at about 5 - 6% of total trip cost. What’s unique about it is it reimburses up to 150% for trip interruption and the medical evacuation is at $1M. For expensive trips out of the country, I’d definitely consider USAA.