<p>Have looked at MedJet Assist for medical evacuation. Any other suggestions?</p>
<p>We didn’t make a claim but we used GeoBlue from Blue Cross for international health insurance. Since there were more than five of us, I could make it a group policy and it was pretty darn cheap. Maybe it wouldn’t have been worth anything, but it looked good to me.</p>
<p>Thanks, but that doesn’t cover evacuation, which would likely be our highest expense. We aren’t too worried about medical, since our insurance should cover us.</p>
<p>Trip insurance and travel medical insurance are two different things. I just bought travel health insurance from GeoBlue for under $90 for 2 weeks. I think the evacuation benefit is the important part - I can’t say it any better than travelnut did in post #15. The actual medical bills can be submitted to your home insurer post-trip – but that’s not going to cover airfare and special arrangements that might go along with an impaired medical condition during the flight. </p>
<p>For our trip for $12,000 total with the 3 of us and only filtering for trip evacuation insurance of at least $50,000, the premiums start at nearly $600 for all of us.</p>
<p>We have travelled to over 80 countries with our family. We ALWAYS have insurance and private evacuation insurance. The insurance has covered us so many times I can not count. From our son’s emergency appendectomy in Kenya to Treatment of bacterial respiratory issues in third world countries, to canceling trips completely due to my elderly parents’ illnesses. Some recommendations from someone who is quite experienced in this is… Travel Ex insurance has paid ALL of our claims with little hassle. Most of the time we use their Travel -Lite product. If you sign up for it within 2 weeks of booking trip it covers all preexisting conditions including elderly parents if you have to cancel or come home for them. For evacuation we use an additional policy from Medjet. You can get yearly or just single trip coverage. They will fly you to any hospital in the world you want to go to. </p>
<p>What we have learned is that you always hope that nothing goes wrong, but there is always that chance that it could and having coverage is so helpful! It is money well spent.</p>
<p>Check AAA. I was able to get great rates through them when I took my Girl Scouts to Ghana. The Girl Scout insurance was great for the medical but did not cover lost luggage or missed flights so we opted to pay the extra $30 or $40 a person “just in case” to have extra insurance.</p>
<p>As I said, you can get the medical coverage separately – I’m wondering if the cost is being driven up because you are also covering the airfare with the same policy. I think you should shop around – but given the uncertainty of world events, I think that you should consider the trip cancellation insurance as well. There’s a lot that can go wrong. </p>
<p>But again, they are two different things – one is predictable – the out-of-pocket cost you have already paid in advance for air fare – and the other is unpredictable - the potential costs of medical plus return travel in the event of injury or serious illness. </p>
<p>If you’re relying on your own medical insurance for illness or injuries while traveling, you may want to double check to make sure you’ve got the insurance you expect. I thought our plan covered us everywhere until I had a medical issue while on a cruise. It turned out that if the medical treat,emt is incurred abroad, the insurance only covered 80%. The travel insurance covered 100%. </p>
<p>The insurance i got (post 18) includes medivac. We are going to Tulum in February. Our coverage includes illness, death, accident, weather that prevents travel for more than 24 hours, medivac, compensation if we get stuck along the way someplace.</p>
<p>We insured for $1200 each…airfare, shuttle costs, 1/2 each for hotel, excursions…$75 a person. It’s only a five day trip. </p>
<p>YMMV…so you need to contact them with your specifics.</p>
<p>We got this recommendation from two sources. Apparently USAA recommends them (my MIL gave me that), and our insurance agent recommended them.</p>
<p>I haven’t used them myself before, and have never made a claim…don’t know how that would work.</p>
<p>But their customer service folks were very helpful on the phone when I applied for the coverage.</p>
<p>Am considering just getting a DAN (Divers Alert Network) membership for $55 for H & me for a year. It includes medical evacuation for up to $100,000. Granted, they choose the nearest suitable facility, NOT you, but it is something that would reduce the huge cost if for some reason medical evacuation may be needed in the next year, including during our trip to Korea.</p>
<p>Am sending my BIL the brochure for the $197 premium for the insurance the travel agent is offering for the 12 day $3888 trip to Korea so he can decide if he wants to buy it. IF he just wants the evacuation insurance with DAN, it would be $35 for a year. I think we’ll self insure for everything other than the evacuation. H & my premium would total over $400 for the 2 of us.</p>
<p>This is interesting to me to read this, as I travel extensively internationally for work, and it’s never occurred to me to think of buying travel insurance, at all. I don’t have any health issues, though. </p>
<p>I have little need for a travel agent as there isn’t anything they can do that I can’t do myself, and often better (I’ve had travel agents route me in ways that made no sense and on airlines I wouldn’t touch with a ten-foot pole). Since it seems to be a dying industry, I’d be suspicious that it was just a new way for travel agents to drum up revenue because self-service travel is here to stay. </p>
<p>If your travel is business related, it’s likely that many costs are being borne by your employer. I don’t use a travel agent to plan my trips, but I do buy insurance. I’d note that most study-abroad programs require students to have such insurance, and also entry into many countries requires proof of insurance.</p>
<p>We paid for our first deposits with our Chade Ink credit card that provides some travel insurance, including trip interruption and cancellation coverage. We are contemplating whether to get the DAN evacuation inexpensive memberships. We are pretty healthy but my folks are aging and hard to say what the future may bring. IF anything happens to them (tho they are currently in good health), we would like the option to cancel without penalties. </p>
<p>Trip cancellation can drive the premium up; try seeing what it is without it.</p>
<p>Following on hayden in #28: Besides finding out how much your medical insurer will reimburse you, you might also want to ask what kind of medical care they will pay for and where. Close questioning of my insurer revealed that they will pay for treatment received at the “nearest medically appropriate facility”. Sounds reasonable, until you find out that they have sole determination as to what is “medically appropriate.” And you may not be able to obtain this information before your treatment. The word “nearest” is also important. Say you have surgery at Hospital A on the recommendation of the local doctor. Months later the insurer notifies you that Hospital B, which is 2 miles closer to where the injury occurred, would have served you just as well, and therefore your reimbursement is 0%. Remember that, just like medical treatment in the US, the insurer is always looking for a way to deny the claim, and you just gave them the excuse they needed.</p>
<p>Add evacuation on top of that, and you could be looking at six figures for a medical mishap overseas.</p>
<p>My insurer will pay for medical expenses up to the “usual and customary” rates. I suspect ours in the US are significantly higher than those in S. Korea, so that should be fine for us. When I’m in the US, there is usually a participating & preferred BCBS provider around if I need care. My insurer and I have been able to work out reimbursement for care I’ve received outside of HI pretty well, though it has taken persistence on my part over the years.</p>
<p>I am just getting the trip cancellation coverage which COMES from charging the travel on our credit card, as well as trip interruption coverage and lost or delayed luggage. It was pay 3% credit card fee and get it vs. paying check or cash and NOT get it. In this case, we are being charged the 3% because that is what the travel agency is paying the bank for accepting our credit card. There is no room for negotiation or deleting any coverage–just use the CC & pay the 3% or don’t and get coverage some other way. We get to choose how much of our trip we want to charge and can only recover up to that amount or $10,000 per claim and card, whichever is lower.</p>
<p>I bought Travel Guard once for my D and once for myself for overseas trips. I am not sure Travel Guard is better than other companies.</p>
<p>Himom, I’m going to S. Korea as well! </p>
<p>I just got an online quote from one of the companies listed above. My total trip cost aside from one hotel stay is minor, as I’m using FF miles. So the travel insurance quote is quite reasonable, and I’m getting insurance as primary for medical and evacuation, for the most part. However, I’m not sure how, or if to value the miles. If I needed to cancel, I’d be charged a hefty fee to change the booking by the airline. Should that fee be included in my trip cost? Or is there another way to figure the value of mile awards? </p>
<p>The Chase card I have will pay any penalty and other charges up to the amount you charge, subject to terms of their contract. It will cover trips using mileage points and awards. The trip we are going on is all inclusive and escorted from HNL to S. Korea. It will be nonstop both directions. We are going with a tour and I’m pleased.</p>