Traveler's insurance?

04274108

Check your credit card too. With mine, I get 4 weeks full medical insurance internationally if I purchase my airline tickets on credit. The coverage extends to MRs. 04274108 if we purchase her ticket on my credit card too.

machadinha

Just a kind note that listing them like that would almost make it seem like these would be foreseeable events, which could then somehow figure into one's decision to get insurance or not. The thing is they are by nature not foreseeable of course, and by the time they happen it's usually a little too late to get insurance

I generally agree btw, insurance packages (as well as insurance at home) differ so widely per country and per company even that there's really little point, or it's even unwise, to make any sweeping statements about it. Many US friends of mine go through life uninsured (for medical care at home) for instance, as it's just unaffordable to them, so it's a serious risk but they just have little option. Anyway, the problem is quite commonly publicized there. In any case, their concerns would be of a very different order than those of say a Dutch or UK citizen I imagine, with our respective national health care systems. (Note that it's far from free in Holland, too, though, and in fact if this is true in the UK it must be pretty unique for it. On the other hand, a -- very -- basic health insurance is technically compulsory here, which doesn't mean none fall by the wayside of course.)

Good point yes. Moreover, if you have double coverage you can really expect endless battles between the various companies as to who should pay up in the end.

I think basically the costs of repatriation and possible subsequent treatment (and/or serious hospitalization abroad), with regards to travel insurance, would be first on my mind and shouldn't be overlooked. These may well bankrupt you, or your family if you can't pay up -- or are dead.

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Nick-H

Recovery of person from halfway up a mountain, evacuation in dedicated international air ambulance, reattachment of severed legs and arms by team of neurosurgeons.... It doesn't matter that much to the insurance company what figure they chose to offer as maximum payout, it isn't going to happen very often; they cover themselves on the basis of their probable payout. They do cover themselves too; much of their risk exposure will be passed on, under various arrangements and formulae, to re-insurers (the insurance company's insurers).

Insurance companies are just like bookies: they calculate the odds and, like the bookies, or the casino management, generally come out on top. An essential part of the business model of an insurance company, though, is not necessarily that it doesn't pay out all its premiums as claims (although they'd be happy not to); it is that a great deal of money passes through their hands and, like banks, they are able to make money for themselves with that capital.

In my days of spending one month's salary on a 2-week trip, once a year, even insurance against cancellation seemed worth it to me. Adding £50 to a £2,000 trip seemed hardly here or there.

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Haylo

In the UK, we are heavily taxed for the privilege, but the result is that medical care is free at the point of delivery. All that well paid working adults contribute is £7.10 per prescription (or £102.50 per year) and £16.50 to see the dentist. Fillings etc cost £44.60 for as many as we need, and even dentures and crowns only cost £198.

If you're on a low wage, under 16 or over 60, pregnant or have had a baby in the last year, have diabetes (or a string of other conditions)
for as many as we need for a whole year, you don't pay a penny.

Because of this, people in the UK only pay for medical insurance because it gives you the advantage of having immediate or conveniently scheduled treatment for non life threatening conditions. This is often offered at lower cost by employers, but few people choose to pay full price for it themselves.

For the above scenario, you would only be covered if you had specialist insurance anyway, most travel insurance, and certainly the £50 a year packages specifically exclude many sports. Certainly when travelling to go rock climbing, I pay a huge premium to have that added to my insurance.

Travel insurance can also cover the less obvious things like having to fly home if a relative is taken seriously ill, or the cost of having your body returned home for burial if you die.

A close friend of mine was killed while cycling, by a drunk driver in Greece, his girlfriend suffered appalling injuries including a crushed pelvis. Without insurance, it would have been a financial nightmare, and the insurance company did assist with things like arranging for his body to be flown home for burial, which I certainly wouldn't have known how to arrange. Not that the situation could really have been much more distressing than it was.

So, no. I never travel without insurance.

obione980

In Vietnam (Danang - a large city, with a District Hospital) we met a girl whose boyfriend had fallen off his bicycle (wheel hit a pothole - over the handlebars he went). Both superfit, young and healthy,

He suffered a compound fracture of the arm - received very indifferent care in Danang Hospital (rendering an already serious injury life threatening). A frantic phone call back to her insurer resulted in his evacuation, by air from Danang airport, back to Bangkok - where excellent medical care was available.

Total cost to them - $200 'excess' on their policy. To the insurer - many thousands of dollars. Hassle - none - a phone call and they organised everything, and very efficiently.