Interesting Insurance Option

[inkkognito]

I received an interesting offer from American Express recently that I thought I'd share as an alternative to trip insurance. Hubby and I have never gotten trip insurance, and thankfully have never needed it. We fly in the night before to reduce the chance of flight problems, and when my knee was injured, they were able to treat it on the ship and our medical insurance covered the whole cost. But I've often worried about medical evacuation costs...I know it's unlikely, but on the off chance, I can't even imagine the expense!
This Amx policy covers medical treatment and evacuation, and it will even pay to fly a family member to the hospital if you are confined more than five days. For a couple in my age range, the cost would be $149. I don't know if Tony and I are going to get it, but we're considering it because we travel so much. If you're interested and have an Amex card, I'm sure they could send you info. if you call. Just remember, it doesn't cover flights or luggage.
Barb
Visit the Platinum Castaway Club at: www.castawayclub.com

 

[CGC33A]

Is that a one time rate (149./1 trip) or covers you for, lets say a year's worth of trips charged to AMEX? Evacuation via air ca be very expensive, but I figure from the Bahamas it can't be too much (over 10,000. to get you to Miami) b/c it is so close to the US. Ports further away would be much more. Don't quote me b/c I really don't know the costs.

 

[kcashner]

Actually, a helicopter evacuation from a ship can cost as much as $25,000. It depends on where the ship is, what service they use, etc. It's a lot less if you can be stabilized and evacuated from a port of call. However, that's what insurance is for in the rare event that it is necessary.

 

[atigeg]

This is Barb posting under Tony's ID (he asked me to change his avatar, so I'm testing to see if it works).
The $149 is for one year and would cover all your trips in that period. That is for the maximum dollar amount of coverage, which I think was $100,000. There were other coverage levels too. Seems pretty reasonable to me. A lot of what the charge card companies sell is worthless, but they have some good benefits too. I just applied for a new Visa because it has primary rental car coverage. I had never realized that most charge card companies pay AFTER your regular insurance has paid, but I learned that on the Transportation board. I certainly wouldn't want my rates to go up due to a rental car claim!
Barb

 

[ThreeCircles]

Before buying any additional travel insurance it is also always a good idea to check your ctraditional insurance policy if you have one. Many policies will cover medical treatment and/or evacuation to a medical provider.

 

[Mjasp]

Barb...Which insurance company underwrites it?

 

[CGC33A]

After my above post I checked on www.insuremytrip.com They have multitrip medical policies. The cheapest I could see was 169./year (others much more). One could compare policies to see if the AMEX offer is worth it. Most also had very long periods of non coverage for preexisting conditions (but I really didn't read the fine print)

 

[JoniJ]

Do you have to have an AMEX card to buy this insurance?
Thanks, Joni