Should I purchase insurance?

[Chemist]

We came close to having to cancel our trip to Hawaii last summer. Both kids had fevers for several days leading up to our trip. Random virus, but a bad one. It wasn't clear that we could travel with them like that, especially since my older child gets BAD motion sickness when he is ill. We didn't have travel insurance and were looking at eating 3k in plane tickets.

Fortunately we were able to go.

Lesson: anytime you have spent money that is non-refundable AND will really hurt to lose, buy the insurance.

 

[Canadian Girl]

There are different kinds of insurance, trip cancellation and medical. I would never travel without medical but I have this from work. Trip cancellations have lots of preexisting exclusions. I have paid for it and skipped it. My flights can be refunded for a price. The cruise itself is different. Insurance for my upcoming cruise for trip cancellation will be several hundred dollars and it is a little over three months away. I am still debating whether to cave and buy some. Up to a point, I will get half back form Disney so it is really only the last month that would cause issues.

 

[Shanti]

The OP also needs to realize that even though your have trip insurance, there will likely be out of pocket expenses that will need to be sent to insurance for reimbursement.

For example, on our last cruise we were cleared for takeoff for our flight home when we were sent back to the terminal because of a ground stoppage due to weather in our destination city. We weren’t able to fly out until the next day, so cab fare, a hotel room for the night, meals, and even an extra night boarding the dog back at home were all paid by our trip insurance - two months later.

And our table mate who turned his ankle standing at the rail on deck 4 admiring the sites had to pay $160 to the ship’s medical center for an exam and a pair of crutches.

Make sure your tight budget has room for things like that.

Good point. That reminds me of the poster who traveled to WDW last year during hurricane season, and had no funds to deal with contingencies that came up in relation to the severe weather. And of course, this woman also had no insurance, either. She basically had to beg for Disney's help to get through it...

Be prepared for the bad to happen on a trip, not just the good. That can prevent a misfortune from turning into a total disaster.

 

[Travel60]

Everyone has a different tolerance for risk, different existing health issues, different ability to absorb potential costs or losses. We do not buy insurance for trips within North America (Caribbean, Alaska, Canada) as they tend to be relatively less expensive trips, we speak the language and trust the medical system. If a disaster happened and we had to be medivac'd out, we could bite the bullet and deal with it financially. For trips outside NA, we always buy a comprehensive package....have never had to use it.

 

[kiford]

I have never purchased it for a $3,000 trip. I also don't carry collision on a car when it is worth that little.

It's not just about the cost of the trip that you might lose all or a portion of, it's about the additional costs that you might incur if something happens on the trip. My father ended up in hospital in Spain for 9 days with a lung infection and had to travel back home accompanied by an EMT with an oxygen tank. He estimates it cost $40K but his insurance covered it. Losing the last few days of his trip was an insignificant cost as would the original trip have been in comparison to what it could have potentially ended up costing him for the illness. Although he's not a young man, he was perfectly healthy before he left. He was more worried about my aunt who travelled with him but she was fine. What gets covered is obviously dictated by what insurance is purchased but I'm always less worried about the trip cost and more worried about costs of medical, evacuation, and additional unanticipated costs.

Given that the insurance costs for medical, trip interruption, lost luggage and cancel-for-any reason for our upcoming 3 week trip to Italy cost us about $250 for two of us, it's a lot less than pretty much any additional cost or cancellation costs. We might be able to afford a huge unanticipated cost but $250 is a minimal amount for peace of mind IMO.

 

[DisneyWishes14]

It's not just about the cost of the trip that you might lose all or a portion of, it's about the additional costs that you might incur if something happens on the trip. My father ended up in hospital in Spain for 9 days with a lung infection and had to travel back home accompanied by an EMT with an oxygen tank. He estimates it cost $40K but his insurance covered it. Losing the last few days of his trip was an insignificant cost as would the original trip have been in comparison to what it could have potentially ended up costing him for the illness. Although he's not a young man, he was perfectly healthy before he left. He was more worried about my aunt who travelled with him but she was fine. What gets covered is obviously dictated by what insurance is purchased but I'm always less worried about the trip cost and more worried about costs of medical, evacuation, and additional unanticipated costs.

Given that the insurance costs for medical, trip interruption, lost luggage and cancel-for-any reason for our upcoming 3 week trip to Italy cost us about $250 for two of us, it's a lot less than pretty much any additional cost or cancellation costs. We might be able to afford a huge unanticipated cost but $250 is a minimal amount for peace of mind IMO.

Yes, this. As I mentioned, I have a friend whose mother had to be taken off the Fantasy while it was in port in the Caribbean, hospitalized and then medivaced back to Florida. My friend and her daughter also had to disembark the ship, find a hotel to stay in and then find flights back to FL. Thank goodness they had travel insurance (and passports so they could fly back to the U.S.) otherwise, they would have had thousands and thousands of dollars in unexpected, out-of-pocket medical and travel costs.

 

[ahain]

.............Given that the insurance costs for medical, trip interruption, lost luggage and cancel-for-any reason for our upcoming 3 week trip to Italy cost us about $250 for two of us, it's a lot less than pretty much any additional cost or cancellation costs. We might be able to afford a huge unanticipated cost but $250 is a minimal amount for peace of mind IMO.

A bit off topic, but how did you find such inexpensive trip insurance your Italy trip? We're planning a 3 week tour to Italy for May 2019 - total cost incl air will be in the neighborhood of $20k for 3 adults (through a tour company).....I'm seeing trip insurance cost closer to $700-$1000.

 

[Shellyred8]

We get insurance when traveling out of the USA. If something happens and you have to be air-lifted from the Bahamas to the USA, that's going to be a really expensive ride if you don't have insurance. We go with a third party, not Disney. Disney's plans were restrictive and expensive. There are other companies out there that offer more comprehensive insurance at a much more affordable price.

We used www.Squaremouth.com to do a price comparison and selected a company from that listing.

 

[wishuponastarforever]

Yes yes yes. We have always used either Insure my trip or square mouth. The CSA Luxe has a!says been our pick. We fortunately have not had a claim until our last cruise. Days before the cruise my husband had a serious health issue Ironically he spent the days scheduled for the cruise in the hospital. We have already received our check for the cruise and the dates were earlier this month. So close to sailing and realizing this could have happened onboard There is no question.......get insurance. We never know what is around the corner!!!!

 

[olafLover]

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[kiford]

A bit off topic, but how did you find such inexpensive trip insurance your Italy trip? We're planning a 3 week tour to Italy for May 2019 - total cost incl air will be in the neighborhood of $20k for 3 adults (through a tour company).....I'm seeing trip insurance cost closer to $700-$1000

Through our TA. Our flights are cancellable with an $800 per person non-refundable fee, we're staying at Airbnb's which are refundable up to a few days prior so we're not insuring those and we've not purchased anything else as yet unrefundable that we'd be concerned about insuring. We purchased our flights through the TA (normally we'd do it online ourselves) so they provided the cancel-for-any-reason insurance for no additional cost. Mostly what we need is out-of-country-medical and trip interruption/additional out-of-pocket costs. The insurance market seems to have heated up and got quite competitive here at least. We used to pay about $400 for a 2 week trip to WDW/cruise in prior years but even that has now been cut in about half. I would assume that you're covering the entire cost of the tour and that your loss to cancel it or end it early if something happened would be substantially more than what we're covering.

 

[ahain]

Just out of curiosity, are there continuous travel insurances available in the USA? We have a package insurance which costs $400,- a year and it covers multiple things (including liability and our household effects, so nothing to do with travel), but one of the things it includes is continuous travel insurance with world wide coverage. If we book a hotel anywhere in the world (even our own country) it's considered travel and we (and our possessions) would be covered at that moment. You get a lot of questions here about travel insurance and I was just wondering if getting something like this would be possible for you. (We also have the ability to insure a single trip, but if you travel a few times a year, it quickly get's cheaper to do it like this)

I'll be honest....I have no idea, but I'll try to check it out. Thanks!

 

[Ralph&Pam]

Just out of curiosity, are there continuous travel insurances available in the USA? We have a package insurance which costs $400,- a year and it covers multiple things (including liability and our household effects, so nothing to do with travel), but one of the things it includes is continuous travel insurance with world wide coverage. If we book a hotel anywhere in the world (even our own country) it's considered travel and we (and our possessions) would be covered at that moment. You get a lot of questions here about travel insurance and I was just wondering if getting something like this would be possible for you. (We also have the ability to insure a single trip, but if you travel a few times a year, it quickly get's cheaper to do it like this)

We have an annual policy from Allianz that costs about $450 per year for the two of us. Trip cancellation coverage is pretty limited, but our primary concern is the medical emergency and medical evacuation coverages. These are $50K and $500K respectively. We live in Illinois.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

We bought GeoBlue this year. It covers us for one year, anywhere outside the US. It's part of Blue Cross. Only thing is you have to be in a health plan to use it. Not Blue Crosses' health plan, ANY health plan. We paid under $500 for two of us.

There are companies that will cover you for a year at a time, or more.

 

[over50visits]

We have an annual policy from Allianz that costs about $450 per year for the two of us. Trip cancellation coverage is pretty limited, but our primary concern is the medical emergency and medical evacuation coverages. These are $50K and $500K respectively. We live in Illinois.

That’s good info...are deductibles/copays reasonable? Sometimes really hard to compare policy costs without considering that.

 

[Jess_S]

We never buy travel insurance. There are lots of personal finance articles written about reasons not to buy various insurance products, including travel insurance, so those will provide a good overview of the reasons why one might make the choice. By not buying travel insurance, we are essentially "self-insuring" if anything goes wrong. We have accepted the risk that we may lose out on the cost of the trip if we can't go, have to pay to change a flight, pay medical expenses up to and including our full annual deductible on our health insurance, etc. and we have the resources to do that if needed.

In a lifetime of travelling without travel insurance, we have had the following consequences:

• Paid out of pocket for one doctor's visit for ear infection (because we also didn't have health insurance at that time)
• Paid out of pocket for one tow of a rental car
• Paid for one night hotel stay even though our flight was delayed until the next morning

 

[Ralph&Pam]

That’s good info...are deductibles/copays reasonable? Sometimes really hard to compare policy costs without considering that.

No deductables/copays on the medical evacuation coverage. For the medical emergency coverage, program is secondary to our own medical insurance (which only applies to travel within the US, since our medical insurance does not cover us outside the US). For both, the payment limits include a “customary and normal charges” clause, up to the policy maximums. I mentioned the limited coverage for trip cancellation and trip interruption. These are only $2000 each. An increase to $5000 for each adds $250 to the annual premium, to $10000 adds $500, and to $15000 adds $875. We have not done this, so we effectively self-insure for any cancellation/interruption cost above the $2000 limit.

 

[Ralph&Pam]

We never buy travel insurance. There are lots of personal finance articles written about reasons not to buy various insurance products, including travel insurance, so those will provide a good overview of the reasons why one might make the choice. By not buying travel insurance, we are essentially "self-insuring" if anything goes wrong. We have accepted the risk that we may lose out on the cost of the trip if we can't go, have to pay to change a flight, pay medical expenses up to and including our full annual deductible on our health insurance, etc. and we have the resources to do that if needed.

In a lifetime of travelling without travel insurance, we have had the following consequences:

• Paid out of pocket for one doctor's visit for ear infection (because we also didn't have health insurance at that time)
• Paid out of pocket for one tow of a rental car
• Paid for one night hotel stay even though our flight was delayed until the next morning

Self-insurance can work if you have the resources to cover unexpected expenses. We purchase an annual travel plan that covers all travel for 12 months (with a 45-day limit on individual trips, so not workable on one of those long around-the-world cruises that will never happen in my lifetime). Our primary need is the coverage for medical emergencies and medical evacuation. Other coverages included in the plan for lost luggage, trip cancellation, trip interruption, rentwl car, etc. are not a primary factor in selecting a policy for us. We are effectively purchasing a plan that provides coverage for medical emergencies and medical evacuation with some incidental additional features, since the prospective cost of such could be substantially more than I am willing to put at risk. A medical event that requires the ship to divert to a foreign port to transfer a passenger to an emergency room followed by hospital admission and subsequent transportation back home that might even require an attendant during the trip can cost a substantial portion of the policy limits in our annual plan ($50K and $500K, respectively). The limits on these coverages in the DCL-offered policy are only $30K, not likely to make a dent in the cost of a medical evacuation/repatriation bill. Also, some insurance plans in the US, including Medicare and associated supplements, do not cover medical expenses outside the US. That can be another significant risk when cruising.

 

[Girl of the South]

I only buy enough insurance to cover what won't be refunded. Southwest I can use the funds later. Hotels I can cancel ahead of time. One expensive flight I can change for a couple hundred dollars, which I can absorb. But the money spent on the cruise, I can't get back. So if the 'entire' trip (airport parking, cat boarding, transport to the Port) is $5,000, I might just insure $3500. That will bring the cost down. If you can change it or get a refund of some sort, don't insure that element.