Trip Insurance worth it????

[soloflyer]

Didn't quite know which forum to put this in, but was wondering if trip insurance is worth buying? What kinds of things does it cover or not cover?We'll be going mid-August. Any info would be great!

 

[Rella Bella]

I bought it for our last trip. It didn't cost much at all.

I thought that when I'm spending a big chunk of money 6 to 12 months in advance, in these days of random airline strikes & unlikely but possilbe terrorist attacks on top of 'someone could get sick' I would rather spend a little for peace of mind.

 

[ladysoleil]

There are different types of policies out there, most have some sort of trip cancellation/interruption insurance that will cover you if you become seriously ill or a member of your party does or if your trip is interrupted/cancelled due to a storm, etc.

Many policies also cover lost, stolen or damaged luggage and personal items, may provide travel assistance for lost documents, or offer medical benefits of some sort such as the cost of airlifting you to a hospital if need be, and some provide some reimbursement for injuries. My last policy had a provision that would pay to fly out a spouse or family member to my location if I were to suffer a critical injury while traveling. I'd hope never ever to need that, but it would be a lot of peace of mind to know I could have a family member at my side if something terrible were to happen.

Generally it won't cover "changed my mind, don't wanna go" type of stuff, or pre-existing illnesses if you didn't buy the insurance within a very short window of booking the trip (I believe you must buy within a day or two of booking to get pre-existing illness covered, but check your insurance quote to be sure...)

Try www.insuremytrip.com to get some sample quotes- you'll see the different kind of insurance you can get.

Whether or not you need it depends on a lot of factors. What time of the year are you traveling? Are you traveling to somewhere that medical care may be difficult or expensive to obtain? Are you traveling to or from somewhere prone to extreme weather? Does everyone you are traveling with have health insurance? Does everyone's insurance cover them while traveling? Do you have life insurance? Do you have very expensive non-refundable plane tickets? Does someone in your family have an illness that may prevent you from traveling in the future?

I think travel insurance is mandatory if I am taking an expensive trip, a cruise, or am leaving the country. Too much of a gamble not to be insured in those cases, in my opinion.

For a Disney trip, I generally buy only during Hurricane season or during winter when we may have our trip interrupted or cancelled by extreme weather conditions. I know it's probably a good idea for all trips, but I don't feel the need to spend the money if it's a routine trip when we can be flexible with our travel plans. Your comfort level may vary.

It's not very expensive- my last policy for a short cruise cost me about $40 to cover both of us. Money well spent for peace of mind, in my opinion.

 

[ecpool]

I thinks the insurance is good but......I had a freind who bought trip insurance mainly to cover the airfare because he knew he could cancel the hotel without an issue if given a few days notice. Anyway, like a lot of us, he bought his airline tickets way in advance for a good price. The airline went out of business so they gave him his money back but since his trip was only a few weeks away the tickets were now almost 3 times the price. And he had to pay the difference. He also would have gotten his money back whether he had insurance or not. Bottom line, if your spending big bucks on reservations and tickets I would do it just for piece of mind. Have you looked into insurance prices? If so, how much is it and what company would you be going through?

 

[Ready to go in Ok]

Absolutely. You just never know when something might happen. Take me for instance.......DH fell asleep standing up, fell and broke his ankle. Was in a cast for 2 months! Now who in the world would think this could possibly happen? We could have still gone, but no way I was taking DH to Fl. in June with a big hot cast on his leg. No fun for anyone. With trip insurance, it was a lot of paperwork, but at least we didn't lose the money!

 

[bicker]

Beyond the cost of medical evacuation from a cruise ship, there is often no financial reason to purchase trip insurance. In a thread a few weeks ago, a DIS member pepe indicated he's taken 30 trips without ever a circumstance for receiving any benefit from the insurance. Add up all the insurance premiums he would have paid over that time, and let's say his next trip is an utter disaster: Let's say he ends up never making it to WDW, spends a night in Bodunk, has to pay $300 for a hotel room overnight, and then goes straight home, with no refunds coming from anyone, the airline, Disney, etc. He's still coming out ahead with regard to his 31 trips.

Insurance companies are in business to make money. The most cost effective insurance is the insurance you use least, which runs counter to rational thinking. The end-result is that the only insurance that is "worth" the cost is insurance for things that you cannot afford to pay out of pocket (like medical evacuation from a cruise ships). For any losses you can afford to cover from your own personal savings (if you had to) you're better off "insuring" yourself that way, i.e., if something goes wrong during your vacation, eat the loss, pay the extra costs, and rest assured that you're still making out better than if you had purchased trip insurance for every trip.

However, some folks derive benefits from trip insurance beyond the coverage offered. It's an emotional thing: Some people simply cannot stand the thought of having laid out all this money for a vacation, and then, as I described above, having something terrible happen, and having to eat the loss and pay any extra costs from your own savings. For those folks, they're not buying the insurance because the price makes good financial sense in light of the coverage benefits, but rather because they're actually purchasing peace of mind -- the ability to book and enjoy a vacation without facing the prospect that you'll have to lose what you paid, or even pay more, if you happen to be unlucky this time.

 

[Chris and Pooh]

Beyond the cost of medical evacuation from a cruise ship, there is often no financial reason to purchase trip insurance.

Do not forget that for trips abroad travel insurance is necessary for any medical expenses that may be incurred.
As someone from the UK I would not dream of taking a vacation without itand have indeed been thankful when taken ill in the Dominican Republic last year, and some years back, after paying £12000 for a cruise I had to cancel due to a loss in the family, if I did not have insurance I would have lost the lot, so I'm sorry but I cannot agree with your comment.
Just curious to know as well, here in the UK if you pay for a trip with certain credit cards travel insurance is included for free is that not the case in the US?

 

[bicker]

Yes, that's true. International trips also are good candidates for trip insurance.

 

[Amps]

For my upcomming trip I won't get any cancelation insurance since the airline will issue me a credit if I cancel, the tickets can be used any time in a year and the hotel can be canceled up to 2 days before we leave without loosing the deposit. So for Disney's sake, no, I won't use it.

Medical insurance however...never leave home without it! I'm from Ontario (where health care is covered) and the last time I went to Florida 2 years ago I got an extremely bad ear and sinus infection, we're talking 105 degree fever and a 12 hours in the hospital. Total bill was $2400 after meds! Luckily, I had gotten a $17 travel health policy that my bank offered and they paid for the entire thing over the phone while we were there. It turned what was already a terrible situation into a much more manageable one. I just can't imagine leaving the country without it.

 

[QueenT]

Medical insurance however...never leave home without it! I'm from Ontario (where health care is covered) and the last time I went to Florida 2 years ago I got an extremely bad ear and sinus infection, we're talking 105 degree fever and a 12 hours in the hospital. Total bill was $2400 after meds! Luckily, I had gotten a $17 travel health policy that my bank offered and they paid for the entire thing over the phone while we were there. It turned what was already a terrible situation into a much more manageable one. I just can't imagine leaving the country without it.

Amps & Bicker, would I need to get trip insurance to cover medical issues if I already have medical insurance? I'm not worried about anything else since we are driving. The CM I booked with (through WDW) did automatically put trip insurance on the package, I had to ask to have it taken off, but if there is some issue I'm missing maybe I should put it back on...

 

[MickeyHereWeCome!]

Does anyone know the specifics about the insurance offered thru Disney? I booked through AAA, and turned down the insurance. After reading a bit more here about the hurricanes, I asked about adding it. I can do so until I make my final payment, but she said it doesn't cover weather related problems. Since that was my main reason for reconsidering, I was a bit surprised by this. My AAA form says something about being able to get insurance directly through the company offering the package (Disney), but there are no specifics, anywhere.

So, does anyone know if the policy thru Disney would cover me for cancellations/delays due to a hurricane?

Thanks!

 

[bicker]

would I need to get trip insurance to cover medical issues if I already have medical insurance?

The points regarding medical insurance Chris and Pooh brought up are good one: Many folks don't have medical insurance that extends beyond the borders of the country they're from. Check with your insurer. However, if you're an American with health insurance from a US company, you are almost always covered, to some extent, for treatment you receive at any accredited health care provider in the US, as long as you follow your insurance company's procedures.

 

[k5thbeatle]

Beyond the cost of medical evacuation from a cruise ship, there is often no financial reason to purchase trip insurance. In a thread a few weeks ago, a DIS member pepe indicated he's taken 30 trips without ever a circumstance for receiving any benefit from the insurance. Add up all the insurance premiums he would have paid over that time, and let's say his next trip is an utter disaster: Let's say he ends up never making it to WDW, spends a night in Bodunk, has to pay $300 for a hotel room overnight, and then goes straight home, with no refunds coming from anyone, the airline, Disney, etc. He's still coming out ahead with regard to his 31 trips.

Insurance companies are in business to make money. The most cost effective insurance is the insurance you use least, which runs counter to rational thinking. The end-result is that the only insurance that is "worth" the cost is insurance for things that you cannot afford to pay out of pocket (like medical evacuation from a cruise ships). For any losses you can afford to cover from your own personal savings (if you had to) you're better off "insuring" yourself that way, i.e., if something goes wrong during your vacation, eat the loss, pay the extra costs, and rest assured that you're still making out better than if you had purchased trip insurance for every trip.

However, some folks derive benefits from trip insurance beyond the coverage offered. It's an emotional thing: Some people simply cannot stand the thought of having laid out all this money for a vacation, and then, as I described above, having something terrible happen, and having to eat the loss and pay any extra costs from your own savings. For those folks, they're not buying the insurance because the price makes good financial sense in light of the coverage benefits, but rather because they're actually purchasing peace of mind -- the ability to book and enjoy a vacation without facing the prospect that you'll have to lose what you paid, or even pay more, if you happen to be unlucky this time.

EXCELLENT POST!!!
"Insurance companies are in business to make money." For the life of me, I do not understand why more people do not realize this!

 

[bicker]

I've found that there are many people who often expect companies to operate strictly in the public interest, rather than in the private interest for which they're actually chartered. Much of left-wing economic perspective is based on that misdirection, so we have a major political party actually actively working to get people thinking more-and-more in that direction.

 

[Diamond_Girls]

We're taking a dream vacation - 1 week at Disney World followed by a week on the Disney cruise. Although my medical insurance covers me anywhere, I've heard that medical evacuation can cost a fortune. For that reason, and in case someone got sick or died and I need to cancel, I've been planning on buying insurance. I have a hard time looking at all the plans on insuremytrip.com because I'm not entirely sure what to look for. And if I want to protect both weeks of my trip, does just putting in the total cost enough to make sure both weeks are covered?

Thanks for the help, I really appreciate it!

 

[alicenwonder99]

And don't forget to check out your cc's travel policy. If you have a "gold" or "plantinum" (or whatever the cards are called nowadays...titanium maybe...lol) credit card, they have pretty good travel insurance plans if you use it to purchase your vacation.

I declined the travel insurance plan with the WDW, but they sent me a brochure on it in the mail anyway. It said it would NOT cover preexisting conditions. So, for those of you who are buying it for medical reasons, make sure you read the policy!

 

[powellrj]

we usually don't buy trip insurance, but because we bought a package and are going during hurricane season, and DF isn't in the best health we decided it was worth the $95 for the piece of mind. I used the mousesavers link and was able to compare different policies to pick the one I thought was best for us.