A few more insurance carrier's names in this Forbes article for price comparison on Travel insurance
Forbes
March 5, 2013 Travel insurance aimed at active boomers
While vacationing in the Swiss Alps last summer Mark L. Welton, chief of colorectal surgery at the Stanford Cancer Center and an advisor to Men’s Health magazine, fell off his mountain bike and broke his collarbone. “I wasn’t doing anything unreasonable,†says the athletic 56-year-old. He had pulled over to let a hiker pass, he explains, when he lost his balance and toppled over. “You could’ve tripped in your driveway and done this,†his orthopedist later told him.
With one arm in a sling and an ice pack on his shoulder, Welton cut short a two-week journey and flew home for surgery. His wife, Cindy, 49, who’d been scheduled to rendezvous with him in Geneva after completing a bike race (she’s a triathlete), flew to Zurich to see him off before continuing the vacation with two of the couple’s Ch*ldren.
Welton paid out of pocket for all the related expenses: X-rays and a sling at a hospital in the Swiss village of Murren (about $350); airline change fees for switching flights booked with frequent-flier miles (another $350); a taxi from the nearby village of Lauterbrunnen to Zurich ($531); and one night at an airport hotel before flying home ($660). Had he not been using frequent-flier miles, the tally would have been thousands more. But if Welton had purchased travel insurance, all his extra expenses and those of family members would have been covered, notes Chris Harvey, CEO of SquareMouth, a website where consumers can comparison shop for policies offered by 23 different travel insurers.
Folks like Welton and his wife are, says Harvey, the industry’s target demographic: active boomers who are continuing to undertake exotic or physically demanding travel but are increasingly susceptible to illness or injury. (See my post, “Boomers Give Up Backpacks As They Stack Up Birthdays.â€)
Sure, you can cover the sort of out-of-pocket tab Welton paid. But what if you developed a life-threatening infection and needed to be evacuated by helicopter from a Tanzania game preserve at a cost of $150,000, interrupting a $15,000 per person once-in-a-lifetime safari? Or you passed out twice and become incoherent on your second night in Lhasa, Tibet (altitude: 11,975), far from your cardiologist? (See my post, “Six High-Altitude Vacations To Take While You Can.â€) Suddenly the travel insurance you deemed unnecessary when you were younger seems worth considering. Here’s what to look for.
MEDICAL EXPENSES
With very few exceptions Medicare won’t reimburse you for expenses overseas. For other health insurance check to see whether and under which circumstances (for example, whether it’s only for a life-threatening situation) you’re covered abroad. With managed care and preferred provider plans, benefits for this out-of-network care may be limited, but your annual out-of-pocket cap should still apply.
If you’ll be relying on travel insurance, look for a policy that picks up at least $50,000 worth of medical expenses, says John W. Cook, president of QuoteWright.com, another travel insurance comparison site. Claims from high-risk activities such as scuba diving are commonly excluded and most insurers won’t cover “preexisting conditions,†either, unless you buy the insurance within 10 to 30 days after making a first payment for the trip (including paying tax when you cash in your frequent-flier miles).
EVACUATION
Insure for at least $100,000 in costs through a package insurance deal or a separate policy from a company like Global Rescue, MedjetAssist or On Call International. Michael F. Thiel, 68, the founder of Hideaways.com, says his $600-a-year evacuation policy gave him peace of mind during a 2011 white-water rafting trip down the Salmon River in Idaho. Had he broken a leg, it would have been necessary to use a satellite radio to call the medevac helicopter. Read the fine print. Who gets to decide whether evacuation is necessary and where you are treated? Typically it’s a service working for the insurer, in consultation with local doctors–not your own. You’ll have more leeway if a policy covers transport to the “hospital of choice.â€
PACKAGE DEALS
It’s usually easier and cheaper to buy comprehensive insurance covering trip cancelation and interruption as well as medical and evacuation costs. A good package should cover expenses if your trip is canceled or interrupted for a variety of reasons, including your illness, a companion’s illness and a death or emergency at home, as well as the cost of missed connections that aren’t your fault. Many tour and cruise operators require you to be insured and offer a policy, for which they get a commission, but most will let you buy that required insurance elsewhere, so shop around. Premiums depend not only on the length and cost of a trip but also on your age. For example, comprehensive insurance for a 15-day trip costing $3,500 would run a 56-year-old $154 and a 65-year-old $220, says Cook.
Buy cancelation coverage only for nonrefundable out-of-pocket costs. You’ll still get the crucial $50,000 medical/$100,000 evacuation coverage, the premium will be less and the insurer will reimburse you anyway for, say, a missed connection if a flight procured with frequent-flier miles is canceled.
You can get a policy directly from an insurer, through a travel agent or through one of the sites representing multiple insurers, including InsureMyTrip.com and TravelInsuranceReview.net. Before you buy, ask to see the full certificate of coverage?not just excerpts on a website. Make sure your specific concerns (say, a canceled trip because of the medical emergency of an aging parent) would be covered. Don’t fall for the come-on of a “free look†at the policy, with the right to cancel and receive a full refund as long as you haven’t left for your trip. If you don’t like what you find, you probably will have passed the time to get the preexisting condition exception waived on a different policy.
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