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steveA
Trad climber
Wolfeboro, NH
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Topic Author's Original Post - Apr 15, 2015 - 07:23am PT
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My wife and I are leaving for South Africa, (Safari gig), and were going to the UK first, for a few days.
My wife worries about things which tend to not worry me. She is thinking about buying travel insurance for unexpected medical issues, missed flights etc.
Any experience regarding this issue would be appreciated, since I'm not sure how reputable some of these firms are, who offer these services.
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donini
Trad climber
Ouray, Colorado
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Apr 15, 2015 - 07:27am PT
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Who would insure an old goat like you?
You and Joan have fun.....that's an order private!
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SC seagoat
Trad climber
Santa Cruz, Moab or In What Time Zone Am I?
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Apr 15, 2015 - 08:13am PT
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If you travel a lot you may consider looking into Divers Alert Network (DAN) insurance.
They have policies that cover general global travel not just diving accidents. The best part of their coverage is the airlift services they provide if you are in some remote area where you can't get medical service you need. Emergency travel assistance is their specialty that springs from their assistance to divers that need to get to a chamber. You will have to join DAN which isn't very expensive.
https://www.diversalertnetwork.org/annual-travel-insurance/
Sounds like an awesome trip! Enjoy!
Susan
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johntp
Trad climber
socal
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Apr 15, 2015 - 08:45am PT
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I'd say go for it depending on if your flights and accomodations are with a single source. It is relativly cheap. It is a risk assesment.
edit: looking at Ed's response health insurance is a different matter. I was thinking you were looking at flight and hotel cost insurance.
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Ed Hartouni
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
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Apr 15, 2015 - 08:46am PT
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the reason to buy insurance is that you couldn't cover the expense of losing something
when I travelled a lot a delayed flight seldom resulted in any great financial penalty, however, I could imagine expenses with missed arrival times at hotels, etc. probably depends on the booking agreement...
reviewing what your medical insurance covers, vis a vis foreign travel was recently a major issue on STForum when a member was injured in a climbing accident over seas and found that critical care transportation wasn't covered (though I'm sure the details are important, it's something to look at)
rescue insurance always seemed like a good idea for climbing, except that many places that I went where the risks where high were very remote and the chances of a rescue delayed days by the lack of communication (where the only communication would have been for one of the party to travel on foot to the road)
assessing risk is a big part of deciding to buy insurance, and the assessment of the financial consequences of that risk in view of how much you're willing to spend "out of pocket" to cover the those consequences versus how much you want to spend on insuring against those risks would be a way to engage in the decision.
On a practical sense, when I had my VW van "510-OW" I had the maxed out AAA policy... it was highly likely that I'd break-down far from home and need a tow back... in part this was because I had a custom built car that I thought no other mechanic in America would touch than the one who helped build it at home, and because getting a tow company to move your car is a bit easier than doing it yourself... though I did...
trading off $1000 - $2000 dollars in towing against $100-$200 dollars a year for the AAA card seemed like a good deal, though I could have covered the expense monetarily, calling AAA was a lot easier.
Now that I have a modern car, it is less reasonable to have the high coverage (though I still do).
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Fritz
Trad climber
Choss Creek, ID
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Apr 15, 2015 - 08:58am PT
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I've been forced to buy travel insurance for some trips by the Outfitters running the trip. Never have had to use it.
However last time around, I had a very good experience with Squaremouth, which consolidates policies from a lot of travel insurance companies, rates & reviews how those companies have handled past claims, and has a user-friendly (at least to me) website.
Here's a link to their homepage:
https://www.squaremouth.com/
And here is their summary of what they provide:
Compare hundreds of plans from the top providers and buy immediately or use our comprehensive research features.
Our technology is tightly integrated with the insurance providers featured on our site, allowing you to quickly purchase online with confidence or to thoroughly investigate every feature of every policy.
Every major travel insurance provider in the USA is represented for comparison and review.
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kev
climber
A pile of dirt.
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Apr 15, 2015 - 09:28am PT
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Travel insurance is also helpful if you have a older family member with possible medical issues - say a parent gets very sick and you need to fly home.
I looked into DAN's (Diver Alert Network) annual travel insurance and found that it really wasn't a good deal monetarily for my travel situations.
They also have single trip insurance which is actually through CSA (a pretty standard travel insurance company) so you may be paying more by going through DAN for this.
One thing I will say is that if you're a DAN member (you can join even if you're not a diver) their dive accident insurance covers medical and evac bills for ALL accidents (non diving ones too). This kicks ass and is a great deal.
EDIT:
Here are my 2 data points about claims
1) I had a GF cancel a trip due to her fathers becoming ill this was covered (CSA I think).
2)I had a customer who had his camera damaged beyond repair by a shark (yes this was a freedive with sharks trip :). All DAN needed was a statement that the camera port was beyond repair then they paid.
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John Mac
Trad climber
Littleton, CO
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Apr 15, 2015 - 09:55am PT
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I had a friend that took a ground fall in Arches last year. Helivac to Grand Junction. 10 days in St Mary's hospital, transferred to Denver, the whole 9 yards...
His insurance paid for my hotel accommodation in GJ, his wife to fly from NZ and stay with him, hotel, rental cars, all medical expenses, helicopter flights and upgraded flights from coach to business to fly home about a month later. The entire cost was over 120K.
I can't remember the name of the insurance company but they were great to work with.
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jstan
climber
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Apr 15, 2015 - 09:59am PT
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JM:
Post their name when you recall it.
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John Mac
Trad climber
Littleton, CO
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Apr 15, 2015 - 10:03am PT
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Yes, I will. I'll send him an email
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FTOR
Sport climber
CA
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Apr 15, 2015 - 10:14am PT
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i bought insurance for an expensive guided bike tour i booked in advance. it covered my missing this trip for any reason as well as the usual emergency stuff. for a very reasonable fee it was worth the piece of mind.
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steveA
Trad climber
Wolfeboro, NH
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Topic Author's Reply - Apr 15, 2015 - 04:01pm PT
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Thanks for all the comments and advice.
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LuckyPink
climber
the last bivy
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Apr 15, 2015 - 05:37pm PT
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fine print is everything with travel insurance ( I do medical travel consults for Kaiser) Points to consider for medical evac are: who must be contacted and when to qualify for the plan, what is the length of time covered and the area or region covered? what does your regular health insurance cover?
Some companies use only their own dispatch or they don't pay! Some companies limit the time from start of evac to a few days, sometimes not enough. Some companies limit the region and the minute your evac goes beyond it they don't pay. Somehow these details escape their advertising slogans. Your regular health insurance could cover quite a bit. So could the credit card company you use to charge tickets.
Safari trips are fairly civilized with good accommodations. The most you might encounter is travelers diarrhea but use good insect repellent. Very little comes back for short term stays of less than 30 days. And believe it or not.. the rest of the world has very good health care available.
start with a look at Lonely Planet
http://www.lonelyplanet.com/travel-insurance
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bookworm
Social climber
Falls Church, VA
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Apr 16, 2015 - 05:52am PT
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I've only bought it once, for a trip to Kilimanjaro. Tanzania was/is an oasis of calm in the African storm, but it's still Africa. The trip turned out to be more casual than anticipated--the outfitter had everything dialed in (although the late flight and 2-hour drive in the middle of the night with only a driver who didn't speak english made me nervous). I suffered a mild case of retinal edema on the mountain and needed some O2 to clear my vision; it probably wasn't much, but the insurance meant i didn't receive any bills afterwards.
s. africa is probably the safest place to travel on the continent, but it's still africa. safaris are safe but not guaranteed...i'd say it's a small price to pay to cover any surprises...and keep the wife calm
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JLP
Social climber
The internet
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Apr 16, 2015 - 08:57am PT
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trading off $1000 - $2000 dollars in towing against $100-$200 dollars a year for the AAA card seemed like a good deal, though I could have covered the expense monetarily, calling AAA was a lot easier. I have towing insurance attached to my normal car insurance premiums. It's about an extra $6/year. I've used it, and I've found it to be be better than anything I've heard about from AAA. Covers jump starting, flat repair and all that silly stuff as well.
That said, whatever you buy, use your brain a bit to find out if it's your cheapest option. Plane changes cost nothing if it's the airline's fault. I've been charged maybe 50% of the time if it's a same-day thing, it's my fault, and there's an open seat on another plane.
Basically, I wouldn't buy it. It's got to be around 99% profit for the companies that sell it, I'd guess.
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crusher
climber
Santa Monica, CA
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Apr 16, 2015 - 02:43pm PT
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Steve,
We went to South Africa last Sept. and we bought trip insurance. Mostly because a trip there is expensive, really far away and it seemed like a smart and logical thing to do especially since we both have older parents and God forbid we had to rush home or cancel for a reason relating to them.
We also "self-insured" - what I mean is we got the travel shots/boosters, took the malaria medication and brought along a good basic first aid kit including antibiotics, Pepto, Immodium, NSAIDs, etc. just in case. You can find all the info on the CDC website, travel section for South Africa. Plus this was right when the ebola situation went nuts - I was swabbing down every airplane surface and public place with Clorox wipes even though there was no ebola in S.A. (I am the worrier in the family, can you tell?).
We also went bouldering in the Rocklands, and drove on the "wrong" side of the road down there - even more of a reason I wanted to get the insurance. Our policy was with Travel Guard, a part of AIG.
From my research I found that most policies (check all fine print) cover some types of cancellations - like for your own illness/death or that of a close family member. You may be too late to get "cancel for any reason" coverage - usually that has to be purchased pretty immediately after you pay for the trip and is expensive. Some may also cover cancelling for work-related reasons. Types of coverage you can get (at any cost) can vary based on when you "bought" or paid for the trip.
I've used this company below to get coverage for my boss - very easy and worth checking out (communicate with her by email). Other than the cost to buy the coverage I can't see any "cons" to getting it:
Pari Morse
Columbine Consulting Services LLC
(CO license 274232 9/2016)
info@1earthtravelprotection.com
http://www.1earthtravelprotection.com
Travel Insurance for Peace of Mind on Your Journey
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Tan Slacks
climber
Joshua Tree
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Apr 16, 2015 - 03:04pm PT
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Hey Steve,
We have bought travel insurance before and had to make claims twice. Both times I am really glad we did although you must follow their rules to the letter.
We had a safari planned like you and got weathered in Dallas for two days, that put us three days late because of rescheduling. The airline took care of our hotels, but we were forced to find our own travel to catch up to tour. That cost a lot as I remember, plus the tour group would not refund us the two days we missed.
When we got home I applied for the cost of our extra travel and a refund for the days we missed. They paid all that plus we got like 300 dollars extra that I never could account for. The second time was for traveling with my father who became ill only days before the trip. We had to cancel everything, flights hotels, you name it. Again they paid for everything we had booked. I worried they would only pay for my father but they paid for all my travel cancellations too. It took awhile to get paid for that trip because of all the medical forms I had to submit, but in the end it saved me.
Good luck
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Fritz
Social climber
Choss Creek, ID
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Another thread with the last post having a malicious link.
Nov 3, 2016 - 10:17pm PT
The trave seems very good. I think your wife's suggestion is very important. You can take her advice. Recently, l was considering that whether l should buy a early learning metal detector. He likes digging some things very much. Is there any suggestion.
Again? How to inform management?
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Well, at least this useful thread got bumped.
And you gotta admit that a 'early learning metal detector' is pretty damn funny.
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