Originally Posted by earthrain

@jatink129

You're right. The Italian consulate does require proof of medical insurance. We had to get it when we went to Italy last year.
As far as regular health insurance goes- we had that too (from employer)- but the caveat with that (and presumably most regular insurance) is that when traveling abroad, you'd have to pay first, and then they'd reimburse you.
While that may work out for some, the Schengen requirements (at least as per what we were told by the Italian consulate) require you to show proof of medical insurance where the company would pay the provider directly.

So yes, even if one had regularly insurance you still need one of these for visa purposes.

That said, we did get ours from Insubuy. Luckily we didn't have to use it, so I can't comment on their claims process. But I remember that they allow you to cancel if you don't end up traveling.

P.S: Since this type of insurance does not cover pre-existing conditions, we carried our regular health insurance papers as well, just in case.