Thanks so far for the thoughts... I've learned a lot when buying trip insurance in the past. When to purchase, what I need, what doesn't matter too much. Evacuation, medical, and cancellation. Those are my biggies. I've read as much of the "fine print" pages of the policies I've purchased in the past, and are batting 100% for any claims. Luckily, I've never had to use the evac, but other stuff, all claims have been paid.

There are rules you have to follow. Like purchasing within ___ days of first deposit, in order for some medical conditions to be covered. Maybe people who are denied claims had not read exactly what was/was not covered, and expected everything, including cancel for any reason. Have purchased it too late? Etc...

So, my question to the people who have responded so far, if you were paying $10,000 pp to a trip and going to either of those places, would you get separate cancellation/evac/medical insurance?? If for nothing else other than the 1,00,000 medical evacuation coverage?

What would you do? Hundreds of thousands of travelers visit those places. Surely they're not all self-insuring? And opting out of trip insurance??