rambro

I've been researching travel insurance and I can't quite nail down what sort of product I need. I have no pre-set value, as I'll be staying in each place for an indeterminate amount of time and mostly at hostels. I've already done this for 6 months but I'm going to be heading back on the road and want to at least get some insurance for my medical needs (should I need them) and my baggage should anything get stolen.

It seems to be a mixed bag on both fronts. I see some people will insure medical, but not items. Then others will insure items, but want a pre-set spending amount for the trip with no real way around it. My best bet so far seems to be World Nomads, but the reviews of their customer service and policy decisions are horrendous. Many of the other long term ones are phenominally expensive, mostly because I have to input some sort of dollar value for the vacation and I err on the higher side since it'll be so long.

I plan on doing plenty of activities (scuba, climbing, hiking, biking, etc.) so adventure-y exclusions probably wouldn't be good for me.

So, any suggestions?

cordelli

Insurance would be for losses, so if you have not prepaid a non refundable hostel for example, you would not insure for it. Unless your expenses are non refundable, don't list those when planning how much coverage you need. If you are away for four months (call it 120 days) and something happens the 10th day, if you have not yet paid for the other 110 days there's no need to insure those amounts when you get coverage.

You first need to figure out what coverage you need. If it's only medical, you can get an annual coverage for medical expenses at not that much money. If insuring your belongings will cost you more than the belongings are worth, or you already have homeowners or some other insurance that may cover them, you don't need to spend more money to insure them.

tcook052

Many global medical travel insurance policies exclude many adventure sports such as SCUBA (unless you hold a valid PADI open water certificate), mountain climbing, speed sports, hang gliding, spelunking, or bungee jumping so if you were doing any or many of these I'd consider another underwriter.

Agree with cordelli that insuring baggage may not be worth it so would concentrate on the medical only coverage.

chollie

Possibly, depending on where you're going, evacuation coverage. Search FT - there's a thread around here somewhere with recommendations. An annual evacuation-only policy wasn't that expensive, good advice on that thread about things to watch out for in the policies.

rambro

That's the thing, I have no idea what I'll be doing yet, so I don't know what to list. I like to fly by the seat of my pants when I travel around.

I don't have homeowners and the parents rent, so I don't think my baggage would be covered under rental insurance either.

I am PADI certified, but I've seen some people still exempt those activities even with that. Someone had an adventure policy but I don't remember who.

Any chance you might know what its under? I couldn't seem to find it.

oshelef

Get your own renter's insurance. A policy shouldn't be very expensive. It won't likely cover delays, but it would cover theft and loss. (after a deductible.)

Check your credit cards - many of them of them offer baggage delay insurance if you buy the air ticket with them.

Together that would give you as much baggage coverage as most travel specific policies.

rambro

I don't think I can, since I'm not on the lease. I'm not so much worried about the airlines losing my bag as someone hijacking my crap while I'm on the road.

bg26892

I've had AMAZING experience with nomads. Very simple claim process, had 4-5 claims and never any problems. Takes 4-5 weeks to get money but I think that is standard. Highly recommended.

Dianne47

The only evacuation insurance worth having is MedJet Assist, I've written about it several times on this forum. It's an annual membership program and well worth the cost.

I think there is a divers' organization that has travel insurance, you might check that out. I've seen it mentioned here before.

rambro

Probably DAN.

I get the idea of the medivac, but what if I break my ankle or twist my knee? Something along the lines of just regular insurance sounds a little more reassuring.

oshelef

Renter's insurance doesn't require you being on the lease. At least, I've never been asked about the lease when I've bought it. It's just insurance that protects your stuff (and you from liability) when you live in a home you don't own.

JDiver

I can't really determine what you are attempting to insure. As you are an active person, you may wish to look into Divers Alert Network - membership is $35 annually, and that alone provides you with DAN TravelAssist�, $100,000 in medical evacuation and repatriation to the benefits as long as you are 50 miles / 80 km away from home. (A precipitating incident does not have to be dive related; you do have to contact their DAN TravelAssist� to arrange travel for you.)

They also offer various types of dive an trip insurance, but the plan you may find interesting is the Annual Travel Insurance Package shown here. This adds a modicum of medical insurance, baggage and personal effects loss, rental car collision coverage and trip cancellation insurance (certainly enough to cover most flights and / or nonrefundable change or cancellation fees), etc. for a very modest price in comparison to most travel accident plans.

DAN is a nonprofit organization primarily serving scuba divers - but their benefits cover others , have no age limitations and I know people who have used them for medevac and repatriation. I've been a satisfied member for many years (diving 57 years, but that's longer than DAN has been around).

rambro

Neat, thanks for the DAN links.

I am, first and foremost, trying to insure myself medically should anything occur that can't be taken care of with a normal dr visit. Secondly, after having already been on the road for 6 months, and witnessed how many people have had their .... stolen, I thought that some sort of baggage equipment would be a good thing to have. Even against breakage.

Dianne47

The DAN policies look good, but here's the rub. Most evacuation coverage only covers getting you to the nearest hospital THEY deem acceptable. If I'm injured in a remote place, I want to be able to select the hospital myself and be airlifted to that facility. MedJetAssist does that, you get to select your hospital, even one back home.

I learned about this the hard way. My husband contracted a deadly disease when we were 500 miles from home, I have written about it before on FT. After his first MONTH in the local hospital he needed to be evacuated to a hospital in our home town for secondary care and then rehab. The evacuation insurance said they would buy us two seats on Southwest! Husband was still unable to sit up and he was on all kinds of monitoring. He could only travel on a stretcher with a nurse.

I had to fight with our evacuation insurance company for NINE DAYS before they agreed to pay for the $7,000 flight, and I had to use lots of ancillary pull to get the flight covered. I always buy regular travel insurance, but now keep MedJetAssist membership, too.

rambro

...., that's terrible.