Do you use Travel Insurance

[Reef Madness]

This is a general question about travel insurance. I’ve never used it but reading some of the threads here it seems more popular than I thought. How many of you buy travel insurance and have you ever collected on a claim? Am I being risky not having it?

 

[Altamira]

I buy trip insurance for any trip that would be very painful to self-fund if I had to cancel, and all trips overseas because Medicare does not cover medical expenses when injured or sick when outside of the U.S. I am intimately aware of the cost for major medical procedures and care in the U.S., and would not want to have to pay out-of-pocket for those types of medical problems, even in countries where the cost of medical care is less than in U.S.

Edit: Yes, I have made claims for medical issues, though thankfully have not had to make claims for any high dollar care.

 

[BoltSnap]

I have DAN dive insurance and buy travel insurance through them too. (DAN Europe). I started to buy trip insurance (with medical care) after the COVID thing. I simply can afford to get sick in another country and have to pay for extended stay or medical care.

 

[rick00001967]

i have never bought travel insurance. i have never bought scuba diving insurance.

i do have a credit card that provides some travel protections. we have used it once or twice.

the card also has some health insurance. my wife needed it once. we had to pay about 1600 bucks out of pocket in st lucia but we were reimbursed by the insurance company.

i also have a letter from them stating the health insurance will cover treatment for decommpression injuries.

we are hoping to be travelling in a couple of months so probably a good time for us to review all our coverages and make sure we have what we need.

 

[ThatDogDontHunt]

There are multiple different things to consider and hence multiple different types of insurance. You pay for insurance and hopefully never need it, or you pay out of pocket when things go wrong.

How easy is it for you to trip over a curb and do a face plant? Can you afford the required medical treatment out of pocket?

What is the chance that you may have to cancel (or be unable to start) a trip?

What is the chance that you will need to bail early on a trip (death in the family back home on day 2 of a 10 day trip)?

Once we started to travel more than twice a year (not just scuba trips) it made sense to purchase annual trip insurance. Unfortunately we have made several smallsimple claims over the years. The claims have always been larger than the premiums. And our claims have been small simple things like trip interruption and lost luggage.

Carrying full time annual trip insurance is a no brainier for anyone who travels twice or more. Just once every few years? Then buy per trip insurance from your travel agent.

 

[noserider]

Yes - would never travel internationally without some form of medical insurance, seen too many people get into real trouble whilst overseas and some of those have incurred massive medical bills and had to rely on family and friends to bail them out staggering large sums of money as they thought they could get away without insurance

I have made a couple of claims over the years for medical (fully ruptured achilles tendon in Kenya, hospitalisation in Tokyo) and a theft in Portugal.

Any idea how much a ride in a chamber could start at?

 

[Imla]

YES! Never leave home without it. Annual travel insurance that goes into effect the second I step outside the front door. (And I live in Norway with a maximum of $250 a year payments for healthcare)
Considering it is $120 a year... Its a no-brainer.
I am a nurse and my travel insurance also covers professional liability when travelling both for work and on holiday.
I supplement with a DAN plan if travelling outside of Norway, and especially for cave/technical dive trips.

 

[ThatDogDontHunt]

...
Any idea how much a ride in a chamber could start at?

Chamber rides are cheap compared to many other procedures that are more likely to happen. Scuba is not that special.

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[NW Dive Dawg]

My wife and I both carry the DAN Guardian Plan for dive incidents as well as DAN's Annual "Traveler" plan for travel insurance. Total annual premium for the two of us for the travel insurance is $860, but that also covers any travel to anywhere that is more than 100 miles round trip... We usually do 2 dive trips out of the US per year, plus other trips that are a lot more than a 100 mile RT...

Last May, my wife got her big toe nail ripped off by an escalator at the airport on the way to a BVI trip and we collected the max trip cancellation $$ with not much hassle...just basic paperwork...

 

[Reef Madness]

Thanks everyone. I have DAN dive insurance already.