Travel insurance suggestions

[craracer]

As I have never purchased travel insurance, I'm looking for some suggestions and tips on attaining it. I will be traveling to Belize in late September.

Thanks!

 

[Louie]

Depending on where you live, you may be able to get DAN insurance that covers travel (cancellation, travel health/medical) along with dive emergency cover. I've used DAN in the past and have found it was really good value for money - as well as being one of the most trusted names in dive coverage.

 

[Doubler]

DAN or Dive Assure. Either is good. Do some comparison shopping to meet your needs but don't leave home without it. I use Dive Assure currently.

 

[redacted]

Unless you have some special risk factor, travel insurance is a bad bet. This is a vacation. Insurance is to cover events you can't afford. If you can't afford to lose a vacation, you should not be taking it.

 

[craracer]

Thanks for the info. I currently use DAN for dive insurance.

I've felt the same way as you awap about trip insurance. However, I would imagine that I will get caught out sooner or later.
Again, I don't know what the costs of insurance are, but if it's reasonably cheap, I say what the heck.

 

[Cajuncru Diver]

Travel Guard is another good alternative. Besides covering your loss if your trip is cancelled due to weather(hurricanes in September) death of a family member, most health insurance policies only cover you in the US and if you get sick, have an accident or injury outside the US you have no health insurance so trip insurance provides very valuable protection closing that gap. Good luck and have a great trip!

 

[vladimir]

Thanks for the info. I currently use DAN for dive insurance.

I've felt the same way as you awap about trip insurance. However, I would imagine that I will get caught out sooner or later.
Again, I don't know what the costs of insurance are, but if it's reasonably cheap, I say what the heck.

As a former actuary, let me say that awap has given you perfect advice, and random events are independent of prior experience. So, if your (fair) coin has come up heads ten times in a row, the odds of it coming up tails on the next toss are still 50-50. You're not "due." Most people know this but very few people internalize it--it cuts against the hardwiring of our brains, I guess. So travel insurance was a bad bet on your first trip and it's still a bad bet now, no matter how many times you got lucky in between.

 

[Cajuncru Diver]

As a former actuary, let me say that awap has given you perfect advice, and random events are independent of prior experience. So, if your (fair) coin has come up heads ten times in a row, the odds of it coming up tails on the next toss are still 50-50. You're not "due." Most people know this but very few people internalize it--it cuts against the hardwiring of our brains, I guess. So travel insurance was a bad bet on your first trip and it's still a bad bet now, no matter how many times you got lucky in between.

How does that Brain Hardwiring thing work---Since I live in a flood zone but haven't flooded the last 3 flood events is my flood insurance a bad bet? Since I have made 10 successful trips outside the territory of the US, should I cancel my outside of the US Health Insurance and go uninsured because it's a bad bet. Since I have been diving 19 years without a DCS incident I guess I should have cancelled my DAN insurance because it's a bad bet and paid the $3200 cost of a chamber ride for the skin bends I had last time out. Just wondering?

 

[Reef Tank]

As a former actuary, let me say that awap has given you perfect advice, and random events are independent of prior experience. So, if your (fair) coin has come up heads ten times in a row, the odds of it coming up tails on the next toss are still 50-50. You're not "due." Most people know this but very few people internalize it--it cuts against the hardwiring of our brains, I guess.

After 10 heads I will bet on tails.

Aren't plane fares often credited if canceled before the trip (except for the re-booking fee)? And then the most one would loose is the remainder of the package. Sometimes the resort is willing to credit the price toward a future stay. Considering the above, the exposure may not be that great so the 10% premium for insurance on the entire package is way too much.

 

[vladimir]

How does that Brain Hardwiring thing work---Since I live in a flood zone but haven't flooded the last 3 flood events is my flood insurance a bad bet? Since I have made 10 successful trips outside the territory of the US, should I cancel my outside of the US Health Insurance and go uninsured because it's a bad bet. Since I have been diving 19 years without a DCS incident I guess I should have cancelled my DAN insurance because it's a bad bet and paid the $3200 cost of a chamber ride for the skin bends I had last time out. Just wondering?

"Bad bet" means that you have a negative expectancy, that's all. The bet costs more than the probability of the event multiplied by the payout. It may be a sound decision to insure your home against flooding even if it is a "bad bet," because the consequences of the event outweigh the small loss you take making a bad bet. That is where we cross from probability to economics--there is added utility in preventing a catastrophic loss. As awap pointed out, however, loss of a vacation is not (or should not be) catastrophic.

(As an aside, your flood insurance may very well be subsidized by the government enough to make it a good bet--for everybody but the taxpayers. Also, floods are probably not random, although I don't pretend to know for sure.)