Insurance forum

wow -- glad to hear you're ok, and thanks for posting your experience both here and on your blog. I had my appendix out in Bangkok -- luckily for me there was no followup operation required!

So when is the return trip ;-)

My travel insurance has also paid itself back many, many times over, mainly due to a 2-night stay at the Royal Angkor Hospital in Siem Reap (~ $ 1200).

One thing I do wonder about though, how come everyone's travel insurance seems to be so terribly expensive? I get pretty comprehensive coverage for all trips shorter than three months for around 45 € a year, and the prices at other insurance companies in my North European country of residence are pretty similar. This is for traveller insurance only but covers all medical expenses without limit with the usual limitations (for extreme sports etc). I don't insure my belongings. As I see people paying 100-200 $ for their insurance per trip, are the prices that different in other countries or is there something I'm missing?

Lother:

Like others above, I too would not travel without the insurance. This thread is the first time I've seen prices quoted for buying travel insurance in countries other than the US. When we went to Lao and northern Viet Nam last year, for a month, it cost us 40 USD each (full coverage, including, god forbid, medical evacuation). Next trip, 5.5 weeks in Cambodia and southern Viet Nam commencing December '10, it's costing us 75 USD each.

As much of an expense as that is up front, the cost of paying for medical care, etc., out of pocket while on the road would be a much greater burden.

My advice (which is worth what you're paying for it, of course): buy the insurance!

We always buy travel insurance for our trips too. On this last trip, I paid $85 for 8 weeks in Thailand and Laos. That included a few additional bells and whistles, but what I really liked was the extensive medical coverage and emergency evac (both medical and civil unrest - a real bonus all things considered :-), which also included repatriation of remains. Compared to the cost of my air ticket, the travel insurance was a drop.

If I ever needed it, I'd actually prefer to stay in Thailand for my medical treatment too, since I've always had high quality and more personal attention from the medical staff there than anywhere else I've lived. I've got good medical insurance here, and sometimes I still work in medical appts when I'm in Bangkok because it is usually better and easier. Regards.

Hi CRASHT1224,

This last time I used a company called Travelsafe, but I've used different companies in the past as well. There are two things I usually do to help keep the cost lower. First is to accept a bit of a deductable on the medical coverage. Even something like a $100 co-pay (deductable) can save quite a bit on the policy premium fee. The other trick is that I am not insuring a high trip cost. For example, on this last trip, the only prepaid thing I had was my airfare, so I only insured for a trip value of $500 or maybe even a bit less. Insuring for a trip value of even just $1000 would have nearly doubled my premium. That may not work for everyone, but it definitely works for me. It means the value of my insurance for trip cancellation, delay, and stuff like that is very low, but since what I'm really after is medical coverage, that works well for me.

We also noticed that for most of the US-based insurance companies we checked, policy premiums for trips of under 30 days were quite cheap. My wife had a 28-day policy through AMEX with very good coverage, which even included a week of travel in the states, and paid something like $35.

The World Nomads coverage looked good too, but included higher limits and coverage for a few things we didn't think we needed, which is why we selected a different company. I've been lucky and haven't needed to file a claim, so I can't say how good the claims service is for the company we used. Hope that helps. Cheers.

Certainly worth shopping around for a policy that meets your needs.

Regarding the medical coverage, worth noting that given the standard of care available in Thailand, it would be unusual to be repatriated to the US or UK (as the OPs cases evidences) -- it is more useful when say in Cambodia and you'll be evacuated for better treatment in Singapore or Thailand.

somsai - welcome to rant -- I've met the guys behind World Nomads and they struck me as a pretty fair pair. As I've mentioned elsewhere on the site, when we travel we use World Nomads. They're not the cheapest, but fit our needs quite well.

Cheers

And what lessons should we take away from all this?

> Always buy travel insurance.
> Never arm wrestle a Russian policeman.

;)

The trip price jumps to about double when I enter my ticket price from the states ($1000)
If I put in a lower price, would it void the policy? I suspect it would..

@#16
for trip cancellation/interruption coverage, most policies want to know the portion of your tickets and other upfront trip costs that are non-refundable. If you purchased totally non-refundable tickets, then you would insure the entire ticket amount. Airlines will normally specify a cancellation fee for cancellations of purchased tickets, usually in the $100-200 range, this fee is the only portion of the ticket that is insured, as the rest is refundable and therefore not insurable for trip cancellation/interruption coverage.

Sounds pricey #19, coranary bypass at one of the most famous hospitals in BKK is under 30K.

http://www.bumrungrad.com/realcost/final-bill-estimate.aspx?ProcId=25

The low price, high quality, and my comfort with being treated in Thailand all contribute to my lack of insurance.

Hi all,

YES, if you are travelling to Cambodia or Laos you need insurance - particularly if you still have an appendix. My husband got appendicitis in the middle of Cambodia a few months ago. He had complications and I'm not sure we would have had the cash to cover the hospital costs as you can only get so much cash from an ATM per week. As it was, he could not leave the hospital before the insurance co. confirmed they would pay for everything (except the first € 100). Cambodian hospitals are cheap but it came to more than €1000 - quite a whack off the travel budget.
We bought the insurance with the plane ticket in France - GO insurance - definitely worth it.