Last year, for the first time, I purchased an annual trip insurance policy for my family. We traveled a lot over the year, and I made one medical claim on the policy. The company (Travel Insured) still made money on me despite my claim. But, having the policy brought me peace of mind, especially for our long international trip and cruise.
I’m about to embark on another year full of adventures, so it’s time to look at travel insurance again.
Why I Purchase Annual Trip Insurance
I buy annual trip insurance (also known as multi-trip insurance) for two main reasons:
- Travel insurance from my credit cards isn’t enough, and
- My family travels so much that it’s cheaper to get an annual policy than it is to insure each trip separately.
Many credit cards have travel insurance if you book a trip with your card. Leana successfully used the World of Hyatt card’s travel insurance from the taxes she paid on award tickets to reimburse a travel delay (see this post). Rental car insurance from credit cards can save you a lot of money.
But, I need more coverage for my trips. I would never go on a cruise without medical evacuation coverage. I know it’s rare, but there are cases where people have to be evacuated from a cruise ship. And that ain’t cheap! Plus, medical costs in a foreign country can add up quickly.
I have five cruises in the next six months in addition to other international and domestic trips. It’s more cost-effective to get the annual plan.
Allianz AllTrips Premier
After reviewing a few different policies/companies, I decided to purchase the AllTrips Premier policy by Allianz. It covers:
- Trip cancellation
- Trip interruption
- Emergency medical
- Emergency medical transportation
- Baggage loss
- Baggage delay
- Travel delay
- Rental car damage/theft
- Travel accident
- Epidemic coverage
- Covers pre-existing conditions
The one-year policy for my family of five was $425. It covers all trips that are 90 days in duration or less and 100 miles or more away from home.
Note: I have no affiliate with Allianz or any other travel insurance company.
Bottom Line
I don’t go on a cruise without separate travel insurance. Hopefully, I won’t have any reason to file a claim this year. But, it’s still money well spent.
How do these work in conjunction with various credit card travel coverages? It would be a real PITA if the multiple parties – US-based health insurance, credit card travel insurance, 3rd party insurance like Allianz – all decide the others are the primary insurers.
The one caution I might suggest with Allianz is to verify that the medical coverage is primary insurance. The policies with them that I’ve looked at were all secondary coverage, meaning that if my wife or I get injured or sick in say, Bali, and require extensive treatment in a hospital then Allianz and my regular health insurance will be playing Hot Potato with the bills by trying to shove them at each other. Meanwhile the hospital wants perhaps tens or even a hundred plus thousand dollars before they release you to go home. The odds of this happening are quite slim but the reason you buy insurance is to protect you in case of an unpleasant mischance. Anyway, it might be worth checking into who covers first for emergency medical expenses.
@Christian good point. My new policy is primary medical coverage, but I could see how secondary might be a headache. I’ve had secondary medical coverage on other policies and had no issues with reimbursement for seeing a cruise ship doctor, but I imagine a major medical expense would be a different story.
A long, long, time ago I was taught that insurance is best for high cost but low probability events. High probability events with a low cost should be self-insured. It’s tougher to decide for those in the middle.
@richbilancia That sounds like some good advice!
But what’s a covered reason for trip cancel/interrupt? E.g. would the recent flight cancellations during winter storms have been reimbursed by insurance if you found a flight on a different carrier or had to have 3 days in a hotel because the next flight out was 3 days later?
You can check the policy terms.
Short answer – yes, those would have been covered under some circumstances.
@Noa most likely yes, but it depends on your trip insurance policy. My policy pays for trip cancellation if: “Your travel carrier cannot get you to your original itinerary’s destination for at least 24 consecutive hours from the originally scheduled arrival time due to one of the following reasons:
A. A natural disaster;
B. Severe weather;
C. An FAA or foreign equivalent mandate;
However, if you can get to your original destination another way, we will reimburse you for the following, up to your policy’s Trip Cancellation Coverage maximum benefit:
i. The reasonable cost of the alternate transportation, less available refunds; and
ii. The cost of any lost prepaid accommodations caused by your delayed arrival, less available refunds.” (just copied from my policy details)
and also pays $300/day for trip delay. So that could cover a hotel and food.
But definitely read the details of any trip insurance policy, because some only cover medical issues.
@Noa also be aware that trip cancellation coverage for a multi-trip policy usually isn’t enough to cover all of your trips (but again, hopefully all of your trips won’t be canceled!)