Bad things sometimes upset good travel plans. Increasingly, here in the United States, we are being encouraged to buy travel insurance. Travel insurance can cover many risks, including emergency health care, emergency medical evacuation, trip cancellation, travel delay, lost or delayed luggage, or damage to rental cars.
I am going to start with the issue that is most likely to impact Senior Lawyers Division members who travel internationally. Medicare does not cover health care costs outside of the United States. Some Medicare supplemental policies and Medicare Advantage plans cover emergency care outside of the United States; many do not. Always check your plan before you travel internationally. Fret not; emergency medical insurance is not terribly expensive. The cost will vary depending on your age, how long you are going to be out of the country, and where you are traveling. I’ve bought it for as little as $110 for a month, to as much as $225 a month. A search will show providers offering this coverage in your area, and many airlines or cruise line websites provide links to providers.
It is also important to look at coverage for emergency medical evacuation. A friend of ours took an around-the-world cruise last year. The insurance offered by the cruise line covered medical care on the ship, but didn’t cover medical evacuation. Several people had medical needs that required leaving the ship and returning home. Depending on where in the world they were and the nature of care needed on the trip home, the cost ran as high as $75,000, and most of them did not have evacuation coverage. Many short-term international medical plans include emergency medical evacuation coverage.
Lastly, for those with Medicare coverage through a Medicare Advantage plan, some policies limit emergency services out of network, even within the United States. Check the policy; you may find that coverage is only provided for a limited number of consecutive days. This can be an issue if you have a second home or you take an extended trip across the country.
Trip cancellation insurance covers a loss incurred because travel needs to be cancelled due to an emergency, such as illness, injury, or an unforeseeable change in circumstances. Generally, the insurance won’t cover just changing your mind; it is intended for emergency circumstances. The insurance will only cover what is lost or forfeited. If you receive a travel credit for the cancelled travel, such as an airline travel voucher, it will not cover that as a loss. If hotel reservations can be cancelled, there is not a loss there. Some prepaid hotel reservations are non-refundable. Non-refundable rates are generally lower than cancellable room rates; you can balance that savings against the cost of trip cancellation insurance. If something happens, I have found that it always helps to call the hotel and ask if they will refund the non-refundable reservation. If there is a medical emergency or death in the family, they sometimes will make an exception. Trip cancellation insurance may also cover other costs, such as non-refundable sightseeing tours or ground transportation. Read the policy declaration to know what is and is not covered.
Trip delay insurance covers out-of-pocket costs such as hotel, ground transportation, and meals when travel is delayed for a reason beyond your control. Read the policy to know what is covered and what is not. Some policies exclude causes such as labor stoppages. The airlines will often pay the cost if the cause is something clearly within their control, such as a mechanical problem, but will not cover delays caused by weather (and weather is much more likely to cause a trip delay). Over the past 30 years, I have paid for a handful of hotel nights when weather causes a flight to be cancelled or delayed. A tip: always ask the airline if they can get you a preferred rate at a hotel near the airport; the airlines often have relationships with nearby hotels.
Over the years, I have had a handful of bags delayed from a few hours to a couple of days. If this happens on the way home, it is not really an issue. The airline will deliver the bag to you, or you can stop by the airport and pick it up. If the delay happens on the way out, it can be a problem. A few years ago, I found myself in Rome wearing shorts and a polo shirt with dinner reservations at a restaurant with a dress code, and my bag was in Philadelphia. If I had baggage delay insurance, it would have reimbursed me for the reasonable cost of buying appropriate clothes for the meeting that evening. I didn’t. The emergency clothing purchase must be reasonable. There was a news story recently of someone who went luxury boutique shopping for a new wardrobe when a bag was delayed for 24 hours, and the insurance refused to pay.
If a bag is lost, and it does happen, the airline contract limits the amount you are reimbursed. This may not cover your actual loss. Lost baggage coverage would pick up any difference. Even here, there will be limits on overall value and on high-value items (that should never go in checked bags).
Lastly, there is the dreaded question of collision damage coverage on rental cars. In some countries, this is called excess coverage. The coverage offered by the rental car companies can be rather expensive. A good starting point is to check with your car insurance to see if your coverage extends to cars that you rent. It often does. Private outside insurance is also available through travel booking sites or credit cards. I have used both, and they are generally less expensive than buying coverage through the rental car company. When renting cars outside of the United States, I always add in whatever the cost of insurance is. And I sleep better because of it.
With the exception of rental car coverage, I don’t usually bother with travel insurance on domestic travel. The airlines I use will almost always give me a travel credit if I need to cancel or change a trip, and I either take the risk or book hotel reservations that I can cancel or change. For international travel, I always buy health insurance coverage. When I booked travel for the 2025 ABA Annual meeting in Toronto, the airline offered coverage from a carrier I have used in the past, which includes trip cancellation and emergency medical coverage (including evacuation coverage) for the very brief trip for less than $30. Some companies offer annual travel insurance that covers all your trips.
