high risk travel insurance

[kokomas]

Bump for extended family trip to Central/South America with small kids in tow. Not getting extreme but there will be some diving, hiking, ziplining. Main concern is kids getting sick off the beaten path in Honduras or Costa Rica and needing a flight back to US. Reading the thread, seems like Travel guard, global rescue should be my first calls? Any others? We have good healthcare thru United who claim they will cover 80 percent of any expenses, now just looking for easy evacuation and logistics plan. Thinking that means I need a primary coverage rather than Nomads who are secondary I think I read?

Went with Global Rescue because it cost less than Nomads for 180 days abroad. Intrigued by the AAC plan but not convinced it would work for kids getting sick in South America, will look into more for next trip

[AKPogue]

Curious if you ever looked into working for them? They are hiring a medic now in "Eastern Europe (Kiev, Ukraine?)" and they say they work 2 months on and 1 month off. If they would flip that to 1 month on and 2 months off I would definitely look into that.

I have and after working for them I was very unimpressed.

[tino_]

Any recommendations for long-term and high risk travel insurance? I'm a Canadian who'll be spending the winter season in Japan and I can't seem to find any insurance that will cover the whole length of my stay (~6 months) and high-risk activities such as backcountry skiing for a reasonable price. The AACUK only covers the first 8 weeks of travel and while they offer additional extended length coverage, is only available to EU residents. Any suggestions are welcome, thanks

[beaterdit]

Have you checked Travel Guard?

Divers Alert Network are very well regarded, looks like they partner with Travel Guard for individual trip and annual stuff. I've heard that DAN doesn't care what activity you're pursuing but I can't find it on their site. They might not have logistics in place for mountain rescue? The coverage looks pretty good though.

Don't have personal experience and prolly not much help...

[tino_]

I've heard that DAN doesn't care what activity you're pursuing but I can't find it on their site.

Thanks for the response, but I found this brochure on their site and it looks like skiing and mountaineering are excluded from their covered activities
https://www.diversalertnetwork.org/s...andbook-ca.pdf

[tino_]

If anyone is following - I went with Merit Insurance Globetrotter Budget Plan B https://merittravel.com/insurance/. It ended up being 260 CAD for 6 months of coverage and provides medical coverage for injuries sustained in the backcountry. The only catch is that the accidental death and dismemberment benefits are not payable if you participating in a high-risk activity, which includes skiing out of bounds and mountaineering. So if you get hurt, don't lose a limb or die. Hope this helps someone else out too

[carlh]

Bumping again. Ski hut trip coming up next march in Canada. Looking for travel insurance for medical and trip cancellation, realize it won't cover me if Canada is still closed then but I am vaccinated and not worried about that. Guide recommends global rescue or worldnomads any advice on this decision?

[El Chupacabra]

Bumping again. Looking at getting an annual plan to cover various trips, both within US and out of the country.

We have an ACA marketplace health plan that doesn't provide coverage outside the network. I'm thinking that an annual travel insurance plan that covers medical expense outside of network would be useful, and these travel plans look quite inexpensive -- basically looking at this for things like "break a leg skiing out of state, get costs covered to get back home." And the typical travel-related expense coverages would be handy too (lost luggage, trip delay, that sort of thing).

I found this comparison useful:
https://thepointsguy.com/guide/best-...insurance/amp/

Travel Guard quoted $518/ yr for two.

Allianz AllTrips Basic (no trip cancelation or interruption, $20K emergency medical) quoted $276/yr for two -- I am leaning towards this.
Allianz AllTrips Premier (includes trip cancelation, interruption, and higher coverages for medical ($50K etc) quoted $485/yr for two.

Note for anyone considering Allianz: in reading the policy, it excludes backcountry and heli skiing, and activities higher than 15K elevation. Also excludes professional and amateur sporting competitions (e.g. getting injured during a bike race would be excluded).

GeoBlue looks interesting (Blue Cross, medical coverage only), but only covers outside the US, so that's not helpful to me.

Anyone gone through this recently and have any recommendations, thoughts, etc.?

[jacob_dbu]

Bumping again. Looking at getting an annual plan to cover various trips, both within US and out of the country.

We have an ACA marketplace health plan that doesn't provide coverage outside the network. I'm thinking that an annual travel insurance plan that covers medical expense outside of network would be useful, and these travel plans look quite inexpensive -- basically looking at this for things like "break a leg skiing out of state, get costs covered to get back home." And the typical travel-related expense coverages would be handy too (lost luggage, trip delay, that sort of thing).

I found this comparison useful:
https://thepointsguy.com/guide/best-...insurance/amp/

Travel Guard quoted $518/ yr for two.

Allianz AllTrips Basic (no trip cancelation or interruption, $20K emergency medical) quoted $276/yr for two -- I am leaning towards this.
Allianz AllTrips Premier (includes trip cancelation, interruption, and higher coverages for medical ($50K etc) quoted $485/yr for two.

Note for anyone considering Allianz: in reading the policy, it excludes backcountry and heli skiing, and activities higher than 15K elevation. Also excludes professional and amateur sporting competitions (e.g. getting injured during a bike race would be excluded).

GeoBlue looks interesting (Blue Cross, medical coverage only), but only covers outside the US, so that's not helpful to me.

Anyone gone through this recently and have any recommendations, thoughts, etc.?

Look into getspot.com if you just want acute injury medical coverage. It is insanely cheap for what you get.

[Whiteroom_Guardian]

Getspot.com good for something like a week long trip to MX for a bike race?

[El Chupacabra]

Look into getspot.com if you just want acute injury medical coverage. It is insanely cheap for what you get.

Thanks - interesting option. Advantage of it is it'll provide coverage at home too (vs Allianz requirement of being 100 miles away from home or more).

Ran a quote through the website - $48/ mo for the two of us. A little higher than the base Allianz travel insurance policy, but close.

[doebedoe]

FWIW I'm using Allianz for trip cancellation / interruption insurance this year and getspot for the acute medical coverage.

[jacob_dbu]

Getspot.com good for something like a week long trip to MX for a bike race?

You’d have to check their details, I’m not sure off the top of my head.

[Shred Baron]

Although I haven’t filed a claim with them, I had insured a trip using dog tag (https://www.dogtag.com). It was a few years ago, and if I remember right their rates seemed competitive. They covered all sorts of things like skiing off piste with/without guides, mountaineering etc. It looks like they offer annual multi trip plans.


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[comish]

I went way down the rabbit hole on this topic this weekend.

Kids are at ski camp in Saas Fee Switzerland in a couple weeks and wife and I will be in Yurp for a couple weeks before hand with kids. I wanted to make sure they were covered if they hurt themselves and they call in the Heli like they typically do in Yurp, even for a bum knee. With an eye toward an AK trip next spring started looking at an annual plan.

We have an Aetna High Deductible POS. My read of the legalize is the only distinction is "in network" or "out of network" which governs my co-pays, dudictibles, and max out of pocket. Doesn't seem like it matters if this is in Yurp or down the road in CA. Am I crazy on that? If so, I don't need medical coverage as part of my travel insurance.

For the emergency Evacuation and Transportation, it seems like they all (Global Rescue, coverage from Sapphire Card, etc) want you do call an arrange the rescue through them. That doesn't seem realistic? Kid is on the side of the piste, ski camp calls the patrol who calls in the Heli. This likely all happens while I'm asleep back in CA. Right? So, how do you get that covered?

My Sapphire card says it will cover up to $100k for transport and medical services, but it must be arranged through the Benefit Administrator. Global Rescue's fine print says the same thing as do a couple of others.

DogTagL We had that years ago, it says this now: Dogtag has been replaced with SafeTreker.

Looks like I can also pay 5chf per kid per day in Saas Fee for insurance, but then I can't buy the tickets through the ski camp.

Austrian Alpine club looks ok except it's Austrian law if you ever have a dispute and it doesn't cover this:
Accidents during participation in provincial, national
or international competitions in Nordic and Alpine
skiing, snowboarding and freestyling, freeriding,
bob, ski-bob, skeleton or luge and when training for
such events;

Is training with a ski camp considered that? I'm guessing when racing at a US Regionals competition that wouldn't be covered then? Argh

[Bozo T. Clown]

The Carte Neige looks interesting for worldwide coverage.

It seems very French. As in, of course we'll cover you for skiing the Aiguille du Midi, or hucking cliffs, "Is that not part of skiing?", or competing, or your charming little areas in the United States... But like any insurance you had better fill out all of the documents correctly.

I've procrastinated since you need to:

1. Get a note from your doctor saying that you're healthy enough to ski.
2. Get the note translated into French.
3. Join a French ski club. Which you can do online.

Also looks like you can declare an accident online. And the insurance documents are also in English.

http://www.ffs.fr/federation/licence...ce-carte-neige
http://www.ffs.fr/federation/licence...e/les-licences

"Which Activities Are Guaranteed?

The guarantees of the Primo, Medium and Optimum insurance options offered to licensees are acquired in the event of a bodily accident occurring, anywhere in the world, as a result of the practice as an amateur of physical activities not subject to exclusion.

Individual activities such as:
SKI in all its forms and its teaching, or any sliding sport recognized by the FFS, as well as all additional and related sports to sliding.
Are guaranteed in Geographical Europe only: hiking, raids included, Nordic walking and mountain biking."

And apparently there are 3 versions: leisure, competitor, and manager.
http://www.ffs.fr/federation/licence...e/les-licences


They did reply to my email written in English, "Carte Neige for U.S. citizen", in French of course.
From October 2019,

Bonjour,

Vous pouvez souscrire à une licence carte neige.
Cependant la licence est valable de la date d’achat jusqu’au 14 octobre 2020.
L’assurance de la licence carte neige couvre le ski sous toutes ses formes dans le monde entier.
Vous pouvez souscrire à la licence carte neige et une option d’assurance depuis votre domicile en allant sur le site internet de la FFS ( www.ffs.fr)
Les documents demandés ne sont pas du ressort de l’assurance. Il faut voir directement avec le club.
Vous trouverez ci-joint la notice d’information en Français et en Anglais.

Bien cordialement,

Alizée Mazy

Chargée de Comptes en Risques Sportifs
VERSPIEREN - Licence Carte Neige
1, avenue François Mitterrand
BP 30200
59446 Wasquehal Cedex
Tél. : 03 20 65 40 00
Fax. : 03 20 65 40 23
ffs@verspieren.com
www.ffs.verspieren.com
S.A. à conseil d’administration au capital de 1 000 000 €
Siège social : 1 avenue François Mitterrand - 59290 Wasquehal
Siren 321 502 049 - RCS Lille Métropole
N° Orias 07 001 542 www.orias.fr