Among the highlights: Evans’ advice to double-check with your U.S. health insurance provider before traveling, to find out whether or not they will fully cover your treatment and possible evacuation if you become ill or injured abroad; the reminder that travel medical insurance comes not only with financial benefits, but also with real-time assistance to help you locate and access appropriate treatment away from home; and this bit of information gleaned from InsureMyTrip’s Ratings and Reviews page.

“…Travelers gush about how travel medical insurance gave them ‘peace of mind.’ In the first 100 of 1,466 responses, not a single person related a negative story involving an injury or a claim. Nor did anyone complain about wasting money for an unused service.”

The full text of “How to Prepare for Sickness on Foreign Trips” can be found on Philly.com.

To avoid common headaches such as receiving “reimbursement” in the form of vouchers for future cruise experiences you may or may not want to take, as well as to secure additional benefits for yourself that could be useful in helping you to recover the costs of additional transportation, or cover your medical expenses out of country if necessary, buying travel insurance for your cruise should always be done through a third party.  The Huffington Post article recommends InsureMyTrip as a “respectable and easy to use service” for just this sort of purchase.

The full text of “Carnival Cruise Lines and why Third Party Travel Insurance Pays” can be found on the Huffington Post’s Travel section.

Among the excellent points raised in the article is the relative cost of travel insurance vs. your trip cost, and whether or not your personal financial picture allows you to tolerate losing all your pre-paid costs.  “If you can hear that you just lost the cost of your trip, then roll over and go back to sleep, you probably don’t need insurance,” a tour company spokesperson is quoted as saying.  However, given the relatively low cost of a travel insurance policy that will cover the needs of most recreational golfers — noted in this piece as anywhere from 5% to 15% of total trip cost, depending upon whether or not you want specialized benefits such as “Cancel for Any Reason” coverage — even those who have a high tolerance for absorbing financial losses may find that it’s worth it to protect their trip investment.  Golf Digest recommends shopping around to compare different insurance plans and rates from different companies, and highlights InsureMyTrip.com as the place to do the best comparison shopping.

The full article “Money Clip: Man Down” can be found on Golf Digest’s site.

Among the concerns raised by the Frugal Traveler are the cost of travel insurance relative to the cost of a trip; the relative likelihood of misfortune befalling you on your trip (for example, greater for one who is traveling by motorcycle through remote mountains than for one who is visiting Grandma for a week); the coverage already offered to you by your own medical insurance or homeowner’s insurance; and your individual financial tolerance — whether or not you think you’d be able to absorb the cost of a medical evacuation or other major unforeseen expense.  In most cases, the Frugal Traveler recommends using InsureMyTrip as one of the key sources for comparing and purchasing travel insurance options that suit your needs.

The entire column, “Should You Buy Travel Insurance?” can be found on the NY Times website.

On the comments page of InsureMyTrip.com, a travel insurance aggregator, travelers gush about how travel medical insurance gave them “peace of mind”; “fortunate” and “felt very comfortable” were also popular words. In the first 100 of 1,466 responses, not a single person related a negative story involving an injury or a claim. Nor did anyone complain about wasting money for an unused service.

One reason travelers may feel so secure, the article points out, is that those who travel without insurance may need to pay out of pocket for any unexpected medical costs, while those who travel with insurance can file a claim with their travel insurance company to have those costs reimbursed.  When the medical emergency is severe, requiring specialized services such as evacuation, the difference travel insurance makes could be measured in the tens of thousands of dollars.  However, as InsureMyTrip’s Executive Vice President, Peter Evans, points out in the Post article, travelers looking to purchase a medical plan for their trip should always check with their primary health insurance carrier first.  Some U.S.-based health insurers will cover medical expenses abroad, in part or in full, so it’s smart to have an understanding of your provider’s policies before buying additional coverage.

The complete story can be accessed on the Washington Post website.