Travel insurance

[Elodie]

Just wondering what our travel insurance needs to cover, and if our free annual travel insurance will be sufficient for Florida. (None of us have any medical conditions.)

We have worldwide annual travel insurance included with our home insurance (Direct Line Home Insurance Plus.) Should that be ok for 2-3 weeks in Florida? What details should I be looking for in the policy documents to check that we’ve got a sensible level of cover?

[Amaya]

You will need a minimum 2 million £ medical coverage preferably up to 5 million£
Cancellation coverage to the amount you have paid for the holiday.
Personal / individual item coverage which will cover anything you are taking with you. Eg. If you have a £1000 tablet and your insurance limit is to only £500 per item you will only get back half the value of your tablet.

Whether the item limits suit your needs is up to you.

End supplier failure is good to have depending on who you booked with,

Trip,interruption is good in case you need to return home due to an emergency.

Think that covers the major categories.

Also check the excess as some companies charge ridiculous amounts for any claim.

Hope this helps.

[Satisfactual]

I read somewhere about if you have a medical emergency for the insurance company to settle with the hospital straight away as they wont let you leave without payment, someone might have better advice on this though

[Elodie]

Originally Posted by Amaya

You will need a minimum 2 million £ medical coverage preferably up to 5 million£
Cancellation coverage to the amount you have paid for the holiday.
Personal / individual item coverage which will cover anything you are taking with you. Eg. If you have a £1000 tablet and your insurance limit is to only £500 per item you will only get back half the value of your tablet.

Whether the item limits suit your needs is up to you.

End supplier failure is good to have depending on who you booked with,

Trip,interruption is good in case you need to return home due to an emergency.

Think that covers the major categories.

Also check the excess as some companies charge ridiculous amounts for any claim.

Hope this helps.

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Thank you, that’s a great comprehensive list. I feel like I actually know what I’m looking for now, so I’m using your list to check through our insurance now!

Medical cover - up to £10 million per person
Cancellation - up to value of holiday
Personal items - covered up to their value via home insurance
End supplier failure - up to £5000 per person
Trip interruption - up to £5000 per person
Excess - £0-£50 per person (depending on claim) seems reasonable

I think that all seems to be sufficient, plus some extras, so we should be ok without buying any further insurance. Thanks for your help and reassurance.

[thefergies]

Originally Posted by Elodie

Thank you, that’s a great comprehensive list. I feel like I actually know what I’m looking for now, so I’m using your list to check through our insurance now!

Medical cover - up to £10 million per person
Cancellation - up to value of holiday
Personal items - covered up to their value via home insurance
End supplier failure - up to £5000 per person
Trip interruption - up to £5000 per person
Excess - £0-£50 per person (depending on claim) seems reasonable

I think that all seems to be sufficient, plus some extras, so we should be ok without buying any further insurance. Thanks for your help and reassurance.

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Sounds a thorough policy. One tip to minimise the prospect of hospital kidnapping you until you pay is keep copy of policy schedule with policy number on your person as well as the bit which details the medical assistance provider. Most US hospitals happy to accept confirmation from those companies to bill insurer direct rather than force customer to hand over Credit card! Obviously hope that never arises!

[Elodie]

Originally Posted by thefergies

Sounds a thorough policy. One tip to minimise the prospect of hospital kidnapping you until you pay is keep copy of policy schedule with policy number on your person as well as the bit which details the medical assistance provider. Most US hospitals happy to accept confirmation from those companies to bill insurer direct rather than force customer to hand over Credit card! Obviously hope that never arises!

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That’s a good tip - I’ll add it to the packing list (not that I’ve actually started it yet!)

[col1968]

I had experience of the ED in Florida a few years back. After my treatment taken to a room to pay, managed to ring my insurance who agreed to pay the hospital direct but honestly, there's no way they were letting me leave without their dollars...security guy with gun at the exit lol

[Elodie]

Originally Posted by col1968

I had experience of the ED in Florida a few years back. After my treatment taken to a room to pay, managed to ring my insurance who agreed to pay the hospital direct but honestly, there's no way they were letting me leave without their dollars...security guy with gun at the exit lol

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Eek!

[ERICSMUM]

Originally Posted by thefergies

Sounds a thorough policy. One tip to minimise the prospect of hospital kidnapping you until you pay is keep copy of policy schedule with policy number on your person as well as the bit which details the medical assistance provider. Most US hospitals happy to accept confirmation from those companies to bill insurer direct rather than force customer to hand over Credit card! Obviously hope that never arises!

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Good advice. I also add the insurer’s emergency assistance phone number to my iPhone Contacts just in case...

[wsmusa]

We have used direct line travel insurance in the USA and they were amazing our little one only 3 fell ill went to local pharmacy but they advised a walk in centre, she had to be put on a drip, hospital spoke with direct line and agreed over phone we just had excess of some think like £35 and bill was over £2k !

Be aware that direct line no longer offer this as part of home insurance now. If you have it you. And renew home insurance you keep it but if you cancel you can ever get it back.

We have started to plan for 2020 and are keeping it until then.
At first I was thinking that they would cover every where but the USA like a lot of insurance companies and then charge extra for USA but it is included so a great benefit.