Hi all,

I wanted to get some advice on travel insurance and if it's worth even getting. A lot of the people I have followed on youtube and read their stories on blogs have opted out of travel insurance for various reasons but I am unsure.

I am starting my bike tour in Colombia on October 15th, I will be biking through Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru for 1-2 months. I am 26 and quite healthy, with no existing medical conditions.

Wanted to get some of your thoughts regarding this.

Thank you.

Accidents happen, that's why they are called accidents.
I see you're in Toronto. Your first step should be to understand how your provincial health plans works when you need medical assistance out of country. Once you do that and understand how things work, then you'll be in a better position to decide if you need supplemental coverage or not.

Tough question. I think you're going to hear a bunch of different opinions and at the end just be back at the same place, needing to make the decision for yourself, but for what it's worth here my situation.

I'm currently cycling from Washington State to Argentina. I bought travel insurance and have not used it once. However I will probably continue to pay for it. I cycled with a Dutch guy who had done most of the Alaska-Argentina trip five years ago. He made it to Colombia where he got hit by a truck. He spent seven days in a coma in a Colombian hospital where they opened his skull to relieve the pressure on his brain. I'm pretty sure he was glad to have insurance.

When I have cycled outside of USA (where I have health insurance), I have bought travel insurance. I have not been injured and never filed a claim, but I was glad I had it. But I have no idea if my health insurance would have covered me so I wanted to have some form of alternative insurance.

For example a year ago when I cycled in Iceland for almost a month, it was an option that I could pay for when I bought my airplane ticket, cost was $49 USD which I was happy to pay.

I got my airplane ticket through AARP/Expedia. I just looked at the policy, it said "Expedia Total Protection Plan" and listed "Stonebridge Casualty Insurance Company" as the policy issuer.

Your summarized bio says you are in Toronto, I assume that is Toronto Canada and not Toronto Ohio. I have no idea if you would have any medical or related coverage from your home country if you were injured out of the country.

My medical insurance actually covers me out of the country, so I haven't bothered. Only time I've had any injury issues was in the UK, where they covered me under the NHS to my surprise.

One other thing to keep in mind: make sure you consider whatever plan you have covers medical repatriation. Getting you back to the US/Canada on a medical flight is downright expensive, likely to far eclipse any actual in-country medical bills if required.

Coming south of the border Canucks need to have health insurance.. A policy for getting sick and not being able to use your ticket is Practical

As Would be having Booked a Trip To Florida and Cancelling because of Hurricanes..




[Some how I managed w/o, but I was younger 30 years ago...]

But this forum ha a lot of worriers , and bring Expensive IT gear on their trips..



....

Hmm alright, I think i'll look around as for the trip cancellation coverage I could care less about losing out on $400 if I get sick.. thats only double what the insurance would cost me so its not really worth it on that front. I am more worried about the something happening to me, ie) getting hit by a truck. Rare but happens.

Get the insurance!



When I came to Australia in 2009, I was healthy and active. I had just cycled a 1000 km month in May, and hopped on the plane in early June.

And I was going to Australia, so wasn't likely to encounter tropical diseases or anything.

What could possibly go wrong?

The flight from LA to Melbourne was the longest flight in the world at that time, and the plane was delayed taking off, leaving us sitting there for an hour or so, and the plane sat on the runway for an hour or so after landing too. I was squashed in next to the window beside two large guys with bladders the size of the Pacific, so I only got up once in all that time.

About an hour before landing, it felt like my left calf cramped. I figured I'd just walk it off when I got off the plane.

6 weeks later, I was still figuring I'd walk it off ... but by then my whole left leg felt like I was dragging a heavy dead tree branch around.

Dr visit ... ultrasound ... and I was hospitalised for 2 weeks with DVT. Blood clots from mid-thigh down.

Thankfully I had travel insurance because otherwise the whole thing would have cost well over $10,000.

One of the many reasons I always choose the isle seat, worse comes to worse you just spread your ass in the middle of the isle lol. But damn that sucks.

Ever since then, I've had to have a whole series of Clexane shots in my abdomen when I fly, I have to wear strong compression stockings ... and we've selected seats where I can get up and pace the aisles.

The evacuation coverage is a benefit that many forget about when considering Travel Insurance and can significant benefit. A few years back a friend with the benefit was evacuated from Columbia where he was on a stretcher for the return flight after falling about 50 head landing on his head. All good now and would praise the benefit.

In addition to Machkas hospitalization that was cited above, there were a few references above to medical repatriation or evacuation as potential costs you might incur.

In post number 3 above, I cited the travel insurance I bought a year ago for almost a month of cycling in Iceland, the policy cost me $49 USD. I just checked that policy, it listed $15,000 emergency evacuation, $15,000 repatriation, $5,000 medical expense. These days, $5,000 medical expense is not much coverage, but it is a lot better than zero.

That policy was offered when I bought my plane ticket by the travel agent. They had no clue that I was going to be cycle touring, so maybe that is why it only cost me $49 USD. I suspect most people buying that insurance were more interested in trip cancelation coverage than anything else.

I am not sure what travel insurance from the Insurance Company that is listed on HI website costs, I suspect more than $49 USD. But that is another possible source to check for prices. I cite HI because I often stay in hostels when touring, thus I was aware of them. I am sure there are other sources for travel insurance to compare costs too.
https://www.hihostels.com/pages/travel-insurance

Five years ago I had a more expensive policy with a company called Travelex Insurance. But I will probably look for cheaper policies in the future. I only list them here as one other possibility you can check if you are shopping around.

I have gotten travel insurance during extended and more expensive trips and not for shorter trips. For example, TDA riding across Africa was expensive enough that cancellation insurance was helpful. On a shorter few week trip to Mexico or Thailand, I haven't bothered.

I've been fortunate to never have made a claim on insurance when I've had it.

As mentioned above, travel insurance often has several components:
- trip cancellation; I've seen this as a separate rider and if so would only get it if my trip was particularly expensive
- repatriation
- medical costs overseas; typically a lot lower than USA, so more interested in catastrophic events if possible
The cost of the insurance will also vary for countries you visit, e.g. expect coverage for visitors to USA to be a lot higher

You are going into a part of the world that is identified as having issues with a number of tropical diseases. First of all, do the research, consult your doctor and get the shots.

Then yes, have travel insurance. Build it into your trip budget. Of course, once you have paid before you go, you don't have to worry continually paying out cash.

However, for each policy you consider, examine the Product Description/Disclosure Statement (PDS) very carefully and look at the long list of exclusions. Cycling isn't usually one of them (but participating in a race or time trial often is), and look at what other activities you may possibly participate in -- often, they are excludes, too.

Great point about exclusions, Rowan. Some insurance policies classify cycle touring as an extreme sport and require you to pay extra for coverage. Of course if you pay for this then you're probably covered for bungee jumping, zip line tours, whitewater rafting, or other activities like that.

Insurance: a tax on people who are bad at math.

You must be quite rich, if you can handle the expenses of any medical issue that may come your way from riding a bike in a foreign country who may legally require payment in full before you are allowed to return home.

My entire benefits package through work, which includes dental insurance, vision coverage, life insurance and low deductible health insurance, is better than free because I get $20 added to my pay check every two weeks.

I disagree, but since you likely will not change your mind I will not bother trying to change it.

I have heard the lottery referred to as a tax on morons, but I have never heard of anyone putting insurance in the same category as the lottery.

Absolute and total rubbish. One can hold that opinion... until you need it; then you either regret not having it, or are thankful.

Risk management IS a numbers game, but tell me how YOU are going to calculate being totally secure in any sort of travel. The math comes into paying the least premium for the most benefits. That requires research and careful reading of PDSs.

Original quote was (as earlier noted) about the lottery and by Ambrose Bierce. But I'm very curious to hear why you think it applies to insurance as well.

In both cases, one spreads a larger payout to a small number of individuals - coming from many people paying a smaller amount. Since there is profit to be made, mathematically, the "odds" are less than even.

The difference between the two is that an insurance payout is to mitigate an adverse effect and a lottery payout is a favorable event. For me at least, there is not a symmetry between the two. If I win the lottery, that is nice but likely not as significant an effect as the adverse effect in the opposite direction of a huge judgment or uncovered illness.

The way I apply this to insurance in general, and to trip insurance in particular is that I will self-insure for smaller costs that I can reasonably handle while making sure I am covered for the largest risks. In regular insurance, it often means taking higher deductibles as a tradeoff for bumping the maximum umbrella insurance amounts.

When it comes to travel insurance, I am willing to forgo trip cancellation insurance on trips that aren't particularly expensive - and willing to not have as good coverage on smaller incidental medical items. In return, I want to make sure I am covered for the largest costs that can really mount, e.g. extended hospital stays or even some large evacuation costs.

I had an interesting dilemma the opposite direction with my current extended trip. My home country is the US and I will be outside the USA bicycle touring for >330 days in the calendar year 2017. The number 330 is significant because the US mandate to carry health insurance can be waived if you are not in the USA for >330 days in a twelve-month period. I initially thought about dropping my home country insurance and looking instead for a "catastrophic only" policy that could kick in for the highest costs if a medical issue caused an evacuation back to the USA. I didn't quite put in the effort to find such policy - so did end up continuing my home policy, trading some additional costs for sleeping a bit better at night...including those few short trips I had back in the USA in 2017.

If you buy a travel insurance policy look and see if it includes 'athletic events' disclaimers. Lots of policies exclude anything that involves athletic pursuits, and they interpret those pretty broadly, including bicycle touring. a random day of bicycling in Europe probably won't be a problem, but riding 100km through Columbia day-after-day might be. Call the company and ask.

Also, a lot of policies require you to pay 'up-front' in country, then they re-imburse you when you get home based on submittal of bills, so make sure you have enough access to cash in the country you are visiting (lots of developing countries will make you pay cash for medical services).

Agree with you that it makes sense to carefully understand what is covered by the policy including reading policy or contacting the company if necessary.

With that said, my experience actually was the opposite. Most policies I've seen would include bicycle touring and then have a rider for additional sports activities. Two examples:
- World Nomads has bicycle touring in standard list and other stuff on expedition: https://helpdesk.worldnomads.com/cus...ticles/2402086
- IMG Global has an adventure sports rider for mountain biking and other stuff though bike touring not on that additional ist: https://www.imglobal.com/travel-medi...rance/benefits

Often there are some things on the "sports rider" packages that I might do anyways in addition to bicycle touring - so will often compare the policies and as necessary buy the rider.

To the OP. If you are indeed in Toronto Canada, your provincial health care insurance covers you for out of country medical expenses. However there are some things you should know.
You are covered for only 7 months.
You pay upfront, you get reimbursed once you get back. On your return you must file a claim. You must provide a detailed bill from the hospital or doctor who treated you. The bill must be in English or French, if it's not you must a get a certified translation of the bill into English or French ( you pay for the translation).
You are covered at the same rates as if you were in Canada, this is usually good enough anywhere in the world except in the USA. For example; you break your arm and need an x-ray. In Canada an x-ray might be $75, in Columbia $45, in the USA a whole lot more. You will be reimbursed the lesser amount between the Ontario rate and foreign rate.
Ambulance and repatriation services are NOT covered.
You can visit the OHIP site to get more details on out of Canada coverage.