do everyone always need travel insurance? Am I dumb for asking? I'm thinking of going to S.E. asia without it. Here's why:
1. I'm not taking anything valuable.
2. I have a credit card that has a $10000 limit
3. The only situation that I can think of when it would actually be useful is when I have a nasty accident and the hospital costs more than $1000
4. Even if I get insurance there's no guarantee they'll pay out if i need it.
Thoughts?
Only reason I'd get it for SEA is if I were going to do a lot of motorbike riding, since the roads are so bad.
I've never bought travel insurance in my life, and the people who consider it indispensable really irk me.
>>1136087
Motorbiking is illegal for foreigners everywhere you go in SEA, so if you injure yourself while using one there is a 0% chance that your travel insurance will cover the expenses.
>>1136105
owning one is illegal. If you rent one how the fuck is that illegal.
>>1136107
Because in many countries you need a local motorcycle license. Not an American one, not an international one, but a Viet one if you're in Vietnam or a Thai one if you're in Thailand.
I can guarantee that OP won't have one of these, so should they injure themselves while driving without the necesarry license (which is illegal), they will not be covered.
>>1136069
I've been to about 40 countries since 2013 and have never purchased travel insurance once.
>>1136069
Your credit card might be just enough to get home, but can you afford running it up to 10k? Are your savings sufficient to handle the last minute airfare plus out of pocket medical expense slapped on there, or added weeks in a hotel to recover from something?
Just go to the comparison site, insuremytrip and see what it'll run, and then think about risk. On my last adventure trip to Iceland, my Blue Cross had an extra rider I could buy for amazing international coverage that I specifically checked for Iceland, and I cancelled the rider a month later Since I have buddy pass privs, and have savings, and was traveling with a doctor, I took up the rest of the risk willingly. [The reason I wanted the insurance for that one was I had some possible, worrying, gall bladder symptoms that I had just checked out at home before travel.] I will tell you that I have a lot of pilot friends, and travel industry friends and I hear the and see firsthand people who had issues abroad. SEA in particular has the "american hospital" type prices for foreigners when you get ill, expect the prices not to be reduced at all for being third world economy. It's simply not that at all.
Sometimes I buy it, sometimes I don't. Weigh the price and the remoteness (usually airfare/miles distance or a need for air ambulance). I've never heard of anyone having a plan not paying out, and you can see on plans if high adventure is covered (dunno about motorbikes). I will tell you that I would NEVER step foot on a cruise ship without insurance. It's a minimum 15-25k to get off a boat by helicopter, and the cruise line gladly dump a person with a simple fever off in the next port to some crappy low quality local hospital with expensive hotels and airfare to go home.
How poor are you that you want to take a big risk to save what is essentially pennies?
>>1136069
I get a medical insurance in case shit goes down but I've never got one for my belongings.
>>1136138
>just paid $360 for insurance
>essentially pennies
>>1136158
That should be good for a whole year.
>>1136136
>I've never heard of anyone having a plan not paying out
www.travelinsurancereview.net/
Having worked in insurance myself I have concluded that insurance is basically just a scam. Your average joe says to himself "oh I need to get travel insurance or home insurance just in case". Average joe then proceeds to get the cheapest price possible and then thinks to himself "ah peace of mind, I am insured". Little does he know that he is basically covered for nothing, and even if he is the company is going to make the claims process tediously difficult and lengthy and do everything they possibly can to get out of paying it. Always remember that insurance companies do not want to pay out. Why would they? It decreases their profit and there are still enough stupid people who are going to go with them just because they are cheap. So average joe has essentially wasted his money buying a prodcut that is useless and does not actually do what it is supposed to.
When I am eventually going to buy insurance when I am older, I'm only going to go with expensive companies with good track records so that if I do actually need to claim they will most likely pay out. Even though it will be more expensive at least I will actually be covered
