Las Vegas guide and MSE thread 2011

Ruth_honey

Nobody ever plans to break their ankle, do they? But as mentioned a few posts before, the costs to cover sorting that out meant that a house had to be remortgaged!!! Travel insurance for the US isn't going to cost very much, so I'd rather pay a bit now & have peace of mind.

dmacwalter

June

I shall be in Vegas in a month!

Anyone had any experience of overnight flights/accom to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon...

JennyJenJen

September

Ruth_honey wrote: »

Nobody ever plans to break their ankle, do they? But as mentioned a few posts before, the costs to cover sorting that out meant that a house had to be remortgaged!!! Travel insurance for the US isn't going to cost very much, so I'd rather pay a bit now & have peace of mind.

Exactly, insurance only seems expensive until you need to use it!

Nobjocki

JennyJenJen wrote: »

Exactly, insurance only seems expensive until you need to use it!

Fortunately we live in a free society where everyone is entitled to their opinion.
My opinion is that insurance is, by and large, a fraud.
Every policy that I have ever looked at has been festooned with get-out clauses for the insurance company designed to ensure they pay out as little and as rarely as they can.
This forum contains countless stories of people who have been denied payouts by their insurance companies on the most spurious of grounds.
I look at it this way - life is all about taking risks and working on percentages ( especially when you're going to Las Vegas. )
I have never had insurance for anything and never had reason to need it - I don't know of a single friend or acquaintance who has ever had to.
Mind you, I know lots of people who have claimed insurance on false grounds.
I believe the chances of me requiring to claim on insurance are tiny - and certainly not worth the thousands I would have paid out over the years in premiums.
I sleep well at night too.

duchy

May

Oh I remember this one posting before-was blithely tellig people not to take out insurance-and then admitted he did have cover himelf under a bank policy or somesuch-He's just trolling . Must be bored with his uninsured kids or something -wonder if he doesn't havelife insurance to protect their future too-as he's not going to die
Even something like a sprained ankle will set you back several grand -I suspect most people have more brains than that.

ferf1223

March

being American, and most Americans not bothering with travel insurance (to be honest I never even knew there was such a thing until I moved here) I used to scoff at it - but too many horror stories made me decide that it wasn't worth the risk.

Insurance will always, to some extent, prey on people's paranoia...of course it will...the nature of insurance is to protect against the unknown.

I have been lucky enough never to have to claim against any insurance policy (travel, auto, home, pet, health)...and to some extent yes I do resent the money I've spent on insurance...when you really think about it, it is annoying to spend money protecting against something that never happens.

But I'm not brave enough to take the chance in the future...maybe I'll die never having claimed on anything and having wasted a fair amount of cash over the years...or maybe one time something will happen that will recoup all I've shelled out. Who knows?

I guess growing up in a family with some serious medical issues - and knowing what amounts insurance paid out over the years (and also knowing what amounts they denied over the years)...makes me at least appreciate it as a necessary evil.

duchy

May

JennyJenJen wrote: »

A friend of a friend broke his ankle in the USA with no insurance and his parents had to remortgage their house to pay the medical bills.

I thought actually that when you booked a flight these days (it certainly does with tour operator type ones) that they have a tick box to say that if you dont go with their insurance then you will need to get your own before you travel. I sort of had the sense that travelling without insurance is illegal (or maybe I am just scared to death about going somewhere without it!)

It isn't illegal -but a lot of high street travel agents want to see your policy if you aren't taking their's,

I've seen the bills first hand -I used to work as a sub contractor for several of the travel insurance companies arranging repatriation for those claiming. Car accidents , slips and falls, heart attacks, severe food poisoning, alcohol abuse, metal breakdown and even just getting people home because a family member had taken seriously ill or died . I saw it all -and at times dealt with people who didn't have cover and were either mullering their cards or having to borrow -at a time they had bigger things to worry about. I can get basic annual cover for £30 for the US-it isn't rocket science.

duchy

May

I think you have a different perpective though Ferf as you grew up in the US.

Here most people have no idea what simple things like an X-ray or a doctor's visit cost as most don't pay for them and have no idea what drugs actually cost -we moan about paying a prescription charge for a drug that actually retails at £100 plus -and many people are genuinely shocked at what even minor treatment costs in the US.

We are coddled with the NHS here-I have American friends who will put off a doctor's appointment/treatmentas long as possible as even though they have health insurance still have to pay £100 on top as excess minimum.

luci

May

Stripburger is back on restaurant.com Code for 50% off is FRESH. Just got mine.

luci

May

As for travel insurance, I know several people who have had appendicitis and that is just one thing that can't be predicted.