11 ms·

Any half decent trip insurance would cover this. Many travel credit cards include basic trip cancellation insurance.

toomuchtodo 7y ago
Depends. Have to call and ask. "Insurance companies designated the coronavirus as a foreseen event between January 21 and 24, which means policies sold after those dates aren't going to cover issues related to the outbreak, said Karen Johnson, a travel insurance program leader with USI Insurance Services." https://www.cbsnews.com/news/coronavirus-flight-cancel-travel-insurance-consumer-rights/ https://www.cbsnews.com/news/coronavirus-flight-cancel-trave...
refurb 7y ago
From what I've read, apparently most trip insurance doesn't cover a decision to not travel due to the corona virus. "Most travel insurance plans don't offer coverage for pandemics like the coronavirus,"
- fyfy18 7y ago
  I'd wager most travel insurance doesn't cover half as much as people would expect it to. A few years ago I was travelling abroad, and someone broke into my rental car and stole my suitcase which had my passport inside. Both my travel insurance through my bank, and car rental insurance wouldn't cover any of it (they shimmed the lock open, so there was no damage to the vehicle). Since then I've just opted for the lowest cover which will cover emergency medical costs, and kept the rest in a rainy day fund.
  - refurb 7y ago
    Did you use a credit card for the rental card? Plenty of cards offer travel insurance and anecdotally I've heard they don't put up much of a fuss for pay outs. Plus, if you have renters or homeowners insurance, it should cover the stole items.
  - o-__-o 7y ago
    You spent more on travel insurance than what real insurance would cost. If you had renters (or auto insurance but that deductible is much higher) insurance you would be able to file a claim to recover your stolen goods. As with any insurance policy, travel insurance is only as good as the words written on the paper (e.g. read it very carefully)
  - ghaff 7y ago
    By and large, travel insurance is borderline scammy. And it doesn't replace health insurance. There are a few circumstances where I'll buy it: Expensive pre-paid trip Uncertain situation with a close relative medically that may lead me to cancel Trips to remote areas that could require an expensive medical evac if things went bad But 95% of the time, I don't bother.
    - eisa01 7y ago
      That is pretty high risk and irresponsible - imagine traveling to the US without travel insurance and you could be on the hook for 100s of thousands USD for a small hospital visit! Travel insurance is usually quite cheap, about 100-150 EUR per year in Norway
      - ghaff 7y ago
        I was speaking from the perspective of a US citizen who has health insurance which will cover me internationally although I may have to spend out of pocket initially. If you live somewhere that won't cover you for health expenses in other countries then, yes, it makes sense to buy travel insurance. However, note that in many cases, travel insurance mostly just pays to get you back to your country of origin as quickly as possible with the minimum of medical treatment. See e.g. this thread https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17548285 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17548285
        eisa01 7y ago
        Ah, I didn't know that US health insurance also covers you abroad, as that's not a thing in Norway
        ghaff 7y ago
        It probably varies and you'll be paying out of network rates and it may not cover prescriptions in any case. But, if there are gaps that are of concern, you may want a supplemental international travel health insurance plan instead of "travel insurance" in any case. I've always been covered for international travel as far as I know. Fortunately never had to test how well it worked. I do buy travel insurance now and then but it's mostly to cover costly cancellations or expensive rescue/evacuation costs when those factors are relevant.
- smileysteve 7y ago
  Where California has pre-emptively called a state of emergency, the providers themselves are likely taking cancellations. Just recently it was posted that airlines were accepting cancellations on mention of the virus.
jacquesm 7y ago
It's only money for what is at best a luxury item. If the Olympics are worth more than lives then something is really wrong.
- chii 7y ago
  People do not like having their plans disrupted, regardless of reasons. I'm not saying that they'd go regardless of safety, i'm saying they're looking for reasons to get refunded and/or reimbursed (or re-scheduled), so that they don't lose out.
- s1artibartfast 7y ago
  >It’s only money It will be interesting to compare the death tolls from the covid-19 to the economic recession it causes. For example, the there were an estimated 500,000 additional cancer deaths between 2008 and 2010 due to unemployment and healthcare cuts [1]. When you consider other diseases, you are easily in the millions dead. [1] https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(16)00577-8/fulltext https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6...
  - simonh 7y ago
    The summary of the article says 40,000 extra deaths for the cancers studied, is the 500,000 an extrapolation to other cancers? I don’t think we can separate out the economic costs of spread prevention in comparison though. If we didn’t try to stem the spread if the virus, health systems would be even more overwhelmed and that would by itself lead to many more deaths from other medical causes, in addition to more deaths from the virus. I think there clearly is a balance to be struck between measures to slow or stall the spread of the virus and the cost of those measures, and as you point out that cost is not just monetary but can also be measured in lives. The problem is we can’t know for sure where that balance point is.
    - philistine 7y ago
      You guys do realize that the US is notably alone in the developed world in offering no government healthcare insurance? You guys wouldn’t believe how different our attitude is of recessions.
azhenley 7y ago
I booked a flight a few days ago. The checkbox for the airline's trip insurance had a note above it saying it did not cover canceling for Corona.
boulos 7y ago
This sadly isn’t true. Nearly all trip cancellation insurance excludes epidemics and pandemics. You need instead “cancel for any reason” insurance, which you can only acquire about 2-3 weeks after your first purchase. Now, if the event is cancelled, you might get your refund that way, but maybe not.
empath75 7y ago
That would bankrupt travel insurance companies.
- chii 7y ago
  In other words, the insurance industry is a scam, because the trick you into thinking they cover it all, but in essence only cover the most meagre of situations. They _should_ get bankrupted, if they don't themselves buy insurance against being bankrupted!
  - arrrg 7y ago
    Insurances can deal very well with bad things happening to an individual. Insurances cannot deal very well with bad things suddenly happening to everyone, all at once. That’s just an inherent property of insurances. I’m not sure there can be any other way.
- hnick 7y ago
  Reinsurance exists for outlier events like this. It may well not be covered but insurance companies have their own insurance too.
  - coding123 7y ago
    We're going to need Re-reinsurance soon.

Depends. Have to call and ask. "Insurance companies designated the coronavirus as a foreseen event between January 21 and 24, which means policies sold after those dates aren't going to cover issues related to the outbreak, said Karen Johnson, a travel insurance program leader with USI Insurance Services." https://www.cbsnews.com/news/coronavirus-flight-cancel-travel-insurance-consumer-rights/ https://www.cbsnews.com/news/coronavirus-flight-cancel-trave...

refurb 7y ago

From what I've read, apparently most trip insurance doesn't cover a decision to not travel due to the corona virus. "Most travel insurance plans don't offer coverage for pandemics like the coronavirus,"

fyfy18 7y ago
I'd wager most travel insurance doesn't cover half as much as people would expect it to. A few years ago I was travelling abroad, and someone broke into my rental car and stole my suitcase which had my passport inside. Both my travel insurance through my bank, and car rental insurance wouldn't cover any of it (they shimmed the lock open, so there was no damage to the vehicle). Since then I've just opted for the lowest cover which will cover emergency medical costs, and kept the rest in a rainy day fund.
- refurb 7y ago
  Did you use a credit card for the rental card? Plenty of cards offer travel insurance and anecdotally I've heard they don't put up much of a fuss for pay outs. Plus, if you have renters or homeowners insurance, it should cover the stole items.
- o-__-o 7y ago
  You spent more on travel insurance than what real insurance would cost. If you had renters (or auto insurance but that deductible is much higher) insurance you would be able to file a claim to recover your stolen goods. As with any insurance policy, travel insurance is only as good as the words written on the paper (e.g. read it very carefully)
- ghaff 7y ago
  By and large, travel insurance is borderline scammy. And it doesn't replace health insurance. There are a few circumstances where I'll buy it: Expensive pre-paid trip Uncertain situation with a close relative medically that may lead me to cancel Trips to remote areas that could require an expensive medical evac if things went bad But 95% of the time, I don't bother.
  - eisa01 7y ago
    That is pretty high risk and irresponsible - imagine traveling to the US without travel insurance and you could be on the hook for 100s of thousands USD for a small hospital visit! Travel insurance is usually quite cheap, about 100-150 EUR per year in Norway
    - ghaff 7y ago
      I was speaking from the perspective of a US citizen who has health insurance which will cover me internationally although I may have to spend out of pocket initially. If you live somewhere that won't cover you for health expenses in other countries then, yes, it makes sense to buy travel insurance. However, note that in many cases, travel insurance mostly just pays to get you back to your country of origin as quickly as possible with the minimum of medical treatment. See e.g. this thread https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17548285 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17548285
      - eisa01 7y ago
        Ah, I didn't know that US health insurance also covers you abroad, as that's not a thing in Norway
        ghaff 7y ago
        It probably varies and you'll be paying out of network rates and it may not cover prescriptions in any case. But, if there are gaps that are of concern, you may want a supplemental international travel health insurance plan instead of "travel insurance" in any case. I've always been covered for international travel as far as I know. Fortunately never had to test how well it worked. I do buy travel insurance now and then but it's mostly to cover costly cancellations or expensive rescue/evacuation costs when those factors are relevant.
smileysteve 7y ago
Where California has pre-emptively called a state of emergency, the providers themselves are likely taking cancellations. Just recently it was posted that airlines were accepting cancellations on mention of the virus.

jacquesm 7y ago

It's only money for what is at best a luxury item. If the Olympics are worth more than lives then something is really wrong.

chii 7y ago
People do not like having their plans disrupted, regardless of reasons. I'm not saying that they'd go regardless of safety, i'm saying they're looking for reasons to get refunded and/or reimbursed (or re-scheduled), so that they don't lose out.
s1artibartfast 7y ago
>It’s only money It will be interesting to compare the death tolls from the covid-19 to the economic recession it causes. For example, the there were an estimated 500,000 additional cancer deaths between 2008 and 2010 due to unemployment and healthcare cuts [1]. When you consider other diseases, you are easily in the millions dead. [1] https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(16)00577-8/fulltext https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6...
- simonh 7y ago
  The summary of the article says 40,000 extra deaths for the cancers studied, is the 500,000 an extrapolation to other cancers? I don’t think we can separate out the economic costs of spread prevention in comparison though. If we didn’t try to stem the spread if the virus, health systems would be even more overwhelmed and that would by itself lead to many more deaths from other medical causes, in addition to more deaths from the virus. I think there clearly is a balance to be struck between measures to slow or stall the spread of the virus and the cost of those measures, and as you point out that cost is not just monetary but can also be measured in lives. The problem is we can’t know for sure where that balance point is.
  - philistine 7y ago
    You guys do realize that the US is notably alone in the developed world in offering no government healthcare insurance? You guys wouldn’t believe how different our attitude is of recessions.

azhenley 7y ago

I booked a flight a few days ago. The checkbox for the airline's trip insurance had a note above it saying it did not cover canceling for Corona.

boulos 7y ago

This sadly isn’t true. Nearly all trip cancellation insurance excludes epidemics and pandemics. You need instead “cancel for any reason” insurance, which you can only acquire about 2-3 weeks after your first purchase. Now, if the event is cancelled, you might get your refund that way, but maybe not.

empath75 7y ago

That would bankrupt travel insurance companies.

chii 7y ago
In other words, the insurance industry is a scam, because the trick you into thinking they cover it all, but in essence only cover the most meagre of situations. They _should_ get bankrupted, if they don't themselves buy insurance against being bankrupted!
- arrrg 7y ago
  Insurances can deal very well with bad things happening to an individual. Insurances cannot deal very well with bad things suddenly happening to everyone, all at once. That’s just an inherent property of insurances. I’m not sure there can be any other way.
hnick 7y ago
Reinsurance exists for outlier events like this. It may well not be covered but insurance companies have their own insurance too.
- coding123 7y ago
  We're going to need Re-reinsurance soon.