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A Case for Trip Insurance. . . GET IT!


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Last evening my son and husband went trout fishing. After having caught their limit and cleaned their trout, they walked back to the truck to head home. My husband had thought he had stepped on a stick, breaking it, with part of it snapping and hitting his ankle. He never did see the stick. Just noticed the sharp pain and a little blood about 15 steps later. When they got in the truck, he examined his ankle further and saw two puncture marks. Yep, a snake bite. He went to the emergency room last night and got home around 4:30 AM (today). At that time they did not give him any anti-venom (recall he never saw the snake). Here in the Ozarks, we have many venomous snakes (Copperhead, Rattle snake, and Water Moccasin/Cotton Mouth, to name just a few), but rarely do people get bit by them. My husband is now back in the emergency room as I write this post, with further swelling and nausea.

We have our Alaska cruise and pre-cruise vacation exactly 365 days from today. The total cost of this YOLO trip approaches $20K. We insure every cruise trip we take with the "Cancel For Any Reason" added to the policy. Had this situation occurred even up to a week before our trip, we would cancel. If you can AFFORD to lose the cost of your trip, whatever the amount, the don't buy trip insurance. Or, if you can afford to lose the cost of your trip, you can afford trip insurance.  If you can't (or can't stand the thought of losing the money), BUY TRIP INSURANCE WITH CANCEL FOR ANY REASON TAGGED ON!

We need prayers and good thoughts sent our way. Hoping he keeps his leg and we move on from here. Tomorrow is another day. 

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Oh my goodness.  What a freak thing.  I am so sorry to hear it.  Prayers and positive thoughts coming your way.  Hang in there !

I recently purchased annual trip insurance which is something I thought I would NEVER do but I knew that once I turned 65 (13 more days) I would not be covered by Medicare outside of the US.  I now have a great sense of comfort knowing that we are covered for all of our upcoming cruises without having to individually cover each of them.

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Wow --- Hoping for a speedy recovery ..... Here in the central Appalachians, we really only have to deal with two..... Copperheads and Rattlesnakes.  I live on the side of a mountain and with nothing behind me except the land going up the mountain, I know both of those snakes, and many non-venemous ones are there..... We've learned to live by one simple rule, black snakes keep the rattlesnakes away ..... Whenever I see a black snake, which is somewhat frequent, I just let it do its thing or I just nudge it with a stick in a direction so as to not run into it and for it to not get hurt.

Hoping for a quick recovery.  And you're right, trip insurance is invaluable.... it only takes one instance for it to become a life-saver.

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Update: My hubby is being discharged after 2nd trip to ER in 24 hrs. Still have 24 more hrs for anti-venom, if necessary. Determined to be a Copperhead bite. While he has deep puncture wounds, the venom load was small. So, in a wait and watch. Measuring swelling, if any, above his knee. Anti-venom is $25,000. That's two Disney cruises to Alaska, balcony. 4 + RCCL CRUISES ANYWHERE balcony/JS! And dont forget the tripi insurance and drink packages!

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3 hours ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

Oh my goodness.  What a freak thing.  I am so sorry to hear it.  Prayers and positive thoughts coming your way.  Hang in there !

I recently purchased annual trip insurance which is something I thought I would NEVER do but I knew that once I turned 65 (13 more days) I would not be covered by Medicare outside of the US.  I now have a great sense of comfort knowing that we are covered for all of our upcoming cruises without having to individually cover each of them.

@WAAAYTOOOWhich insurer do you use?

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3 hours ago, Baked Alaska said:

Update: My hubby is being discharged after 2nd trip to ER in 24 hrs. Still have 24 more hrs for anti-venom, if necessary. Determined to be a Copperhead bite. While he has deep puncture wounds, the venom load was small. So, in a wait and watch. Measuring swelling, if any, above his knee. Anti-venom is $25,000. That's two Disney cruises to Alaska, balcony. 4 + RCCL CRUISES ANYWHERE balcony/JS! And dont forget the tripi insurance and drink packages!

I was about to ask why don't they just give him the anti-venom?  Then I kept reading and realised why.  $25K, how is that justified?

Thankfully the Medicare in my country would cover such an event, which hopefully never occurs of course.  Good luck to your hubby!!

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Food for thought: (1) Some oldsters who purchased Medicare J and never cancelled still have medical coverage overseas (2) Some credit cards still offer partial refunds for cancellation (3) Several insurance packages from DAN  - Divers Alert Network - include a lot of coverage, even if NOT a dive accident.  (4) Some 'death' policies cover returning a body from overseas. (5) Other options are also available.   Trip insurance might not be necessary, even if you need coverage!

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For the small fee that you pay for trip insurance it is well worth it.  I would not trust the other policies with all of their supposed coverage.    Besides the more the merrier. And what one may not cover the other one might.  The Allianz policy is the one  we buy all of the time.  Nothing better than having a piece of mind.  

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UPDATE!

Tell ya what, snake bites are different breed altogether! The swelling in my husband's leg has gone down considerably. It did not "pass the second joint " a la Poison Control not your local dispensary LOL! , in this case his knee. So he didn't need the anti-venom. (Whew!)  During the time his leg (above his ankle) was HUGE, the temp of it was  10 to 15 degrees warmer than his non-bitten leg. Now that the swelling is down, the temp is equal to his other leg. Here's the weird part. His foot is still huge (no way to put on a shoe, yet), BUT it is now colder than the foot that didn't get bit. I hope this is okay. He's got an appointment with his PMD this afternoon. Hoping he can go to one crutch (or no crutch) and get some exercises/pt for mobility.

What a roller coaster we've been on this week. Monday started out like any other day, just like today for anyone reading this (perhaps?), and it ended and Tuesday started with a possibility lethal situation. Then we went from averting death (I guess it is THAT dramatic) to possibly losing limb. Now, we're back to, I think, how Monday started, for the most part. 

Here's the take away, if there is one: Looking at the epidemiological data (before I had my own business, I was an epidemiologist so I'm kinda of a science/medical/statistics nerd), the chances of being injured or killed in a car accident OR being struck by lightening are greater than being bit (note, I didn't say "dying") by a venomous snake. 

Since, most of us have already driven somewhere today, and you lived (you're reading this, aren't you? ?), buy your trip insurance if you haven't  (add that "cancel for any reason", if you still can). If you still won't, go buy a lottery ticket and pray.

THANK YOU THANK YOU everyone for your well wishes. I have truly found a community of wonderful, nice, caring folks!

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Great news about your husband's recovery! Continuing to send positive vibes since there's still that open question about the one foot being colder than the other. Most likely it's just because circulation was impeded from the swelling above it, and as that continues to go down and the blood vessels recover it will warm right back up again.

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