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Medical Travel Insurance
Personally, I like to make sure I have some sort of medical coverage when I’m traveling overseas. Certain U.S. based health insurance policies do provide coverage, and a couple of my credit cards also provide emergency medical evacuation, but I like to have my bases covered. I use various cards for various travel purposes, and I have a sneaking suspicion that if there is a reason for that Emergency Medical Evacuation to not be covered, the credit card company will find it. I usually use Allianz for travel insurance and discovered something a few years back, while on a trip to Australia, that you CAN buy travel insurance after you’ve departed. It’s not even that expensive…so if you’re currently on a trip, or realize you forgot, like I did, you can cover your trip after you’ve left.
What’s covered?
OneTrip Emergency Medical is a great option if you’ve left on a trip, forgot to get insurance, and are looking for a way to have coverage in a foreign country. Here’s a list of the benefits included pre + post departure.
Medical was my primary concern
While it may suck to lose a bag, get delayed, or lose a hotel deposit…getting hit with a life threatening illness or a huge medical bill while abroad was my primary concern. I also have a few different credit cards that will provide lost baggage, trip delay, etc so it’s not my primary concern. Years ago, while in South Africa my mother fell in the hotel room, and ended up breaking her wrist. Her travel insurance not only reimbursed her for all medical expenses while in South Africa, it also covered the bills in the States, including Physical Therapy.
I priced out a trip for my wife and I later this year that may last up to a month and take us around the world. It’ll mostly be covered with points, but I put the other values at $2500. The travel insurance was $92 and covered both of us. A complete no brainer for us and something we will most definitely do, especially in the time of Covid. As you can see…epidemic coverage is included.
If you’re interested you can go here to check prices
The Chase Sapphire Preferred is a great starter card that earns Premium Ultimate Rewards that can be transferred into over a dozen partners many of which are US based.
Welcome Offer
60k Points after $4k spend in 3 months
80k offer in branch currently – I think this should be online soon
Annual Fee
$95
Points Earned
Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards
Super solid welcome offer.
If you carry this card alongside Chase’s cashback cards like the Chase Freedom Flex℠and Chase Freedom Unlimited® or the business versions: Ink Business Cash , Ink Business Unlimited you can combine the points into Preferred account and transfer into hotel and airline partners
Annual fee is quite low at $95 a year + you get a 10% anniversary bonus on points + $50 hotel credit in Chase travel.
- 3x on dining
- including eligible delivery services for takeout
- 3x on select streaming services
- 3x on online grocery purchases
- (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs)
- 5x on all travel purchased through Chase Ultimate Rewards – Chase Travel Portal
- $50 Annual Credit on hotel stays purchased via Ultimate Rewards/Chase Travel
- The begins immediately for new cardmembers and after your account anniversary for existing cardmembers
- 10% Anniversary Bonus
- Every year you keep the card, your total spend will yield a 10% points bonus. If you spend $10k in a year, you’ll get 1k bonus points
- Chase Sapphire Preferred® continues to redeem at 1.25c in the Chase Travel Portal and the slew of other benefits remain in tact including primary rental car insurance, purchase protections, etc.
- Points are transferrable to 13 Ultimate Rewards partners
- Redeem in the Chase Travel center for 1.25 cents per point
- No foreign transaction fees
- Suite of Travel and Purchase Coverage
- Primary rental car coverage is my favorite
There is currently an 80k offer after $4k spend in 3 months available in branch, and up to 90k after $6k spend in 6 months. I suspect some version of this will be online soon if you don’t want the hassle of going into a branch.
We keep an up to date spreadsheet that lists the best ever offers: You can find that spreadsheet here.
Historically 60k is a very, very good offer. In 2021, we saw the offer hit an all time high of 100k. Who knows if that will ever come back. .
Main Cast:
Cards that earn flexible points and should be used on the bulk of your purchases.
Supporting Cast:
Cards that earn fixed points in the currency of the airline/hotel and can not be transferred at attractive rates. These cards yield benefits that make it worth keeping, but not necessarily worth putting a lot of your everyday spend on.