I usually shun extra insurance on rental cars and extended warranties on pretty much everything, but I’ve learned from experience that saavy travelers don’t leave home without travel insurance.

Several years ago, my husband had a seizure in the middle of the South Pacific on a cruise ship. The 24 hours he spent in the ship’s hospital ran up a tab of about $8,000. They almost evacuated him by helicopter which would have been extraordinarily expensive and must be prepaid by credit card if you don’t have the right insurance.

We travel a lot to off-the-beaten track kinds of places and have had a few near misses and bumps, breaks and tears. And just like my business AmEx card has always been there to get me out of a jam (except one time in Cuba, but that’s a different story) so has Allianz insurance.

They paid the ship’s hospital bill in full (no haggling or deductible) within two weeks. They’ve cheerfully covered every bill we’ve ever submitted. 

Related Article: Sustainable & Healthy Travel Tips

We learned early on that for less than $500 each per year we covered for all sorts of trip catastrophes and accidents. Buying the insurance annually is much cheaper than buying by the trip, and you might even be able to expense it to your company.

*The views of this article are from an ESG News employee, the employee indemnifies that no compensation or in-kind exchange was given in return for producing this article.