A Medical Case for Travel Insurance

It was only supposed to be a pit stop. A warm week in Florida visiting my parents to celebrate my birthday.

I began 2015 in Colombia before heading to eastern Europe for the Spring and Summer; next up was Peru.

But, concern about breathlessness in Bucharest led me to a doctor’s appointment in the U.S., a CT scan, and the discovery of a small pulmonary embolism.

My doctor said the embolism was likely due to deep vein thrombosis (DVT), a clot that initially formed in my leg during one of the 15 or so flights I’d taken so far that year, which then moved up to my lungs.

Knowing I could keel over from a stroke should it move up to my brain, it wasn’t a hard decision to cancel my flight to Lima, which was due to leave in a few days. And that’s when it would’ve paid to have travel insurance.

Up until then, I’d only occasionally purchased travel insurance, content to save my money and live by the seat of my pants. Being healthy in my 20s and 30s, experience had…