I searched the blog archive and came up with one paltry entry in 2010 for this request, so I'm putting it out there again.

My friend just spent a month in Quito, Ecuador recovering from an aneurism; the cost was not covered by his insurance. The cost is going to eat him up.

My insurance carrier has very limited overseas health insurance and I've never really needed it. So far, if I got a boo-boo, I've gotten the virtual kiss from mother and went on my way. For colds and the like, most pharmacists can prescribe medication. I've never had an occasion to need emergency services or hospital care in general while traveling.

Many times my travels have taken me to non-socialized medicine countries, which require payment or if you want better care, you have to pay. Since I've got a big fat ulcer that has landed me in the ER and the hospital in the States, there is a distinct possibility it could happen to me while abroad, especially as my half century-plus age gets farther in the rear-view mirror.

Does anybody have an recommendations for a reliable Travelers Health Insurance, cost, and coverage?

Decades ago I worked in the travel business and was booking a flight for a customer, who was on a very tight budget and not particularly willing to spend any more than necessary. We were 'encouraged' to sell the company's associated travel insurance (which was pretty good). I told the customer that travel insurance was a good idea for the country he was travelling to. I told him didn't have to buy ours, but he should think about buying some travel insurance and should shop around. He decided for ease to buy ours.

A couple weeks later he returned to our office and asked to see me. I walked up to him and he gave me a big hug, thanking me profusely for 'selling' him the travel insurance. Turns out he collapsed on the side of the road while walking from the airport. An ambulance was called but, in this particular country (back then), you wouldn't be taken to hospital unless you had insurance to cover the treatment. They found his travel insurance policy folding into his passport and took him to hospital for treatment and he was able to get an early flight back home for follow-up treatment because of the insurance coverage. He reckoned I saved his life. I told him he saved his own life by paying a few quid for travel insurance.

The cost is nominal, why forgo it?

Thanks for the information. There are so many carriers to sift through and reviews can be canned and forged, so I figured this site would be a good sifting point for the researching the good ones.

When I lived in the US and had US health insurance, there was some limited travel cover as part of the policy. Now that I live in Australia I've had to purchase travel cover, and the easiest and cheapest way to do this was to pay $360 for a year of http://www.1cover.com.au/ . So far I haven't had to use it, but I like that I can just sign up for it, print out the certificate, and forget it.