Travel insurance for Kiting/Windsurfing

[SmallWaveSteve]

Its about time I start thinking about getting travel insurance for my Nicaragua/Costa Rica trip.

Any advice? I was planning on BCAA (I'm a member, so I get a discounted rate, and they don't appear to exclude kiteboarding or surfing)

I'm curious of if anyone has been screwed around while making claims, and who to look at or avoid (insurers with exclusions against doing fun things)?
(MartyD if you want to chip in with your experience, I know you had issues)
Cheers,
SWS

[Riderinthestorm]

Hi Steve,
my mother in law sells anything and everything you'd need. your best bet is to call her and chat with her. her number is 250 8932500 her name is holly.

[SaltSpringKiterPeaceGuy]

ya n i'm off to maui and i need insurance for day 15-25...

[KUS]

I've done family coverage from Royal Bank, good for a couple of weeks at a stretch covering the year for 5 people, $160/yr, inlaws found the best price & coverage for their age at Sears of all places, not sure about all age groups (and they used it for $6k and the insurance paid up with delays etc. so that Maui Hospital threatened to sue the...so they claimed... but pay they did), my current BCAA I wonder about and I have heard bad things, like refusal to pay. Pac Blue cross coverage was great for me once via the employer but they have a $40k lifetime ceiling, better get someone to pull the plug after a week

I have heard nothing about forbidden high risk activities, I think that's only valid for life insurance policies

[MartyD]

I went with Bon Voyage through travel cuts. It is RBC travel insurance but a better rate. They covered absolutely everything. Surgery, hospital stay, nurse, first class flight home. The hospital in La Paz made me pay $2500 before they would operate, and constantly harassed my for the $18000 more over the 5 days I was there, but refused to accept payment from the insurance company? I had to hold my guns as the hospital tried to make me pay with my credit card. Eventually they accepted payment from the insurance company. They tried to send me back with an overnight trip through mexico city and multiple stops. I flat out refused and got a call 2 hours later with no layovers and 2 days earlier! They were pretty good but I bluntly denied several of their suggestions before getting what I wanted. Took 3 months to get my $2500 back and they did not cover interest so make then pay up front even if you have to argue with the hospital for days. Would have been over $1000 in interest that I would have been stuck with.

[MartyD]

I went with Bon Voyage through travel cuts. It is RBC travel insurance but a better rate. They covered absolutely everything. Surgery, hospital stay, nurse, first class flight home. The hospital in La Paz made me pay $2500 before they would operate, and constantly harassed my for the $18000 more over the 5 days I was there, but refused to accept payment from the insurance company? I had to hold my guns as the hospital tried to make me pay with my credit card. Eventually they accepted payment from the insurance company. They tried to send me back with an overnight trip through mexico city and multiple stops. I flat out refused and got a call 2 hours later with no layovers and 2 days earlier! They were pretty good but I bluntly denied several of their suggestions before getting what I wanted. Took 3 months to get my $2500 back and they did not cover interest so make then pay up front even if you have to argue with the hospital for days. Would have been over $1000 in interest that I would have been stuck with.