Specialist Insurance

[KARL]

This seems the likeliest place to post this:

Can anyone suggest where I can find non-standard personal travel insurance which allows long-duration business trips worldwide without requiring you to be an otherwise 9-5, same parking slot, 2.4 children, monochrome civil servant of N years' standing prior to taking out the policy (these being the sort of obstacles I now face, having travelled a lot on overseas business in the recent past).

There are other non-bog-standard types of cover I am interested in so any lead to imaginative insurers would (additionally) be welcome. Given stories of policies against a shower of rain falling on date X being available, I am surprised to discover how difficult it is to find cover for a number of very real risks. Ever tried to cover your young child against the risk of disability ? An adult in full employment is easy, but a child is something else (plenty of statistics available to assess the risk, but no insurance to be found - "nothing to insure" I have been told. Don't these people have children and worry about their future ?).

[morg_monster]

Probably if you had such a policy for your child it would require you to not let the child partake in any activity which could increase the risk (eg riding a bike, playing on a trampoline, football, swimming, running...)
I'm no expert but wouldn't private health insurance cover the costs caused by a child being suddenly disabled? I guess the main point of the adult policies is to cover lost revenue caused by disability such as not being able to work. No such claims could be made for a child, so it is just a question of covering the medical / care bills.

Then again you can get 'twin' insurance when you become pregnant which pays out �1000 if you subsequently discover you're expecting twins...

[Bangkok]

I am not an insurance expert but I have various bits and bobs insured throught work.  The issue with insurance relates to economic rather than emotional or sentimental loss.  Therefore kids are hard to insure and they do not contribute economically.

Allianz do a good line in insurance for global health and risk.  Think what your priorities are eg payment for treatment in situ or repatriation, high premium or high excess. 

Your biggest problem is scale of economy - insurers like many people to spread the risk and have larger premiums to cover fixed costs of thinking about premiums. 

It sounds daft, but also look at the freebie insurance on Gold and Platinum credit cards.  I've never tried to claim, but there is an impressive list of things covered on one of my cards, for which I pay a fee.  It includes luggage loss, missed flights, health, medivac etc

[KARL]

The bit about insuring children relates to what happens if/when someone below working age is permanently disabled. Yes, they don't keep their parents in money - but, who will look after the children ? Anyone who thinks about it can see that a fit child has (in theory at least) as bright a future as any other, but as soon as a disaster happens not only is there a lifetime of liability ahead (not just emotionally but financially too) and an entire family is linked into that. The parents will not be there to support the situation forever either - if they haven't been wiped out at the same time. Is there no alternative but to throw the disabled on the mercy of state support ? If an actresses legs can be insured, why not every faculty and ability of a child too - it would be a joy not to have to claim, ever.