Why I Decided to Start a Blog About Insurance (Even Though I'm Not an Expert)

I didn’t grow up thinking I’d one day write about insurance.
Actually, I didn’t grow up thinking at all about insurance.

The words alone used to make my eyes glaze over:
Coverage. Premium. Deductible.
All just white noise in a world that felt more immediate — travel, jobs, life stuff.

Insurance was always someone else’s concern.
Parents, maybe. Homeowners. People with spreadsheets and family plans.

But not me.

That Changed Last Summer

I was in Vietnam.
Traveling solo.
The kind of trip where you wake up with no alarm, no schedule, no plan — just street food, long walks, and a $5 haircut if you’re feeling brave.

It started with a cough.
Just a little scratch in the throat.
Then chills. A headache. A sense that something was off.

I thought maybe I’d overdone it.
Too many nights on buses, not enough sleep.
No big deal.

But it got worse.

I ended up needing to see a doctor.
Bought meds. Took time off from work.
And somewhere between the third pharmacy and the second hotel room I moved into because I couldn’t climb stairs anymore…

It hit me:

I had no insurance.
Not even the cheap kind.
No plan. No protection. No idea what I was doing.

And the bills?
They came fast.
Faster than I could translate them, sometimes.

It Wasn’t Just the Money

Sure, it hurt to swipe my card and hope for the best.
But what stayed with me more was that sinking feeling of being unprepared.

I wasn’t even that sick.
It wasn’t dramatic.

But the fear — that maybe it could get serious — sat in the back of my mind like a weight.

I remember thinking:

“Why didn’t I know more about this?”
“Why does no one teach us this stuff?”

We learn how to book flights and find Airbnbs and apply for visas.
But how to protect ourselves while doing it?

That part gets skipped.

I Went Looking for Answers

Once I got better, I started reading.
Slowly. Confusedly.
Insurance language is its own dialect, and I didn’t speak it.

But I kept at it.

Not to become an expert.
Not to sell anything.
Just to understand enough that I wouldn’t feel clueless the next time something went wrong abroad.

I started comparing policies.
Learning what “exclusions” meant.
Figuring out why one $9 plan was totally useless, and another $25 one might actually help me when I need it.

And more than anything, I started asking questions.

That’s When This Blog Started to Form

It wasn’t some grand idea.
There was no business plan. No brand strategy.

Just this:

“If I didn’t know any of this, maybe someone else doesn’t either.”
“And if I can explain it in regular words — maybe that helps.”

So I started writing.

First, just notes to myself.
Then longer posts about things I was learning.

• Why “pre-approval” matters.

• How some claims get denied even with all the receipts.

• What to actually look for in a plan (hint: it’s not the price).

• Why short trips need insurance too — not just the long ones.

It was messy at first.
Still is, sometimes.

But it’s honest.

I’m Not an Expert. I’m a Traveler Who Got Sick

That’s what I remind people.

I didn’t major in insurance.
I don’t work for a company.
I’ve never given anyone a quote.

But I’ve stood in foreign clinics trying to explain my symptoms with hand gestures.
I’ve squinted at policy PDFs trying to understand if I’d get reimbursed.
I’ve watched friends skip insurance and later regret it.

And more than once, I’ve asked myself:

“How is this still so confusing?”

If You’ve Ever Googled “Do I Really Need Travel Insurance?”…

Then you’re not alone.

This blog is for you if you’ve ever:

• Clicked past the insurance add-on at checkout

• Wondered what the word “deductible” actually means

• Tried to choose a plan and gave up because it all sounded the same

• Been burned by a claim rejection you didn’t see coming

• Thought you were covered — and realized later you weren’t

Final Thought

I don’t write this blog because I love talking about insurance.
I write it because I used to ignore it — and that didn’t work out so well.

And now?
I’d rather help someone feel a little less lost than I did.
Even if it’s just one post. One sentence.

So no, I’m not a financial advisor.
I’m not licensed.
I’m just a regular person — maybe like you — trying to understand this part of life a little better.

Let’s figure it out together.

— Rich Kim