I was just wondering if BCA insurance covers caving overseas? Specifically america...

From BCA's website, insurance FAQ - british-caving.org.uk/wiki3/lib/exe/fetc...surance_faq_2008.pdf

20 Q: Where am I covered?
A: Cover extends worldwide, excluding Canada and the USA, but all cases will be judged only according to
English law.

More importantly, what cover do you think it provides?
What I mean is, BCA's Insurance is third party liability, so it doesn't cover you as such but offers protection to people that you might injure.
If it is personal insurance you require then something like Snowcard is probably your best bet, but even Snowcard loads its policies for North America (primarily due to their litigation society and high payout history...)

Thanks Les!!

I was thinking about Snowcard too, I'll have to have a proper look into it and see what I need!!

Just to be clear, BCA's insurance is not travel insurance. It won't cover you for rescue, for injury to yourself of for medical care and repatriation. Snowcard is realistically the only place to get that cover, although you may want to check out Dogtag too as that is who we used for Mulu this year as it is cheaper than Snowcard.
There is very little choice in the market place for overseas caver insurance cover. Some of the other players (Post Office, etc.) offer the same (or substantially the same) policy as Snowcard at a fairly similar price. Their policies are basically underwritten by the same insurer and the cover is very similar.

Snowcard have a track record of paying out and the Assistance International (I know you said USA) organisation they use to manage emergencies have shown to be both reliable and consistent. On a rescue I was unfortunate to be closely connected to a couple of years back, Snowcard and Assistance International sorted everything for the people concerned, including a full cave rescue, helicopter evacuation and hospitalisation, followed by homeward travel. Seamlessly, painlessly (except for the victim with the broken pelvis...) and efficiently. I know who I will insure with if I am caving in Europe.

As for world wide, Dogtag are substantially cheaper than Snowcard, seem to offer a suitable policy, BUT there is no track record of a claim that I know of. That doesn't mean that they are crap, as I said I used them for Mulu, but for a personal recommendation of service you need to experience the service. Luckily nobody needed rescuing in Mulu this year, not even Colin Boothroyd...

Just to give you an idea, I used snowcard for Matienzo and it cost about £30 for 12 days (admittedly I stated we were only "low risk" caving) you can wack the excess etc. up to save you a wad of money too.

Royal mail managed to slice the card in two but snowcard had another one couriered to me the next day. I was speaking to some French cavers about it and they'd had 1st hand experience of claiming with snowcard and there was no arguments over paying out as Les said.

Thanks for your advice guys. I'll give snowcard a ring.I've been looking at BMC insurance too, it looks perfect, but f*ck me is it expensive!!

I've had a look at snowcard. It looks like it's going to cost £98 for 'low-risk' caving. Unfortunately I have to be insured for the whole 20 days despite only planning to go underground once or twice. It's a bit of a bummer because I've already forked out £30 for regular insurance

£98 for low risk caving in the US doesn't seem too expensive to me.
Where are you going, specifically? I could possibly put you on to a couple of cavers out that way...

I'm going to Florida, I've got a couple of trips sorted there, so now I'm looking into flying to Alabama for a couple of days, there are a few awesome looking caves there