re: Any tips on using trip protection insurance when having to cancel/miss a flight?

we buy trip insurance for nearly every flight. we have had 2 occasions to cash it in...hospitalization of a Family member, and a hurricane going to the island we booked our flight for.
The hurricane situation was easy...the National Weather Service issued a warning there, and no problem.Money refunded quickly.
The hospitalization was a much tougher refund. Had to provide a form letter provided by the trip insurer to the doctor to fill out, which as you can imagine IS NOT a high priority for MD's....so THAT took quite a while to get. But we did in fact get our money back.
Be prepared to jump through hoops...and have the insurance company force you to provide much more evidence than any common sense person would need. Oh, and call them every day until they relent.