travel medical insurance?

[dnewton3]

We are planning on travelling out of the country later this year, and want to look into the specific options for temporary medical insurance coverage while traveling abroad. I'm interested in hearing about recommendations for travel/trip medical insurance, and any positive or negative experiences specific to that end. If you've gone this route, what company did you use? What coverage is important to have (or not)?

 

[JayhawkRoy]

We purchase ours from the cruise line (Viking) , understanding that it is more expensive than if we searched for a separate policy. I have a high suspicion that the payoff and trouble you may have to go through is difficult if you have to use it. My normal health insurance covers any visit to the ship's doctor on the cruise ship and my claim is promptly handled.

Brother in law gets a policy that is good for one year or so from a travel insurance company because they cruise out of TX more than we do these days. They also are not tied to one single cruise line so that makes their decision easier. I would research and shop around. So far, have not had a claim lately on the insurance we do purchase.
te
As we age, we went ahead and purchase the insurance now, and I did use it once several years ago to get my money back on a cruise I could not take due to an orthopedic injury the day before departure. This was through a bank sponsored trip that my sister set up through her bank travel agent.
I
EDIT: just talked to him and he purchased travel insurance from Viking also. We are doing a river cruise in Sept/Oct, and he found out that the previous company he used would cost him more than going with the Viking insurance anyway. So, shop around and buyer beware.

 

[SC Maintenance]

I get it every time I leave the USA, but have never had to use it so I am probably not much help.

Its not expensive at all so I believe its worth the attempt. For all intents I think what they do is pay on your behalf and then try to collect from your health insurance here - as you must have USA health insurance to get there's. Thats my working theory anyway.

Patriot Medical and Blue Cross Global are the two different ones I have used.

 

[AZjeff]

As we age, we went ahead and purchase the insurance now, and I did use it once several years ago to get my money back on a cruise I could not take due to an orthopedic injury the day before departure.

So medical insurance was tied into trip cancellation insurance or visa/versa?

 

[JayhawkRoy]

So medical insurance was tied into trip cancellation insurance or visa/versa?

Yes. We purchase the whole package. Need to read all the fine print carefully before you commit to it.

The river cruise is in Europe for two weeks so one could argue to not purchase it... Later we do a 42 day cruise south to South America and we definitely don't want to take much risk there.

 

[Elkins45]

When we went on 1-2 cruises a year I used to just buy a policy for the two of us for the week we would be gone. Now I just went ahead and bought an annual worldwide policy from Blue Cross. It was around $300 for the both of us.

Make sure you get a policy with a generous benefit (at least 500k IMO) for emergency medical transport and repatriation. I have read from numerous sources that the major expense if you are sick or injured abroad is medical transport back to a US healthcare facility.

I can’t speak about how they handle payouts because we’ve been fortunate to never have to file a claim.

 

[02SE]

We'll be spending a couple weeks riding motorcycles in Europe. We have policies from Here, should something unforeseen happen. Although we've never needed it in the past, it's nice to know we're covered with extra protection.

 

[Zee09]

American Express offers travel insurance too. No need to be a card member... Includes dental as well.

https://www.americanexpress.com/en-...wGRkybqyIZvuxpWEprfwEoBMlaDvp1WBoCcDAQAvD_BwE

 

[ecotourist]

Physicians are not usually "in it for the money" and many will try to provide travelers with quality care at minimal cost.

In my own practice, I used to see out of country patients (family members of practice patients usually) for nothing. Being sick while away from home is trouble enough, let alone getting into the costs of health care.

When I was doing an internal medicine residency we saw an older Australian woman with pneumonia and no out of country health insurance. She was admitted to our tertiary care hospital for a day or two, had all required investigations done while admitted to hospital - as part of the "daily package rate", and was then discharged to outpatient care returning once or twice daily for IV antibiotic treatments. We ensured she was stable without oxygen, made sure she was on an appropriate antibiotic, and then provided outpatient care at negligible cost to her. An outpatient chart can remain active for several days, with the patient coming and going, and receiving interval treatment over the entire period. That was done to provide her with quality care at the lowest possible cost. Her total bill would have been as much as a couple of thousand dollars.

A physician friend had an open fracture of his ankle while in Mexico. An open fracture is a very serious injury and is said to "always become infected". He had recently purchased an insurance plan to repatriate him home in the event of serious illness or injury while abroad. Although there were very good hospitals nearby (staffed by Canadian and American trained physicians) he elected to return home. He was transported to the local airport by road ambulance, then and he and his wife were transported back to Canada by air ambulance, and finally to the local hospital by road ambulance. He was happy he had the repatriation insurance.

That same physician friend and his wife winter in Mexico. His wife required emergency surgery while in Mexico and had the surgery done at the local "good" hospital where the medical staff were Canadian and American trained physicians. His comment was that the care was as good as if they had been in Canada. I don't believe they carry any medical insurance other than our usual Canadian Medicare (which typically reimburses out of country medical costs up to Canadian costs) and of course the repatriation insurance.

 

[Jango]

Checkout www.squaremouth.com. My kids used it and liked it.

 

[alarmguy]

So medical insurance was tied into trip cancellation insurance or visa/versa?

We have found when traveling abroad and was searching for overseas health insurance typically trip interruption and trip insurance comes in a package with it.

I forgot who we used, but it’s so easy to find by doing a search for trip health insurance and subjects like that.
From there, you will find the top rated companies pick and choose the plan that works for you.
It’s more than reasonable

https://www.forbes.com/advisor/travel-insurance/best-travel-insurance/

https://www.usnews.com/insurance/travel/medical-travel-insurance

https://www.insuremytrip.com/travel-insurance-plans/travel-medical/

 

[JavierH19]

Only time I buy it is directly from the cruise line which I did for an upcoming cruise. Travel insurance was separate but I don't need that.

 

[Zee09]

I sometimes buy health insurance for USA destinations. Because I have one of those in network insurances that will slap you hard for going out of network and it was inexpensive.

 

[fdcg27]

Travel coverage for medical as well as trip interruption is always a good idea when leaving the US.
Things to consider are amount of coverage provided as well as the lookback period and the time sensitive period.
What you want is a waiver of both which the better policies will provide as long as you purchase them quickly after paying for your trip.
The better policies also provide for advance payments to foreign providers should you need costly care as well as generous medical evac coverage. $500K isn't hard to spend should you need medical evacuation.

 

[The_Jeff]

Its not expensive at all so I believe its worth the attempt. For all intents I think what they do is pay on your behalf and then try to collect from your health insurance here - as you must have USA health insurance to get there's. Thats my working theory anyway.

They probably don't want preexisting conditions, so they assume you'll use your regular insurance to get "up to snuff" before you depart. Otherwise you'd get deadbeats who "suddenly fell ill" while abroad and expect coverage for it.

 

[dnewton3]

To be specific, we already have "trip insurance" (cancellations, delays, etc). But it does NOT cover unforeseen medical major medical expenses overseas.

We want to get medical travel insurance; something that would cover hospital visits, ambulance trips, even charter plane to fly home if the issue were serious enough.

I'm looking for information from anyone who's actually purchased this kind of product, and (worst case) had to use it.

 

[fdcg27]

To be specific, we already have "trip insurance" (cancellations, delays, etc). But it does NOT cover unforeseen medical major medical expenses overseas.

We want to get medical travel insurance; something that would cover hospital visits, ambulance trips, even charter plane to fly home if the issue were serious enough.

I'm looking for information from anyone who's actually purchased this kind of product, and (worst case) had to use it.

Purchased?
Yes, several times.
Used?
Thankfully not.
Google "aardy" and view the many plans offered through various insurers.
We've used IMG in the past.
Look for what I specified above to make sure that any pre-existing conditions are covered.

 

[SC Maintenance]

They probably don't want preexisting conditions, so they assume you'll use your regular insurance to get "up to snuff" before you depart. Otherwise you'd get deadbeats who "suddenly fell ill" while abroad and expect coverage for it.

Yes, pre-existing conditions are not covered. I forget the actual verbiage - I think it was pretty short time though, much shorter than I expected.

Fortunately I have never had to use it.

 

[ecotourist]

When buying insurance, it's important that you declare all medical conditions no matter how minor. Insurance companies have medical staff whose job is to obtain and review your medical records once you make a claim to find something you forgot to declare which is plausibly related to your current problem so they can deny your claim.

The rest of us worry the most about travel to the US. Health care is less expensive everywhere else. Good quality health care can be accessed throughout the 1st world.

If you're traveling in the 3rd world and need medical care, I'd suggest you start by contacting the US, Canadian, British, Australian or New Zealand embassy (there will be at least one in most countries) and ask if they have a physician on staff. At least one of them will have a physician on staff or on contract to provide trusted care or at least get you started in the right direction. And they will all know which embassy has a physician. [At least that was the situation 20 years ago and I expect it's still true. Embassy staff need access to quality health care too, so it's been organized.]

 

[fdcg27]

Yes, pre-existing conditions are not covered. I forget the actual verbiage - I think it was pretty short time though, much shorter than I expected.

Fortunately I have never had to use it.

Oh, but they are on any decent coverage.
Need to look at lookback period and waiver thereof for any coverage you're considering.