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Medical Evacuations in other countries


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Just a question about being taken ill on a cruise & medical evacuations.I ask as my husband went down with pneumonia on our recent Adriatic cruise but was able to be treated in the ships brilliant medical centre & in our cabin. However, one passenger was seriously ill & had to be taken to hospital in Vigo. As a UK passenger we have Ehic cards & obviously travel insurance so are fine in the EU but, we were wondering about evacs in countries like Russia? As you need a visa to go there & there is a language barrier so how do you manage with accomodation, travel to the hospital etc. Anyone have any experience of having to leave a cruise in a very different culture I'd be interested in your stories.:confused:

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When we traveled with my very elderly mother-in-law and her sister who was only a couple years younger, we made sure we not only had travel medical insurance but medical evacuation insurance.

 

I also got to know the cruise ship physicians as early as possible on each cruise.

 

We were fortunate that with many cruises taken, neither required medical care other than on the ship, but on our last family cruise, the doctor on the ship told us that 'Your mother is done cruising'. We believed him and did not cruise again. She lived about 27 months after that cruise and had a continual breakdown in health. Her slightly younger sister died sooner than that.

 

You need to know what your travel insurance actually covers.

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I also second what Penny said about insurance.

 

Depending on where we are sailing we sometimes add med evacuation insurance. We don't do it for all voyages but for selected ones where we have concerns about medical care in specific countries we are sailing.

 

Keith

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The only insurance claim I ever had to make was when my father smashed his wrist in Bergen, Norway. We were already in a hotel so just stayed on, that was easy enough, and for the rest the insurance company sorted it all - flights home etc. The ambulance driver wanted a credit card payment before setting off, but if I hadn't been there he would have taken him anyway. (I hope!)

 

Of course, in Norway there's no language problem and no visas. It must be much harder in Russia.

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Make sure your UK insurance covers cruises - this way evacs are covered. The ship has procedures in every country and there is an emergency contact on the cruise newspaper every day for the port agent who gets in touch with the ship.

 

Reminds me- we just got free travel insurance from the bank - must make sure it covers cruises

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My mother-in-law had to be hospitalized when her ship was in Rhodes. She stayed in the hospital for several nights until she was well enough to fly back to the U.S. The travel insurance company my in-laws had was great. The reps found my father-in-law a hotel to stay at near the hospital. They made the changes to the airline tickets for them when she was well enough to travel and even hired a student nurse to accompany them on the flights back. And then they received a check for their unused portion of the cruise about a month later.

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We have five cruises booked and just talked to my TA about this today. Since we are starting to do longer cruises with up to 8 sea days, I thought we might need med evac insurance along with the regular insurance we take out every cruise BUT my TA said that the insurance we get has med evac included with it so we have no need to purchase it unless we plan to do more non cruise traveling. So check with your TA. Someone also said to check with your cedit card because many include it.

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BUT does that evacuation insurance only take you to the nearest suitable facility? Be sure and check your policy. Being a single traveler I want to be home and not in a foreign hospital by myself.

 

I had insufficient insurance when I was injured in Alaska (not on a cruise!) and had to spend time on a relative's sofa while trying to get well enough to make a flight home.

 

Lesson hard learned.

 

If I'd had real medical evacuation insurance I would have been flown directly from the hospital in Anchorage to one near my home in Texas to compete medical treatments. Instead I stayed in the hospital in Anchorage as long as the docs there could create delays (they fought hard to keep me from being dismissed too soon) and then on to the sofa.

 

I flew home on a regular commercial set of flights with a change of planes. The whole thing was miserable.

 

Not only were the flights miserable, but I was solo and had no help at all. Changing planes was a nightmare.

 

The reality that a few hundred dollars of preminum for a real medical evac policy would have made a world of difference gave me nightmares.

 

If I had not had relatives in Alaska to care for me, cook meals and eventually take me to the airport for my flights home, I guess I would have been in a hotel with room service (at my own expense).

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As a 67 year old solo cruiser with a history of heart problems, I just starting using MedJet Assist as my med evac insurance. They will fly you from the hospital where you are (assuming it's at least 90 miles from home) to a hospital of your choosing, probably at home. They have different policies, individual or family, annual or short-term. On my Alaska cruise earlier this month, I had a policy to cover the period of the trip, and it was only $125. Fortunately! it was a total waste of money.

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We have had MedJetAssist policy for years. For those in AARP, there is a meaningful discount. Be sure to ask for it if you decide to write a policy with them.

 

So many cruisers are careful about insuring their trip when really the high expense exposure is medical evacuation and medical. One assumes you can afford the costs of the trip or you would not have booked it. It is far more important, IMO, to be sure you have adequate out of home country coverage for medical and evacuation/repatriation.

 

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We have had MedJetAssist policy for years. For those in AARP, there is a meaningful discount. Be sure to ask for it if you decide to write a policy with them.

 

I wasn't aware of an AARP discount. I'll try & remember that next December, when setting that up for my next cruise.

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As Canadians DW and I have coverage within Canada but it covers next to nothing outside Canada. Therefore, we take out travel health coverage that includes medivac back to our home once stabilized and able to travel.

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BUT does that evacuation insurance only take you to the nearest suitable facility? Be sure and check your policy. Being a single traveler I want to be home and not in a foreign hospital by myself.

 

As a solo traveler who got very, very sick in Cambodia, it really pays to buy the best. I had a Travelex policy with upgraded medical and evac. Travelex arranged for me to be evacuated to a Japanese hospital. I really did not want to go to a Japanese hospital. I wanted to be transferred to the Aussie hospital in Saigon. But transport was "iffy" at best handled by the insurance company-NOT a lot of evac helos out of Cambodia to Saigon. Had to get me to an airport with evac facilities without a hospitalization in Cambodia (heaven forbid).

 

After a bunch of phone calls (with an interpreter between Cambodian and Vietnamese provided by the insurance co), Travelex decided that they would make all arrangements to get me admitted to the Aussie hospital in Vietnam. My admittance was seamless, they paid for the nurse and driver even though I was willing to pay out of my pocket because I couldn't find the SPECIFIC wording that would have covered the nurse and driver for an overland trip.

 

I heartily believe in the Travelex policies. I also have a yearly international medical insurance policy (my job almost requires it) and I have a MedJet Assist policy. BUT IF I needed to be flown to the USA, my MedJet Assist policy would have gotten me to any hospital I chose. BUT first I had to be admitted to a hospital. MedJet Assist, while really really cheap on a yearly basis, WILL NOT evacuate from a ship or from land. They pick you up from a health care facility (hospital, clinic, etc) and transfer you home or to your choice of hospitals.

 

MAKE SURE you read the fine print.

 

compozer,

 

Just because your TA says you have med evac insurance, is it enough to cover wherever you are in the world??? Better check it out. A lot of those TA/cruise line policies are only $25-50,000 INCLUSIVE-evac + medical. Same thing with those phony credit card policies-for a broken leg in the Caribbean, you are probably golden. For a heart attack in China, forget the credit card insurance. Get something real, with help from someone on the ground in your country 24/7.

 

The transfer from Cambodia to Japan was over $60,000. I had $100,000 limit with my Travelex policy. I could have asked to be put in a Cambodian hospital (yuck) and then transferred and MedJet would have picked up that tab to the hospital I chose (USA, Europe, Asia, etc. etc). But that was a two policy deal-NOT just a travel insurance policy.

 

You REALLY should KNOW what you are buying. DO NOT depend on TA who very often have limited knowledge of travel insurance policies, please.

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  • 1 month later...

Hubby and I were to sail on a transatlantic voyage from Rome to NJ last October. We arrived in Rome 3 days early and enjoyed sightseeing. On the day that we were to board the ship, I woke up and had trouble breathing. I figured it was probably from the excitement of going on a cruise. As we walked a block from the hotel to get to our bus to the port, I realized that the breathing problem was getting worse. When we arrived at the port , I neded a wheelchair to get from the bus to the embarcation building. Immediately upon boarding the ship, I went to see the ship doctor. She examined me and did an xray and told me that my lung had colapsed and that I would have to immediately be taken to a hospital. She said that it would take about a week for my lung to be reinflated and that no airline would let metravel back home with a colapsed lung. After examining me and giving me the bad news, Celebrity charged me $255 directly to my sign and sail card. Then they immediately called an ambulance which took me to a small, scary hospital in Civitavecchia, close to the port. My husband was left to find a hotel close to the hospital. We did not speak Italian, and the Italian doctors and nurses spoke little English. That night, around midnight, I was wheeled down a dark scary hallway, to have a chest tube inserted into my lungs. Nit much in the way of pain meedication was offered. The next day, fortunately, I was transferred to a large teaching hospital in Vatican City. THANK GOD i had Travel Guard Max insurance. They had to coordinate a doctor to fly from Canada to Rome to accompany me back to Houston. The hospital physician at first said that I would have to stay in hospital until the chest tube could be taken out. And that they would not OK me to fly home for another two weeks as they needed to ensure that my lung was OK. However, upon learning that I had trip insurance with evacuation coverage, things changed. They contacted my insurance to coordinate my care. I was hospitalized in Rome for 8 days. Although I had Travel Guard it took a while to coordinate the physician to fly from Canada to Fly with me on a commercial flight back home to Houston, The Insurance company also arranged for my husband to be on the same flight as me. I had to fly in business class because I needed oxygen, still had the chest tube inserted in my lung, and had to be able to lie down. My husband was in economy class. My husband had to pay for food and lodging for the 8 extra days stay in Rome while I was hospitalized. Blue Cross, Aetna etc will NOT cover that. In all, the evacuation cost was over $30,000 plus the incidental expenses that my husband incurred, plus the cost to fly him back home. Travel Guard covered All of the evacuation expense, they paid for the cost to fly my husband back from Rome to Houston. Airfare for my husband, booked two days before departure was over $2,000. Plus they covered most of his hotel bill, . In the future, I will supplement with Med Vac because, they will immediately transfer you to a hospital back home. However, what could have been a VERY stressful situation was made a little easier to bear since I knew we had trip insurance. Believe me, you never know what could happen when you travel. Mylung colapse was spontaneous. In other words, it happened out of the blue moon. The hospital bill was sent directly to the insurance comany and they covered it for me. They sent payment directly to the hospital in Rome. NEVER, will I travel without trip insurance. Also, one of our suitcases enjoyed the transatlantic cruise without us. It took us about 2 weeks after arriving home to get the luggage that was left in Rome, on the ship. Celebrity paid for my luggage to get shipped to me from Miami. However, had my luggage been lost, my trip insurance would have covered it GET TRIP INSURANCE. Don't gamble, cause if you do get sick, it could be an expensive, scary porposition if you have to coordinate your hospital stay AND your trip home by yourself.

 

CORRECTION - I had Travelex Max insurance NOT Travelguard. I highly recommend either as I have had to file a claim for my son using travelguard

 

Travelex Max covered medical expenses up to $250,000 and evacuation expenses up to $1,000,000.

 

Also, the difference between MED VAC ASSIST and Travelex medical evacuation coverage is that with MED JET you will be transferred home to a hospital of your choice immediately. You do have to be admitted to a hospital first though. They will use a jet with inensive care equipment and medical staff on board. However, medical evacuation with most other travel insurance comanpanies could take some time because you have to meet certain "criteria" before you can be airlifted home on a medical jet. Otherwise they will arrange for you to be accompanied by a physician or a nurse on a commercial flight.

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with MED JET you will be transferred home to a hospital of your choice immediately. You do have to be admitted to a hospital first though. They will use a jet with intensive care equipment and medical staff on board. However, medical evacuation with most other travel insurance companies could take some time because you have to meet certain "criteria" before you can be airlifted home on a medical jet. Otherwise they will arrange for you to be accompanied by a physician or a nurse on a commercial flight[/color].

 

Just a few clarifications about what MedJet will or will not do:

 

Will they transport you immediately to a hospital of your choice? Maybe. But they, like all medical transport services require that the doctors on scene and their own medical staff approve the transport. Here's from their plan wording:

 

"Members must be medically stable for transfer. Assuming all other medical transfer

criteria are met, members who are initially considered medically unstable for transfer to

their home hospital may first be transferred to the closest appropriate medical facility for

initial stabilization."

 

Would they do an air transport back home for someone with a collapsed lung? Almost assuredly not because it just might kill the patient.

 

While MedJet is a great service don't think that it's a panacea for everything that can happen to you away from home.

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Just a few clarifications about what MedJet will or will not do:

 

Will they transport you immediately to a hospital of your choice? Maybe. But they, like all medical transport services require that the doctors on scene and their own medical staff approve the transport. Here's from their plan wording:

 

"Members must be medically stable for transfer. Assuming all other medical transfer

criteria are met, members who are initially considered medically unstable for transfer to

their home hospital may first be transferred to the closest appropriate medical facility for

initial stabilization."

 

Would they do an air transport back home for someone with a collapsed lung? Almost assuredly not because it just might kill the patient.

 

While MedJet is a great service don't think that it's a panacea for everything that can happen to you away from home.

 

Great point! I was stabilized pretty much after the chest tube was inserted. So I probably could have been airlifted home by day 3. But your points are well taken.

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We are going to South America for 3 weeks and we are both healthy, but agree, stuff happens at the worst times sometimes... I'd be interested in purchasing medical evac insurance, but NOT trip protection as we consider the trip costs a "sunk" cost (plus the quotes we get for trip insurance are crazy ($900)).

 

If we miss the trip, we will survive. If we get sick in the middle of Brazil, not so sure. Thanks for all of your advice on this as we will begin investigating. What's the best time to purchase such insurance in terms of days before departure? Does it even matter? Also, we are registered domestic partners, but that isn't worth much in Florida in terms of "legal" rights and is only good in our city of Orlando (but we have full living wills/advance directives/etc). I'm reviewing the travelex insurance, and it says "domestic partners" are covered as a couple, but I wonder if we could run into troubles since our state doesn't even recognize our relationship (13 years and going strong! :))

 

Thanks,

Dominic

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This is a topic very much on my mind tonight. After asking a question about travel insurance on CC I got some very nice responses with recommendations and have spent a good part of the weekend on travel insurance websites. Found out I have a couple of problems......

 

1. I made initial payment for our cruise November 7, 2011. Apparently I should have known that the travel medical insurance had to be purchased within 2 weeks of initial payment. I did buy RCCL's insurance but that will not even begin to help with the medical issue.

 

2. Pre-existing condition, CHF.

 

3. What few that I have found that will allow you to purchase before final payment, the medical coverage is way too low to cover someone with CHF.

 

4. Our total trip is over 90 days.

 

After reading this thread I will call Travel Max tomorrow to see if they have anything for me. Looking at their website it says "30 days after initial trip deposit to get a plan to cover pre-existing medical conditions".

I may be out of luck with them also. I will also be checking with Medjet.

 

It's not like I waited until the last minute, we don't even leave home until Feb. 12, 2013. The only thing we have purchased so far is the cruise.

 

If anyone who has done this has anymore suggestions considering the problems I have listed please let me know. :)

 

In the meanwhile I'll keep beating my head against my monitor. :D

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Many people assume because they are young and healthy that travel insurance, including evac, is not needed.

 

Tonight my son's best friend, 40, is fighting for his life in an Omaha hospital. He was fine Thursday morning, felt sick that afternnoon, in the local hospital and moved to a major medical facility today. The diagnosis is pancreatitis (he is definitely not an alcoholic) and is somewhat stablized after surgery, but the situation is grim.

 

My point is that no matter what age you are, or how healthy you are, things happen, sometimes out of the blue, like the poster with the collapsed lung. Yes, it hurts sometimes to pay out a chunk of cash for something that will probably (hopefully) never be used, but the alternative can be catastrophic. If this had happened to this young father on a cruise, he'd probably be dead by now, or, if without insurance, bankrupt his family to get him home.

 

We always get travel insurance and I specifically look for high limits on medical care and especially evacuation. We have used it three times, twice for medical problems of elderly relatives back home, once during the SARS crisis in China. Luckily, we have never needed the evacuation portion, but the rest of our trips were fully reimbursed.

 

If you don't want to pay for the insurance, at least get medical and evacuation insurance with high limits. Most of us can eat the cost of the trip ( though it would be painful) but not $50K and up for major medical issues.

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CORRECTION -

 

Also, the difference between MED VAC ASSIST and Travelex medical evacuation coverage is that with MED JET you will be transferred home to a hospital of your choice immediately. You do have to be admitted to a hospital first though. They will use a jet with inensive care equipment and medical staff on board. However, medical evacuation with most other travel insurance comanpanies could take some time because you have to meet certain "criteria" before you can be airlifted home on a medical jet. Otherwise they will arrange for you to be accompanied by a physician or a nurse on a commercial flight.

 

Could you please help me verify the above information for MedjetAssist about their using "a jet with intensive care equipment and medical staff." All I have been able to find is the statement.

 

"MedjetAssist does not own, lease or operate any aircraft, and has no affiliation with any direct air carrier. As an Indirect Air Carrier (IAC), MedjetAssist contracts for the provision of air transportation services in its own name and coordinates the provision of medical services for your flight. All flights are operated by licensed direct air carriers."

 

I'm not certain but this sounds to me an awful lot like MedjetAssist sends you home on a commercial plane with possibly some extra equipment, rather than an air ambulance. It would seem that for the price MedjetAssist charges ($325 for an annual family policy with an AARP discount), only a few medical jet flights with intensive care equipment and medical staff, might well drive the company into bankruptcy. After all, it's not clear whether the company even has any appreciable physical assets.

 

I am really interested in this type of travel insurance but am afraid all MedjetAssist may do is give you a bunch of coordination, a commercial ticket home and possibly someone to fly with you.

 

Thanks for any information you may be able to supply.

 

Scott & Karen

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Could you please help me verify the above information for MedjetAssist about their using "a jet with intensive care equipment and medical staff." All I have been able to find is the statement.

 

"MedjetAssist does not own, lease or operate any aircraft, and has no affiliation with any direct air carrier. As an Indirect Air Carrier (IAC), MedjetAssist contracts for the provision of air transportation services in its own name and coordinates the provision of medical services for your flight. All flights are operated by licensed direct air carriers."

 

I'm not certain but this sounds to me an awful lot like MedjetAssist sends you home on a commercial plane with possibly some extra equipment, rather than an air ambulance. It would seem that for the price MedjetAssist charges ($325 for an annual family policy with an AARP discount), only a few medical jet flights with intensive care equipment and medical staff, might well drive the company into bankruptcy. After all, it's not clear whether the company even has any appreciable physical assets.

 

I am really interested in this type of travel insurance but am afraid all MedjetAssist may do is give you a bunch of coordination, a commercial ticket home and possibly someone to fly with you.

 

Thanks for any information you may be able to supply.

 

Scott & Karen

 

From insuremytrip.com website regarding medjet assist coverage:

 

Evacuation flights will be performed if an inpatient hospitalization is required, and the remaining in-patient hospital stay can be completed at a hospital of the member's choice near the member's home, and the member is unable to return to his home hospital via commercial airline without medical escort. Aircraft used for the medical transport of MedjetAssist members are fully equipped intensive care aircraft staffed with specially trained medical teams.

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