Medical Coverage

[pvbbrennan]

I am on Medicare and my secondary carrier (Tricare) has spotty coverage outside the U.S. Any recommendations on travel health care ffor a cruise?

[eandj]

Since medicare won't cover anything out of the country..yes you need a real good coverage that you can count on when leaving the states.

As everyone has their own personal needs re pre-existing conditions, age, medivac coverage etc. I would start researching on sites like insuremytrip.com or the insurance store.com

 

You can hand pick and build your own policy at some companies like travel guard. Sometimes an advantage financially rather than buying a generic type package.

[cle1]

I am on Medicare and my secondary carrier (Tricare) has spotty coverage outside the U.S. Any recommendations on travel health care ffor a cruise?[/quote

 

We have the same as you. One time, a few years ago, I had a medical problem and had to leave the ship in Grand Cayman. Access America Insurance covered EVERYTHING for us, without any sort of hassle. Carol

[catl331]

It is important to get something extra. This includes those traveling with younger family. Just a broken bone can add up quickly. HAL has excellent medical professionals on their cruises but that is only short term. You may have to be flown out. Make sure you get coverage for this. Very important.

[sail7seas]

There are a few very 'insurance knowledgeable' posters on the Cruise/Travel Insurance Forum of CC. You may wish to read on that board and gather some good information.

 

Here's a link:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?s=&daysprune=&f=635

 

As important as having out of country medical coverage, do not forget about emergency evacuation/repatriation coverage. Those are the bills that can really add up.

[pvbbrennan]

Thanks for your post

[ginger and professor]

For evacuation to a more suitable hospital look at the medical benefits with the AMEX platinum card. My friends wife had a serious fx of the femur wile in Mexico and she was air ambulanced back to Wash DC at a cost of $10K all of which was covered by AMEX.

[lcand1923]

I like to caution everyone that any medical services that you receive onboard will be added to your Onboard Account. After you come home, you will need to file a claim. My Dad needed to use medical services several times on different cruises. On our last cruise, his medical care maxed out my credit card by Day Two. I had two additional cards with me, so was able to cover everything, but it came as a bit of a shock. You never can tell what can happen, so be prepared.

[pvbbrennan]

Thanks for all of your posts. Just took out a policy through USAA that covers everything - trip, medical etc. Cost was reasonable.

[deminggraham]

My husband was evacuated from the ship last spring and spent a week in the hospital in Maui. Our trip insurance covered all of his expenses but I had expenses staying in a hotel for a week and for air fare home to Philadelphia from Hawaii. The insurance gave me a maximum of $100 per day for my hotel and meal expenses which was not nearly enough. Fortunately I bought the airlines insurance which gave me an extra $500 for trip interruption coverage and for my flight connection I missed. After this experience I encourage you to check the per diem in your policy for trip interruption coverage maximums.

[IRL_Joanie]

I am on Medicare and my secondary carrier (Tricare) has spotty coverage outside the U.S. Any recommendations on travel health care ffor a cruise?

TriCare or TriWest Healthcare Alliance covers us wherever we are in the World even onboard the ships.

 

We do have to pay up front though, which is why we ALWAYS buy Travel Insurance as soon as we book our cruise.

 

If you or anyone else needs the info for TriCare let me know and I'll post it for you.

 

Joanie

[Valley Girl of VA]

I am on Medicare and my secondary carrier (Tricare) has spotty coverage outside the U.S. Any recommendations on travel health care ffor a cruise?

 

I noticed you are on our Sydney to Auckland cruise. My husband is in the same boat as you - Medicare and Tricare for Life. I had called Tricare last year when we did an Eastern Med cruise and we were told that he would not be covered. We go to http://www.insuremytrip.com and look for an insurer that will pay primarily. We did not want to pay the hospital up front. I'll try calling Tricare again (we are in the northern region) to be sure as we have not bought our insurance yet.

 

Jane

[marti2282]

I didn't realize USAA did travel insurance. Thanks for mentioning them.

[Hawaiidan]

That in Australia, UK, New Zealand, you as a visitor are covered by their national health insurance. I know this for a fact in New Zealand, where a passenger fell on a excursion and didn not have to pay a dime..100% covered by their national health sustem for emergencies which this would be.. .

 

As far as air evac, I have available enouth frequent flyer miles to get me from anywhere on earth to the USA... 4 times over.

I have Kaiser as my secondary to my Medicare and they cover ALL medical anywhere . They covered me in Switzerland years ago.

 

If you are in good health, and plan on travel lots, As I did, I began to set aside the premimum in a stock/mutual funds ( just like the insurance company does) and created my own self insurance fund.. Did the same for dental too. So over 20 years I have 6 fugures of resource if I need to.. and If I dont need it.... I have the cash for fun !

[Hlitner]

Folks need to carefully check their personal medical insurance coverage for claims incurred outside the US. In the case of Medicare, there is no coverage outside the US (which does include a few places such as Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands) except under very limited circumstances when traveling between the continental US and Alaska. Medicare supplemental policies (and Medicare Advantage policies) may or may not extend coverage outside the US so folks need to carefully question their supplemental provider and ask to see the details in writing. As to additional travel medical policies, it is possible to purchase policies to cover specific trips or one can opt to get annual policies (my personal preference) which are often less money then a single trip insurance policy. There are some sites like insuremytrip.com that will let you compare some different policies and there is a lot of other good info on the internet. Trip Evacuation insurance (sometimes included in a travel medical policy) is a totally different issue which is also important for international travelers. It is also possible to purchase separate evacuation insurance (such as the policy offered through Medjetassist.

 

Hank

[vbmom87]

I noticed you are on our Sydney to Auckland cruise. My husband is in the same boat as you - Medicare and Tricare for Life. I had called Tricare last year when we did an Eastern Med cruise and we were told that he would not be covered. We go to www.insuremytrip.com and look for an insurer that will pay primarily. We did not want to pay the hospital up front. I'll try calling Tricare again (we are in the northern region) to be sure as we have not bought our insurance yet.

 

Jane

 

This is a good explanation of primary and secondary insurance coverage and how it really works.

 

http://www.tripinsurancestore.com/how-primary-and-secondary-travel-insurance-medical-coverage-works/

[CruiserBruce]

I didn't realize USAA did travel insurance. Thanks for mentioning them.

 

Technically USAA doesn't carry the insurance, but provide it thru a third party. However, if USAA uses it, we trust it.

[kiwimum]

We purchased the USAA Policy to cover our upcoming trip. Cost was minimal.

[Jade13]

I like to caution everyone that any medical services that you receive onboard will be added to your Onboard Account. .

 

There is one benefit to that. If you are not a 4 Mariner it will go towards your extra cruise day points.

[sail7seas]

There is one benefit to that. If you are not a 4 Mariner it will go towards your extra cruise day points.

 

 

Yes, that is true but with a severe limit.

 

You can only earn bonus spending days equal to the number of days of your cruise.

 

On a seven day cruise, you can only get 7 bonus spending days = $2,100 in spending.

 

 

That sort of total is easily reached when it comes to medical bills.

 

[dakrewser]

As far as air evac, I have available enouth frequent flyer miles to get me from anywhere on earth to the USA... 4 times over.

 

Medivac is not the same as flying coach on United! Medivac flights are special flights, on special carriers, with medical personnel in attendance. Your FF miles aren't worth diddly for those flights.

[Hawaiidan]

but who flys coach?... I have enough to book a whole row of first class .

 

I would prefer to stay put till stabilized and on the mend... no real need to transport in the vast majority of places, maybe South America Mexico or Africa... but thats it

[MightyQuinn]

...I would prefer to stay put till stabilized and on the mend... no real need to transport in the vast majority of places, maybe South America Mexico or Africa... but thats it

Don't be so overly confident. I'm a young boomer, fit and healthy with no prior medical issues. Yet I came very close to dying last summer while on a HAL ship. Nobody could have predicted my situation and the HAL Medical Clinic wasn't able to provide the urgent care I desperately needed. The HAL doctor declared that my vital stats were not compatible with life. I had no clue how critical I was and begged to stay aboard, but it wasn't an option. I was medically evacuated off the ship and flown by air ambulance to the nearest tertiary care hospital. I have 100s of 1000s of FF miles and they would have been useless. No commercial aircraft has flight routes where I was evacuated and none would have been outfitted like the Lear Jet air ambulance. They transfused me en route to the hospital which saved my life. Trust me, you can't rely on FF miles! Good medical insurance is vital for all, because you just never know.

[sail7seas]

Don't be so overly confident. I'm a young boomer, fit and healthy with no prior medical issues. Yet I came very close to dying last summer while on a HAL ship. Nobody could have predicted my situation and the HAL Medical Clinic wasn't able to provide the urgent care I desperately needed. The HAL doctor declared that my vital stats were not compatible with life. I had no clue how critical I was and begged to stay aboard, but it wasn't an option. I was medically evacuated off the ship and flown by air ambulance to the nearest tertiary care hospital. I have 100s of 1000s of FF miles and they would have been useless. No commercial aircraft has flight routes where I was evacuated and none would have been outfitted like the Lear Jet air ambulance. They transfused me en route to the hospital which saved my life. Trust me, you can't rely on FF miles! Good medical insurance is vital for all, because you just never know.

 

 

What a relief you got such good care.

 

Do you mind sharing with us the insurance company that did so well by you? I'd like to look into using them for our future cruises..... just in case.

 

[tangerinebunny]

If airlines can reject passengers because they don't care for their mode of dress, I'd imagine that at least some are pretty quick to reject anyone they have reason to think may become a medical emergency. Having the flight diverted isn't in their profit game plan.

 

Those frequent flyer miles may as well be used for fun.