Travel Guard Travel Insurance

[dispatcher726]

Pictures:

me in the hospital:

 

What my friends now call "Lisa's bridge"

 

My head injury thru its healing first month (sorry if this grosses anyone out but to if you want to see the reality of it, here goes):

Wow, that is a nasty head wound. I think I read it is still not healed? If it is still not healed, may I suggested you go to an infectious disease doctor to make sure there is no underlying infection that is keeping it from healing. I always use Allianz Travel Insurance (my travel agent books it for us) I had to file a claim once and it was very smooth, they paid fast. My husband fell in one of the ports breaking his wrist in 2 places. I just had to send the bills to out medical then send them the EOB.

[AZ Karaoke Girl]

Wow, that is a nasty head wound. I think I read it is still not healed? If it is still not healed, may I suggested you go to an infectious disease doctor to make sure there is no underlying infection that is keeping it from healing.

 

My surgeon and PCP said I have a piece of debris in there since Broward Hospital didn't do a good job of flushing it out. We think its a little rock or piece of sand/dirt that needs to make its way out. That is why it keeps flaring up, building up with fluid around the object to help it move to the surface. It popped a few days ago and started leaking for a couple days so I thought it might have ejected whatever was in there but I don't know yet. I never felt anything but liquid but it could have been very fine and I didn't feel it. I don't know. My Dr said it might do it again and just to use warm compresses and she's got me on antibiotics too. I've been having to take antibiotics 4 times since this happened in April.

[BullDawg91]

You are wrong, you most CERTAINLY can tell then what hospital you are going. And I completely understand this may not be a priority, just a fact.

 

It may be worthwhile, to recommend having the insurance numbers and paperwork always with you. My insurance also would have allowed me to select my health care. The sooner they are involved, the sooner they can take over. Just some ideas for the future.

 

Budget Queen is correct. You can request to be taken to a specific facility. Most of the time that you need an ambulance, you don't really care though. I live in a town with two competing hospitals so this is a hot topic.

 

It isn't really relevant to this situation, but still.

 

I'd be worried if I lived in Broward County.

[AZ Karaoke Girl]

Budget Queen is correct. You can request to be taken to a specific facility. Most of the time that you need an ambulance, you don't really care though. I live in a town with two competing hospitals so this is a hot topic.

 

It isn't really relevant to this situation, but still.

 

I'd be worried if I lived in Broward County.

 

As I mentioned in an earlier post "I'm sorry but when my mom fell at home & hit her head she was demanding they take her to St Mary's hospital in my home town and the paramedics said "mam this is an emergency, we take you to the nearest hospital....you don't have a choice" so I beg to differ with you. I heard the paramedic say this and he took her to a hospital that she hates. Just sayin."

 

Maybe it is different in your state but in Arizona, this is what happened. Even though my mom was able to communicate her desires, they said NO!!!!!

 

The good news is I finally received a check for most of it. I was claiming over $1600 and got back $1100 of it. Post care expenses they denied which I figured would happen.

 

Some good news though. I had a claims analyst from Insure My Trip contact me and he took my information and contacted TravelGuard to get them to work on my claim. It worked because I finally got a check.

[BullDawg91]

I wasn't arguing that they told you they had to take your mother to another facility. I'm just saying they may not have been right in refusing her request. They could have felt it would compromise her situation to travel to the requested facility or they could have not wanted to bother. I have a friend who runs an EMS service and I'll ask just so we'll know (for this area).

 

It's great news that you got reimbursed for the rest of your claims! Another reason to use a broker!

[rodan]

So sorry to hear this distressing situation AZ Travel Girl. MY wife and I had to use Travel Guard twice on cruises and they were excellent. The first time was the day we boarded the ship in Civitivecchia,Italy and I had a severe bleeding attack from my Crohn's disease. THey wanted to take me to a local hospital near the harbor but the ship's Doctor recommended an excellent private hospital in Rome which is 50 miles away. We did it and I spent one week there and the costs not covered by our health insurance (we had Blue Cross) were about $3000 plus the cost of the 14 day cruise and the flight home another $3000. The second time we used it was that my mother-in -law passed away while we were in Santorini Greece on a cruise. The insurance covered our emergency flight back to the states and it was not cheap-$6000 to get back for the both of us. We were very happy with travel Guard but I agree with you they were not up to speed in your case.

 

-Rodan

[Hlitner]

I am going to jump-in here with some info but first let me give you my background. As a much younger man I was actually a certified Paramedic and worked in ERs and on Advanced Life Support vehicles for several years. I then spent over 30 years in the health insurance end (with PA Medicaid) where I spent most of life dealing with Hospitals and Hospital Payment issues.

 

So we have a few different issues in this thread. Regarding ambulances and where they take patients, there are many factors and there is also some variance between different states. But as a general rule, when I was the lead Paramedic on an ambulance (or at the scene) I was the boss and my primary responsibility was the health and safety of my patient (and my crew). Although we would usually try to take somebody to whatever local medical facility they requested, there were a few exceptions. If I felt a patient needed to go to the closest ER then there was no further discussion! That was where they were going. And sometimes folks would request a certain hospital and then I would communicate and be told that that particular hospital ER was at capacity and we should divert to another facility.

 

As to Travel Med policies, most of them (not all) are "Secondary" Policies which means they will only pay (up to the coverage limits) reasonable costs not reimbursed by your primary policy. In some cases the traveler might have to first pay the bills, then submit the info to their primary insurer. At that point you should have also notified your travel med insurer (you probably would have done this right away). In a perfect world your primary and secondary (the travel insurance) companies would "coordinate the claim" and hopefully pay most of the cost. But the insurance world is not perfect so a consumer always needs to be alert, involved, and sometimes a bit assertive. The only thing routine about international claims is that they are never routine! :)

 

And here is a very important thing! Always (and I mean always) document everything that happens...and keep all records. Keep notes on every conversation, when they happened, etc. If possible, try to get any promise or advice in writing. It is also wise to keep your insurance company informed....and document any conversations you have with them including date, time, names, etc.

 

Hank

Edited December 26, 2013 by Hlitner