Travel insurance ?

[mudscraper]

Our neighbors have a home in Aruba. In early 2014 the husband was became very ill and was hospitalized. A medevac jet with nurse flew him from Aruba to Illinois with an Immigration stop in Mia. Cost was $75,000.00. We did not ask if they had travel insurance.

[dickinson]

Very few people post here with info on being medevaced etc so average costs are unknown. When I buy travel insurance some companies seem to have a "low amount" in their policy while others are either $500,000 or $1,000,000. Without knowing typical costs etc we might overpay to get a specific policy. I think I read somewhere that a particular company said they had never paid out more than $500,000.

 

Jimsgirl - thank you for telling us your info. I wish you a speedy recovery.

 

mudscraper - thank you too for telling us your neighbor's situation and cost.

[Beth C]

I work in a hospital and we've had to airlift patients home... A 1hr trip from Halifax, NS to Boston this summer was $11,000 and to Oklahoma was somewhere in the $40,000 range. This isn't including the cost of their stay here which was $15k/day for an ICU bed and $3500/day for a "regular" bed not including surgical services etc.

 

The $40k+ patient said they didn't get travel insurance because they thought Canada had free health care... Only if you're Canadian!!

 

 

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[Mr. Click]

I do not have any experience with medivac but a simple ride in a cardiac ambulance with a nurse from one hospital in central NJ to another one about 15 miles away cost Medicare about $1400. They came to my room, transfered to me a stretcher, switched me from the first hospital's monitor to their own, rolled me downstairs, drove me the 15 miles, rolled me into the new hospital and unhooked me from their monitors and wished me well. Took less than an hour. I think the billed cost was about $2300, Medicare paid their share, the rest was written off. Medical trasport is expensive, and well worth it when it is your life on the line.

[donaldsc]

We have never purchased the travel insurance - this will be our 5th cruise, however, as DH is now 66, I am wondering if we should. I just logged on to the site listed above: http://www.insuremytrip.com and see that there are many choices. What do you seasoned traveler's reccommend for coverage keeping in mind two things, 1) we don't use a travel agent 2) we are both quite healthy and don't have any pre-existing conditions or regular RX or anything! Thank you!

 

You need to consider what losses you can not tolerate and insure for them only and for nothing else. This is different for everyone. We have a high limit yearly policy that covers medical and evacuation only. We do not cover the cost of the cruise if we had to cancel. We would not like to loose that money but we can afford it. We do not cover for silly things such as loss of luggage or trip delay. We do not want to have to pay for overseas medical care or for evacuation back home so we cover for that. We did a trip on a Huttigruten boat to Antarctica once. If I remember correctly, we took a policy that included up to 1 million in evacuation expenses.

 

I would guess that most of the CC members would disagree with us on this and they would also cover trip cancellation.

 

You need to decide. We can't.

 

DON

Edited January 7, 2015 by donaldsc

[pi45]

We, unfortunately, had to test Allianz policy this past year.

My wife became ill in arriving in Beijing we were supposed to travel from there to Singapore to board a cruise. She was so sick, we spent time visiting a walk in health clinic twice a day. She could have been admitted into a hospital, but we thought it better to continue staying in a luxury hotel in the city. The clinic was exceptionally clean, and the doctors and nurses fantastic.

However, after six days, the doctor suggested we return to the States the idea of continuing on to the rise was not feasible.

We had purchased an Allianz policy. I had called them as soon as we realized we were going to see a doctor. It was interesting because Allianz was posted as insured supplier, yet the ins company said we were to pay, and send in the bills. They offered zero help or suggestions.

They were particularly unreliable when it came to getting flights back. They again offered no help.

Now here's what I leaened from this. If you have insurance and expect to get help from Allianz, you must be checked into a hospital. At least, that is what they claim.

They don't pay for the return airfare when you don't.

They fight you with each part of your expenses submitted.

As for collecting for the claim ... Don't expect 10 day sevice.

To fully collect, I had to get our state's atty general to intercede so, careful with Allianz

[GeezerCouple]

We, unfortunately, had to test Allianz policy this past year.

My wife became ill in arriving in Beijing we were supposed to travel from there to Singapore to board a cruise. She was so sick, we spent time visiting a walk in health clinic twice a day. She could have been admitted into a hospital, but we thought it better to continue staying in a luxury hotel in the city. The clinic was exceptionally clean, and the doctors and nurses fantastic.

However, after six days, the doctor suggested we return to the States the idea of continuing on to the rise was not feasible.

We had purchased an Allianz policy. I had called them as soon as we realized we were going to see a doctor. It was interesting because Allianz was posted as insured supplier, yet the ins company said we were to pay, and send in the bills. They offered zero help or suggestions.

They were particularly unreliable when it came to getting flights back. They again offered no help.

Now here's what I leaened from this. If you have insurance and expect to get help from Allianz, you must be checked into a hospital. At least, that is what they claim.

They don't pay for the return airfare when you don't.

They fight you with each part of your expenses submitted.

As for collecting for the claim ... Don't expect 10 day sevice.

To fully collect, I had to get our state's atty general to intercede so, careful with Allianz

 

"If you have insurance and expect to get help from Allianz, you must be checked into a hospital. At least, that is what they claim."

 

Did you read the actual policy, to make sure you were given correct information?

I can think of a number of medical situations that could occur that do not require an actual hospital admission, but also would absolutely preclude travel, or require a return home rather than continuing travel that already had begun.

 

Did you check with the AG's office about this part of the claim, too?

At least they were able to help somewhat.

 

If more people went to the AG's office (or even threatened to, given that insurance is regulated), perhaps fewer insurers would try some of the funny business...

 

Our only claim, for last minute cancellation, was for a medical emergency that did not require hospital admission.

(It almost did, later, as DH's medical situation got worse before it got better, but it never got to that, thank goodness.)

 

We had TravelInsured, and all they needed was proper documentation from the physician (diagnosis, and statement that DH could *not* travel at the time the trip was scheduled), and receipts for all of our non-refundable expenses paid.

 

What part did they pay, and what part not?

Or did they finally pay everything despite no "hospital admission"?

 

GeezerCouple