If you ever have a medical problem while onboard........

[mixplix]

My then 10 year old son broke his arm roller blading on JOS in 2015. We took him to the Dr. on ship the next morning as we docked in St. Lucia. Dr. checked arm, took xray and burned it onto a disc. He splinted the arm and recommended that we take him to ortho in St. Lucia. My wife took him and I took my daughter on the tour. The ortho (british trained, nice office, air conditioned, great wifi) reviewed the film and thought that the splint by the ship's doctor was perfect.

 

No charge by RCL for treatment; cost about $500 for ortho visit, reimbursed by health insurance like 9 months later.

[Sea and Me]

Since Medicare does not cover outside the U,S., do you still need to go through Medicare and have them send the bill to your secondary insurance, before the bill is submitted to your trip insurance?

Yes, I had to submit my bill both to Medicare and secondary insurance. After both rejected it I sent it to the travel insurance and they paid everything in full. All of this took a little over a month to complete. The cost goes on your seapass card and then the rest is up to you. So if ever you go in the medical center ask for an itemized bill. Sure glad we had travel insurance!

[BonnieSte]

That was incredible. Good going RCCL! He was right. Flying, sneezing, straining etc. could have made it a lot worse.

[geomancer]

The one time we had to visit the cruise doctor they were wonderful. When we got billed for a treatment we tried to use the travel insurance and they also told us to take it to our primary insurance instead, which they paid. I have yet to see the use of travel insurance. Our Amex covers what our primary insurance doesn't when traveling.

 

There are many, and some get more benefit than others. 9 years ago I wouldn't have worried too much about medical, office visits were a $20 copay and everything else was 90% with a $300 deductible. Not exactly catastrophic for moderate emergencies. But now, since those kinds of medical plans are a thing of the past and we're all forced onto high deductible HSA plans insurance doesn't pay a single penny for anything at all until I hit $4000 out of pocket, and then they'll only cover 80%. So glad healthcare is affordable now.

 

 

Regardless, with travel insurance in both cases I wouldn't have to pay a single penny out of pocket, aside from the ~$100 for the insurance itself. As a point of reference, a regular run of the mill doctor's office visit costs me $224.

 

 

The most often used feature though is trip interruption/trip delay. Flight get delayed and you miss your connection, causing you to miss the ship, and then having to get a new flight to the next port? It covers that cost.

 

What if your gadget, or some jewelry was stolen? Yep, covered.

 

 

The real point of insurance though is to protect against catastrophic loss. Get injured, sick, or have a disease rear it's head requiring a medical flight back to the mainland? Hope you can afford $50k+ if you're close to the US (like Alaska/Caribbean) or three times that if overseas. Unless you have travel insurance, then you pay $100 for your plan.

[Esilef]

My theory is that if you don't have travel insurance then you will need it. If you have travel insurance you won't need it.Better to be safe than sorry

[Steelers0854]

Luckily, approximately $30.000.00 on various credit cards paid the bill.

 

 

 

I am so glad to hear you are doing well after that harrowing experience.

 

I wish more people would understand this component of traveling outside the US and medical costs. Travel insurance is essential, but so is a credit card with a high available limit. Unless, like was mentioned, you have a primary insurance policy (and they agree to take that) then you are out of pocket for a very large sum of money until you're reimbursed weeks later once you get home and file a claim.

[polymedia]

By the way, the claim was rejected by my insurance company, but paid in full within 30 days by my trip insurance (Nationwide).

[diesel1973]

On our last cruise in the Carribean my DW got a sinus infection. She went to the medical dept. on ship and they gave her antibiotics and charged it on c.c. We submitted it to our medical insurance and they paid it. No problem!

[sweetp0618]

Regarding the retinal detachment - you cannot predict when it's going to happen. I had one and it was repaired by the retinal specialists at Duke within 24 hours. After a few weeks, they lasered the retina in my other eye to help prevent a detachment in that eye. It's something you may want to talk about with your ophthalmologist.

 

I will freak out if I get signs of a detachment on a cruise ship. My mom lost the sight in one eye due to a delay in diagnosis and treatment of a detachment.

[sparks1093]

OP thanks for sharing your story. I'm glad it all worked out.

[Iamcruzin]

Thanks for that information. I'm happy that they were able to help you.