Main reason for insurance

[dlh015]

7 minutes ago, TeeRick said:

It is actually two different things.  I will speak for us.  It is different for everybody.

 

1) We buy the GeoBlue medical policy (Trekker Essential) which is annual and covers all of your trips and vacations for an entire year.  If you travel outside the US it is worth it, whether it is cruising or a land vacation.  GeoBlue is a backup to our primary medical insurance.  They have a health network in almost every country.  It is pretty inexpensive.

 

2) For cruises, a separate travel policy is needed if you are worried about trip cancellation and disruption, lost luggage, the usual stuff.  These do come with some medical coverage benefits too.  Maybe for a single trip (cruise) this is all you need but it is generally very expensive.

So we personally choose not to buy it.  We are more worried about a major medical event and cost of that.  The travel cancellation stuff is a risk we choose to take.  

And thank you, too!  That's the policy I'm looking at.

 

Yes, I understand about trip cancellation, etc, and like you and others, I make that evaluation as needed.

 

The two of you have completely addressed my concerns and questions. 

Seems like money well spent.

 

ETA: Oh, and yes, see this as a good backup to our regular care (who has always been good for the few things we needed it for...)

Edited March 14, 2023 by dlh015

[the penguins]

7 hours ago, JeanieC,Aston said:

Hi 

Depends on the level of pre existing medical conditions.

I asked Nationwide if I opened the Flexi Plus account re insurance,taking into account my conditions they said they wouldn’t cover me.

Such a shame. We have had the account for 40 years and as long as we keep paying the cover just rolls on. Our age and pre existing cover excess is only £120. A friend has a Barclays account with similar benefits which might be worth looking at.

[the penguins]

5 hours ago, MAGSMFC said:

Yes I live in Halifax, England

 

Many thanks

Nationwide Plus current account - see post 34 for more details.

Hope this helps. Geoff

[Torfamm]

9 hours ago, TeeRick said:

I agree that you need extra medical coverage to deal with possible medivac events and major uncovered medical expenses.  We use GeoBlue for this and get a 1 year annual policy.  Pretty inexpensive.  As for trip protection, interruption,  lost luggage, etc.  the travel insurance for that is pretty expensive in general.  Sometimes we do not get that and take the chance and self-insure.  But it depends entirely on your own personal financial situation and level of risk.

Same here. GeoBlue for medical and a MedJet membership in case there’s a need for evacuation. I see the trip costs and lost luggage as acceptable risks but wouldn’t consider skipping health coverage. Anyone can end up with appendicitis, a kidney stone etc even if they are young and perfectly healthy.

[greenbeanie]

How does US insurance (Medicare + Tricare as secondary) work on the Pacific Coastal cruise, sailing to US  ports from Los Angeles, and of course the necessary Ensenada.

 

If I get, say, appendicitis enroute to SFO from Los Angeles, how is that handled if I need to be taken off the ship and moved to land?  Who pays if I am treated on the ship only?

 

Or if say, I fall on the ship enroute to SFO from Los Angelse- is that covered under the Jones Act, or Medicare?

 

And, if I stay on the ship in Ensenada but get appendicitis there, is a separate medical policy needed?

 

 

[Lastdance]

The only way someone finds out about whether or not they have a great policy is to actually use it for something major. That being said, I would not like to find this out, but would appreciate reviews from those who have actually had to use their policy, as that is the true test!  Agree/disagree?

 

Thanking you in advance!

Edited March 14, 2023 by Lastdance

[the penguins]

9 hours ago, JeanieC,Aston said:

Hi 

Depends on the level of pre existing medical conditions.

I asked Nationwide if I opened the Flexi Plus account re insurance,taking into account my conditions they said they wouldn’t cover me.

Following my earlier reply you got me thinking ( don't worry I didn't stay up late I am with my grandson in Dallas). Just looked at the Nationwide site and it has a "portal for new customers " where you can enter your medical  / age details and it will tell you how much the extra cost would be to cover your conditions before you sign up for the account. Just might be a case of "the computer says yes".

[Lastdance]

3 hours ago, Dar & Bob said:

We buy the Annual Policy even though could possibly only cover a percentage of the cruise cost.  For us that money is already spent and not our major concern but everyone is different.  That said we don't go away for more than a couple of weeks at a time 🙂

 

I totally understand about the money aspect and your choice about insurance.  I never book a trip without already having the money in my travel account, so I guess you could say I can afford to lose it; however, I could book cheaper cruise categories and shorter vacations, but not there yet.  I have friends who never book any extra insurance because they think it is all a rip-off.  Others, spend a lot more than we do, but have significant medical issues, even though they are much younger than us.  My Magic 8 Ball is very cloudy when I try to get an answer🙅‍♀️

 

 

 

[drowelf]

14 hours ago, TeeRick said:

 As for trip protection, interruption,  lost luggage, etc.  the travel insurance for that is pretty expensive in general.  Sometimes we do not get that and take the chance and self-insure.  But it depends entirely on your own personal financial situation and level of risk.

As a recent retiree we are starting to travel more and looking into the annual polices for Medial and Evac, but I have researched this a lot and talked with Steve of the "The Insurance Store" and their are no polices offered that provide just Cancellation, Interruptions, lost luggage, etc. They all include Medical, Evac, Repatriations. I know some CC's offer that, but none of my do, so researching that angle too. 

 

So are you getting polices that cover the trip, but don't include the Medical?

[janetz]

On 3/13/2023 at 10:12 PM, edgee said:

Big mistake not to insure every cruise, at least for medical evacuation. Even on a Caribbean cruise a medical evacuation back to the U.S. could cost $35K or more. 

I so agree! Especially about the Evac
We always  have travel insurance and had to use it for the first time three weeks ago when my husband came down with a virus Friday before our Saturday cruise

He was pretty sick

You just never know

With insurance we will be refunded all of the money paid. 

[TeeRick]

9 hours ago, drowelf said:

As a recent retiree we are starting to travel more and looking into the annual polices for Medial and Evac, but I have researched this a lot and talked with Steve of the "The Insurance Store" and their are no polices offered that provide just Cancellation, Interruptions, lost luggage, etc. They all include Medical, Evac, Repatriations. I know some CC's offer that, but none of my do, so researching that angle too. 

 

So are you getting polices that cover the trip, but don't include the Medical?

I have not been able to find a "trip only" policy without medical benefits.  That would be nice to complement my GeoBlue plan.  Some people do this additional trip coverage by relying on their credit card travel coverage benefit (for free).  Can you switch to one of those CC's?  I think a trip-only policy would still be quite expensive comparatively if it existed.  Because those trip cancellation or interruption benefits are the costly items and most risky to the insurance companies in terms of numbers of possible claims. Yes a Med Evac claim would be expensive but very, very infrequent so low risk to the insurance company.  

 

Edited March 15, 2023 by TeeRick

[phillygirl2400]

We buy a GeoBlue annual policy to cover medical & medical evacuation. I submitted a claim last year for medical visits on our cruise. The bill was over $900. I submitted the claim when we got home. I received a check from them, minus the $200 deductible, within a few weeks. I would never travel out of the country without the additional insurance. 😊 

[TeeRick]

5 minutes ago, phillygirl2400 said:

We buy a GeoBlue annual policy to cover medical & medical evacuation. I submitted a claim last year for medical visits on our cruise. The bill was over $900. I submitted the claim when we got home. I received a check from them, minus the $200 deductible, within a few weeks. I would never travel out of the country without the additional insurance. 😊 

Good to know they paid you so quickly!  

Before traveling outside the US, I go to the GeoBlue website in their health network and find out some basic info on doctors, hospitals or clinics and record contact numbers in each country we are visiting.  Just in case.  They also issue medical/travel letters for those countries too and we take those along with us.  It is a good overall package.

[DCPIV]

Just so everyone knows, there is an excellent forum on CC about travel insurance.  It's where I went to get the information I wanted, and I put together our plan(s) accordingly.  There is a lot of good information in this thread, but there are only so many of us here.

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/499-cruisetravel-insurance/

[edgee]

17 hours ago, Torfamm said:

Same here. GeoBlue for medical and a MedJet membership in case there’s a need for evacuation. I see the trip costs and lost luggage as acceptable risks but wouldn’t consider skipping health coverage. Anyone can end up with appendicitis, a kidney stone etc even if they are young and perfectly healthy.

Medjet is great. One limitation is that it only covers hospital to hospital transfers, so if you are going to a hometown hospital directly  from the cruise ship or from an outpatient facility...no coverage.

[JeanieC,Aston]

19 hours ago, the penguins said:

Following my earlier reply you got me thinking ( don't worry I didn't stay up late I am with my grandson in Dallas). Just looked at the Nationwide site and it has a "portal for new customers " where you can enter your medical  / age details and it will tell you how much the extra cost would be to cover your conditions before you sign up for the account. Just might be a case of "the computer says yes".

Hi

Just used the pro former at Nationwide,,,,,,computer says No!!
Will not cover me,,,,big problem is Heart By-Pass and Diabetes plus others like BP.

Im with AllClear and quite happy with them for European cover inc cruises,,,no inclination to travel to the Caribbean or USA.

 

Thanks for your suggestions.

[the penguins]

56 minutes ago, JeanieC,Aston said:

Hi

Just used the pro former at Nationwide,,,,,,computer says No!!
Will not cover me,,,,big problem is Heart By-Pass and Diabetes plus others like BP.

Im with AllClear and quite happy with them for European cover inc cruises,,,no inclination to travel to the Caribbean or USA.

 

Thanks for your suggestions.

It was worth a try. Others may benefit by changing before major problems arise. Enjoy your cruises.

[mayleeman]

Just a note for anyone with impending federal retirement who has federal BC/BS: If you plan on dropping your FEH benefits in retirement nbecause you will have Medicare, remember that Medicare doesn't cover you overseas. But federal BC/BS DOES cover you overseas. So for cruising, you would only need to worry about getting evacuation coverage, not comprehensive medical insurance.

 

I have known federal retirees who gave up their FEH benefit and regretted it greatly.

[lov2sun]

FYI…even with travel insurance and my own personal insurance , we were required to settle the outrageous $5k bill for 6 hrs observationin ships hospital before I could be transferred to hospital upon arrival in port. 

So please be cautioned to have some extra cash or credit available to you in case of emergency, as they were not going to let my husband off ship to join me at hospital without settling the bill. 
insurance reimbursed after the fact, but the ship wanted payment up front. 
 

[the penguins]

8 hours ago, lov2sun said:

FYI…even with travel insurance and my own personal insurance , we were required to settle the outrageous $5k bill for 6 hrs observationin ships hospital before I could be transferred to hospital upon arrival in port. 

So please be cautioned to have some extra cash or credit available to you in case of emergency, as they were not going to let my husband off ship to join me at hospital without settling the bill. 
insurance reimbursed after the fact, but the ship wanted payment up front. 
 

If you are UK residents this upfront payment is not unusual. Hospitals in the US also ask for this unless your insurance company has an office in the US. We both had food poisoning and were taken in separate ambulances to the Marina Del Rae Hospital on arrival we were met by a lady out in the street where we had the following conversation:

Lady: do you both have medical insurance 

Me: yes 

L: do you have the policy with you?

M: yes 

L: does the company have an office in the US?

M: I don’t know

L: I will allow you one free call to find out 

I was wheeled into to reception area (my wife was left out in the street on a gurney) to a phone on the wall. The company confirmed that they had an office in the US.

L; ok you can both come in now. We only bill in the US so if your insurance company didn’t have an office here you would have had to prove you had a way to pay our bill. 
A valuable lesson learnt.

[LondonTowner]

My partner and I are British and wouldn’t consider going anywhere abroad without adequate travel insurance.

 

we are covered for medical treatment in most European countries, but it wouldn’t cover the cost of an air ambulance if we needed one.

 

you just never know what’s around the corner.

[cruisinsusin]

On 3/15/2023 at 8:16 PM, mayleeman said:

Just a note for anyone with impending federal retirement who has federal BC/BS: If you plan on dropping your FEH benefits in retirement nbecause you will have Medicare, remember that Medicare doesn't cover you overseas. But federal BC/BS DOES cover you overseas. So for cruising, you would only need to worry about getting evacuation coverage, not comprehensive medical insurance.

 

I have known federal retirees who gave up their FEH benefit and regretted it greatly.

It is a good benefit but be aware that there may still be copays and overages for which the retiree is responsible  (especially if you are not able to find a network provider with guarantee of benefits), so we have added the relatively inexpensive Geoblue annual policy to our coverage

from the fepblue website regarding overseas coverage:"Under all three of our coverage options, you pay the difference between our payment and the amount billed, in addition to your cost share amounts unless the Overseas Assistance Center, GMMI, has arranged direct billing with your provider."

[jules815]

On 3/13/2023 at 6:06 PM, phoenix_dream said:

In the US Medicare does not cover outside of the country.  Anyone in that age range who does not consider carrying supplemental insurance is playing with fire.  Some Medicare Advantage policies cover a certain amount, as do some credit cards.  But for complete (or very good) coverage, you need a supplement.  I personally do not buy general travel insurance for multiple reasons (one being fairly decent coverage on my credit card) but I always, always buy a medical supplement.

Glad I read this. My husband's recently on Medicare (with a supplement). 

[FlorenceItaly]

On 3/15/2023 at 8:16 PM, mayleeman said:

Just a note for anyone with impending federal retirement who has federal BC/BS: If you plan on dropping your FEH benefits in retirement nbecause you will have Medicare, remember that Medicare doesn't cover you overseas. But federal BC/BS DOES cover you overseas. So for cruising, you would only need to worry about getting evacuation coverage, not comprehensive medical insurance.

 

I have known federal retirees who gave up their FEH benefit and regretted it greatly.

One should never cancel FEHB but SUSPEND if they do anything all.  If you SUSPEND you may come back later.  

[Dar & Bob]

1 hour ago, jules815 said:

Glad I read this. My husband's recently on Medicare (with a supplement). 

Check your supplement, ours thru United Health covers us however I think it is just a reimbursement.   We picked up an annual policy