Couple might or might not be insured. Massive heart attack on ship

[fpcruiser]

I was asked to find out how much this couple might be out of pocket if they have cruise line insurance or no insurance. Their best friend is making himself sick thinking about how much they might be out.

   The wife had a massive heart attack but cruise Dr. able to get her ready to fly to Barbados (nearest port). That hospital did all they could do and then told them they had to fly to Miami for the care she needed. I am pretty sure she is going to make it.

   Does anyone know what the cost of each leg might be if they are insured and also if they are not insured.

  Thank you for helping.

[broadwaybaby123]

Apologies for the people involved but the only people who would know or be able to find out would be those at Customer Service.  They need to go there and inquire.

[fpcruiser]

12 minutes ago, broadwaybaby123 said:

Apologies for the people involved but the only people who would know or be able to find out would be those at Customer Service.  They need to go there and inquire.

They are at a Hospital in Miami at this point. The husband was very overwhelmed with everything because they didn't think she would live.

[broadwaybaby123]

Then they need to call Royal directly.

[Jasukkie]

Every situation is unique. There may be coverage under their regular insurance. If the wife was the planner, perhaps someone needs to access her email and search for a travel insurance purchase. Or it could have been obtained with the original booking. 

 

Who did the evacuating to Miami? Did they ask for a credit card? 

[reallyitsmema]

11 minutes ago, fpcruiser said:

They are at a Hospital in Miami at this point. The husband was very overwhelmed with everything because they didn't think she would live.

 

Normally, they do not let someone off the ship until they settle their onboard account, even when they leave by ambulance.  He should have been given a phone number for someone who will assist him with this.  He could check his credit card to see if they have charged anything or just wait until his wife is stable and deal with it when he is able to.

[brillohead]

The charges from Royal should be pretty minimal, as things go.  

The charges in Barbados and the cost of the repatriation, plus whatever the hospital/doctor charges are in Miami, are what's going to be pretty extreme.

[cruiseguy1016]

6 minutes ago, brillohead said:

The charges from Royal should be pretty minimal, as things go.  

The charges in Barbados and the cost of the repatriation, plus whatever the hospital/doctor charges are in Miami, are what's going to be pretty extreme.

 

I would think/hope that the charges in Miami would be covered under whatever healthcare insurance they have. I would guess that the flight from Barbados would be quite costly.

[nelblu]

They may have an Advantage medical plan or a Medicare supplement policy that pay the 80% that Medicare would normally pick up.   If only original Medicare, then they are stuck with all of the costs.  Not familiar if transportation is covered.

[ILCTCRUISER]

24 minutes ago, nelblu said:

They may have an Advantage medical plan or a Medicare supplement policy that pay the 80% that Medicare would normally pick up.   If only original Medicare, then they are stuck with all of the costs.  Not familiar if transportation is covered.

We very rarely travel without travel insurance, especially for medivac and medical expenses.  If you’re on Medicare w/ a Med Sup plan and travel overseas, it makes sense to choose a plan that has coverage while traveling overseas.  As @nelblu states, one could be liable for some huge medical expenses.

[MommaBear55]

Such sad news. Best wishes for her recovery. The cost could be anything from virtually nothing to several hundred thousand depending on the costs, especially the flight from Barbados, how much they had to do to stabilize her on the ship before initial transport and what they elected for coverage under their supplemental Medicare, as well as the husband's hotel stays, food and then transportation home. 

[time4u2go]

You are wanting to know the cost of the two flights. Have you asked the company(s) that performed the flights? It seems like they would be the ones that would know. 

[Baron Barracuda]

11 minutes ago, time4u2go said:

You are wanting to know the cost of the two flights. Have you asked the company(s) that performed the flights? It seems like they would be the ones that would know. 

If the first flight from ship to Barbados was done by USCG believe that should be free.  

[bucfan2]

4 hours ago, fpcruiser said:

Their best friend is making himself sick thinking about how much they might be out.

I am pretty sure she is going to make it.

If a doctor ever states he/she is 'pretty sure' I'll make it, and my best friend is getting sick wondering how much $$ I'm out....he'll quickly become my 'former' best friend.

Lots of good advice already given by others.  All the best for a speedy recovery.

[GTO-Girl]

Hopefully they have other trip insurance other than what Royal offers because their medical and medical evac maximum amounts are very low.

 

we had a friend who got sick and was evacuated in Cozumel where he stayed 8 days in the hospital.  The medical limit with Royal did not come close to his bill.  Sadly he did not check what the limits were before he bought the insurance through the ship.

 

you can buy much better coverage, most times for less money, through a third party…

[Ashland]

Would a GeoBlue policy have covered this>

[FamilyCruiserUK]

4 hours ago, reallyitsmema said:

 

Normally, they do not let someone off the ship until they settle their onboard account, even when they leave by ambulance.  He should have been given a phone number for someone who will assist him with this.  He could check his credit card to see if they have charged anything or just wait until his wife is stable and deal with it when he is able to.

Wait hold on, did i read that right? So before you need to go to hospital for urgent care they ask you to pay your bill first......... i can understand maybe a broken bone or something not serious but surely for urgent medical care thats the priority not ££££

[brillohead]

13 minutes ago, FamilyCruiserUK said:

Wait hold on, did i read that right? So before you need to go to hospital for urgent care they ask you to pay your bill first......... i can understand maybe a broken bone or something not serious but surely for urgent medical care thats the priority not ££££

 

This isn't news to you... you already commented in this thread that discussed the need to pay your account balance before leaving the ship.  

[livingonthebeach]

5 hours ago, fpcruiser said:

I was asked to find out how much this couple might be out of pocket if they have cruise line insurance or no insurance. Their best friend is making himself sick thinking about how much they might be out.

   The wife had a massive heart attack but cruise Dr. able to get her ready to fly to Barbados (nearest port). That hospital did all they could do and then told them they had to fly to Miami for the care she needed. I am pretty sure she is going to make it.

   Does anyone know what the cost of each leg might be if they are insured and also if they are not insured.

  Thank you for helping.

 

The cost would be the same whether you have insurance or not. The question then would be if you had insurance, how much would they cover. Every travel insurance is different so the only people that could answer that is the specific travel insurance company for coverage and the hospital and medical care / evacuation for costs. Repatriation can be very expensive that's why most people who cruise get some type of medical travel insurance. 

[neverbeenhere]

Do most people get coverage or is it most people should get coverage?

[reallyitsmema]

28 minutes ago, FamilyCruiserUK said:

Wait hold on, did i read that right? So before you need to go to hospital for urgent care they ask you to pay your bill first......... i can understand maybe a broken bone or something not serious but surely for urgent medical care thats the priority not ££££

 

Not sure how they handle onboard accounts if someone is medivacced off the ship, but they do make sure the onboard account is taken care of for those that leave by ambulance.  On our 2022 Alaska cruise, someone from our rollcall ended up being transferred to the hospital in Victoria, BC.  I was actually in the medical center at the time he was brought down from his cabin.  His wife was very vocal in our rollcall about the charges they incurred and how she had to deal with their account before he was brought to the hospital.  The cruise line helped pack up her cabin and got her a hotel in Victoria.  They also had traveled with just birth certificates and drivers licenses, not passports, so that was a whole other issue.  They had travel insurance but she was under the impression that the insurance would pay the ship directly.  It was an eye opening experience for this family and she went silent on the rollcall, so not sure how it all ended up.

[GeezerCouple]

5 hours ago, reallyitsmema said:

They had travel insurance but she was under the impression that the insurance would pay the ship directly.

 

I'm very glad they had travel insurance, and hope it was a good policy.

 

However, this is an example of why everyone should *always* read the Terms & Conditions of any insurance policy (any *contract*, actually!).

Almost always, it will be clear that one must pay expenses and then submit supporting documents for reimbursement.  (RECEIPTS can be essential!)

 

Whereas US hospitals and other medical providers have arrangements with most insurers, "ships" or other overseas/offshore facilities and providers very likely have no such agreement.  How would they know who to bill?  How would they know they'd ever get paid?

 

I remember in one hospital in a high-tourist location, while DH was being seen in the ER, I was escorted to the billing office.  There were signs on the wall to the effect of:  "We will ONLY accept payment arrangements with the following travel insurers:

<list>

ALL other bills must be paid in full before discharge."

 

I just handed over one of our charge cards, and went to be with DH, who was basically stable.  Had he not been stable, I would have said, "Fine about the billing, but please send a billing dept rep *here* while I stay with DH, and I'll make the payments..."

(In "true emergencies", where the patient is NOT stable, and we've had a few of those, the medical care comes first, and then "Billing" starts to show up.  In some overseas locations, they won't let the patient leave without payment or arrangements.  Worse, in some cases, they apparently won't *start* treatment until they've got a credit card or such... 😡 We always travel with a few charge cards, with a high total credit limit, just in case something like that would happen.)

 

GC

[Ashland]

22 hours ago, reallyitsmema said:

 

Not sure how they handle onboard accounts if someone is medivacced off the ship, but they do make sure the onboard account is taken care of for those that leave by ambulance.  On our 2022 Alaska cruise, someone from our rollcall ended up being transferred to the hospital in Victoria, BC.  I was actually in the medical center at the time he was brought down from his cabin.  His wife was very vocal in our rollcall about the charges they incurred and how she had to deal with their account before he was brought to the hospital.  The cruise line helped pack up her cabin and got her a hotel in Victoria.  They also had traveled with just birth certificates and drivers licenses, not passports, so that was a whole other issue.  They had travel insurance but she was under the impression that the insurance would pay the ship directly.  It was an eye opening experience for this family and she went silent on the rollcall, so not sure how it all ended up.

Would this have been the case where cruiseline insurance would have paid for the onboard costs? Then a 3rd party take over payment once off ship?

[Ashland]

I'm getting so totally confused now with all these medical incidents.

Does it make sense to have onboard cruiseline insurance to cover any onboard costs in addition to my GeoBlue Trekker annual policy that will cover us once off ship?

 

 

[klfrodo]

4 minutes ago, Ashland said:

I'm getting so totally confused now with all these medical incidents.

Does it make sense to have onboard cruiseline insurance to cover any onboard costs in addition to my GeoBlue Trekker annual policy that will cover us once off ship?

 

 

My thought is that this is exactly why one uses a broker to help us understand the intricacies of travel insurance. I would think that with this scenario, you're now getting into the nitty gritty of the terms and conditions that few of us know let alone understand.

Two policies that now put you in the middle of fighting over which policy has priority in each and every conceivable instance. Maybe one has hidden language that says something about they don't work with other insurance policies. The laws of each and every State, Province, Country all working against the consumer. Sure, it will get worked out eventually but that could be years down the road. The time and energy it takes to file a claim, knowing or not knowing that the policy MUST receive a denial from various policies before you have to file again with a different company so they can deny, to file with a 3rd, to receive partial reimbursement, so you can go back to the 1st or 2nd, to receive another partial.

Why not just pay a little more initially, to get 1 policy that is Primary and get it over with.