Always Have Insurance

[1emerald1]

1 hour ago, MsSoCalCruiser said:

I just left a hospital after several days. They didn’t even take my ER co-pay. I asked if they wanted my co-pay and they told me no and that they would bill me later. 

I recently had a similar experience.  I fainted due to low blood pressure and hit my head on hardwood floor.  I was taken by ambulance to ER and all they wanted was my insurance info, who fortunately paid for nearly all, except for Advil, including the ambulance.  

[geoherb]

Last month, I missed my connection in Philadelphia on my way home. Thunderstorms in New York had delayed my flight from LaGuardia. Since it was a weather-related delay, American Airlines rep told us we were on our own if we wanted a hotel for the night. I stayed at the Marriott connected to the airport terminal. It wasn't cheap. When I got home, I filled out the Aon claim form and submitted it along with my hotel and meal receipts. They paid me five days later. I was very happy with the speed. The only thing they did not pay for was the tip for lunch. I paid it in cash. Perhaps if I had charged it, they would have paid. But I hope I don't have to test that any time soon.

[6986]

On 7/30/2024 at 9:32 PM, ROXIETHEHORSE said:

We always buy insurance within a couple days of booking a trip that will be outside of the US so that it covers pre-existing conditions. Also only buy insurance that has primary coverage with a high (at the minimum $100,000 per person medical) and $500,000 medical evacuation. We can eat the cost of a vacation (wouldn't be real happy about it), but we cannot eat the cost of a major medical issue away from the US. That would be catastrophic.

Agree with this 100%.  Have had much success purchasing 3rd party insurance within days of booking for pre existing conditions coverage, ensuring that insurance is primary (not secondary) and getting substantial coverage amounts. Had to cancel 2 cruises (one days before departure) and one small medical bill, all covered in full. 

[startedwithamouse]

2 hours ago, MsSoCalCruiser said:

I just left a hospital after several days. They didn’t even take my ER co-pay. I asked if they wanted my co-pay and they told me no and that they would bill me later. 

Sorry to hear that. 

 

Hospitals are different, we've never had to pay either after verifying insurance. 

 

Urgent cares are completely different. 

[TRLD]

3 hours ago, voljeep said:

'have to' - nah ... facts and circumstances - back your folio with a low balance credit card...what are they gonna do - put you in the brig?

 

just deal with it timely when clearer thoughts are 

Prevent additional charges. Ask for another card or cash. If none eliminate your ability to add new charges.

 

If you leave a cruise with a balance send the balance to collection agency, ban you from additional cruises on the line until balance is paid.

 

Just things like that.

[NavyVeteran]

I received excellent service from AON on Princess Vacation Protection after DW and I caught COVID on a cruise last year. DW was fairly sick and had to spend one night in the infirmary on the ship. Total medical charges were over $3,000 for her and over $100 for me. We received a full refund of all charges without having to submit to other insurance first - Princess Vacation Protection paid as primary insurance. They did not require us to submit to Medicare because they knew Medicare would not cover the expense outside of the United States. They did not require us to submit to Tricare for Life because they knew Tricare for Life is secondary to any other insurance (except for Medicaid or a Tricare supplement). The United States law making Tricare for Life secondary to travel insurance overrides the language in their policy saying the travel insurance was secondary.

We also received a full refund for one fourth of the cost of the cruise - fare (including Premier) and port taxes and fees, since we were isolated for three nights (one fourth of the 12-night cruise). All we had to provide was documentation of the days of isolation and a copy of our itinerary showing the costs of the cruise.

[axd]

We are scheduled to take a cruise from our hometown SF to Hawaii. We have Chase Sapphire credit card which provides cancellation/interruption travel insurance. 
looking for advice if this is good enough coverage. 
Thanks in advance 

[COTINGEY]

This is what my policy shows for health coverage:

"What to Do If You Are Out of the Country

You and your covered dependents have coverage while out of the United States. 

Since network provider relationships do not exist outside of the U.S., you can seek care at any qualified medical provider. All plan provisions will apply whether you are in or out of the U.S., and the claims administrator must be able to determine medical necessity for any service received. 

You will need to send this information to your claims administrator, who will convert the billed amount from foreign currency to U.S. dollars and provide you with reimbursement of eligible charges.

I also have AirMed.

 

What more do I need?  Should I get Princess platinum or something else for trip delay, etc?

 

TYIA

[roxievegas]

1 hour ago, NavyVeteran said:

I received excellent service from AON on Princess Vacation Protection after DW and I caught COVID on a cruise last year. DW was fairly sick and had to spend one night in the infirmary on the ship. Total medical charges were over $3,000 for her and over $100 for me. We received a full refund of all charges without having to submit to other insurance first - Princess Vacation Protection paid as primary insurance. They did not require us to submit to Medicare because they knew Medicare would not cover the expense outside of the United States. They did not require us to submit to Tricare for Life because they knew Tricare for Life is secondary to any other insurance (except for Medicaid or a Tricare supplement). The United States law making Tricare for Life secondary to travel insurance overrides the language in their policy saying the travel insurance was secondary.

We also received a full refund for one fourth of the cost of the cruise - fare (including Premier) and port taxes and fees, since we were isolated for three nights (one fourth of the 12-night cruise). All we had to provide was documentation of the days of isolation and a copy of our itinerary showing the costs of the cruise.

thank you for providing your experience.  Nice to know that the insurance takes care of you.

[startedwithamouse]

2 hours ago, NavyVeteran said:

I received excellent service from AON on Princess Vacation Protection after DW and I caught COVID on a cruise last year. DW was fairly sick and had to spend one night in the infirmary on the ship. Total medical charges were over $3,000 for her and over $100 for me. We received a full refund of all charges without having to submit to other insurance first - Princess Vacation Protection paid as primary insurance. They did not require us to submit to Medicare because they knew Medicare would not cover the expense outside of the United States. They did not require us to submit to Tricare for Life because they knew Tricare for Life is secondary to any other insurance (except for Medicaid or a Tricare supplement). The United States law making Tricare for Life secondary to travel insurance overrides the language in their policy saying the travel insurance was secondary.

We also received a full refund for one fourth of the cost of the cruise - fare (including Premier) and port taxes and fees, since we were isolated for three nights (one fourth of the 12-night cruise). All we had to provide was documentation of the days of isolation and a copy of our itinerary showing the costs of the cruise.

In 2024 I suspect things are very different. 

 

Is Princess insurance still giving FCC for isolation in present day?  

[startedwithamouse]

1 hour ago, axd said:

We are scheduled to take a cruise from our hometown SF to Hawaii. We have Chase Sapphire credit card which provides cancellation/interruption travel insurance. 
looking for advice if this is good enough coverage. 
Thanks in advance 

Read the policy and compare to additional plans. 

 

Is it supplemental?  Anything supplemental, you pay up front. When you get home, you need to file a claim with your primary insurance. 

Edited August 1 by startedwithamouse

[PescadoAmarillo]

12 hours ago, TRLD said:

Prevent additional charges. Ask for another card or cash. If none eliminate your ability to add new charges.

 

If you leave a cruise with a balance send the balance to collection agency, ban you from additional cruises on the line until balance is paid.

 

Just things like that.

Also, cause a great deal of additional stress for your spouse at a time when they might not have the capacity to deal with it. We make sure we travel with two cards, generally giving us more than $50K credit limit. That kind of credit limit is ridiculous and we would love to get it reduced, but it is exactly for cases like this that we keep it. 

[PescadoAmarillo]

3 hours ago, NavyVeteran said:

We received a full refund of all charges without having to submit to other insurance first - Princess Vacation Protection paid as primary insurance. They did not require us to submit to Medicare because they knew Medicare would not cover the expense outside of the United States. They did not require us to submit to Tricare for Life because they knew Tricare for Life is secondary to any other insurance (except for Medicaid or a Tricare supplement). The United States law making Tricare for Life secondary to travel insurance overrides the language in their policy saying the travel insurance was secondary.

 

That’s very interesting. I’m glad you were well taken care of. Although others here have had different experiences, we never had to submit my husband’s on board medical expenses to Medicare. And he also has Tricare for Life, but we’ve never gotten that far. He was also a federal employee and his BCBS is primary, and they’ve always paid in total his out of country (cruise ship) medical expenses. 

[voljeep]

13 hours ago, TRLD said:

Prevent additional charges. Ask for another card or cash. If none eliminate your ability to add new charges.

 

If you leave a cruise with a balance send the balance to collection agency, ban you from additional cruises on the line until balance is paid.

 

Just things like that.

card that backs the folio ...

 

doesn't mean that another card/means of payment is not available - but it won't be charged immediately without some discussion and negotiation

 

sorry

[startedwithamouse]

18 minutes ago, voljeep said:

card that backs the folio ...

 

doesn't mean that another card/means of payment is not available - but it won't be charged immediately without some discussion and negotiation

 

sorry

How do you negotiate balances of your folio? Just curious.

[voljeep]

1 minute ago, startedwithamouse said:

How do you negotiate balances of your folio? Just curious.

balance - no ... payment terms?  well at least there would be a discussion - this is totally about "IF" there was an excessive, but legitimate, $20k charge that will eventually be paid, just maybe not immediately upon disembarkation.

[coo359a2]

3 hours ago, PescadoAmarillo said:

Also, cause a great deal of additional stress for your spouse at a time when they might not have the capacity to deal with it. We make sure we travel with two cards, generally giving us more than $50K credit limit. That kind of credit limit is ridiculous and we would love to get it reduced, but it is exactly for cases like this that we keep it. 

Having the potential for  large on board medical expenses and possible local hospital/hotel charges, is the reason we got a HELOC credit card to use with regular CCs.  So far we have not had any major medical problems. 

[taxmantoo]

Another believer in insurance ... Had to cancel an Alaska cruise in June just a few days before leaving when my wife was diagnosed with colon cancer and scheduled for surgery.  Princess fully reimbursed prepaid excursions and specialty restaurants to our credit card within a few days (less than a week) and Princess Platinum insurance reimbursed the cost of the cruise two weeks after we submitted the claim.  The whole process was simple, efficient and professionally handled.  

 

[MsSoCalCruiser]

16 hours ago, startedwithamouse said:

Sorry to hear that. 

 

Hospitals are different, we've never had to pay either after verifying insurance. 

 

Urgent cares are completely different. 

Thank you. Maybe it just depends on insurance because I’ve never had to pay at an urgent care either.

[voljeep]

4 minutes ago, MsSoCalCruiser said:

Thank you. Maybe it just depends on insurance because I’ve never had to pay at an urgent care either.

#us either

 

$25-30-35 copay - yep

$90 copay at ER or ED - whatever it is called these days

$295 per overnight at Hospital Emergency when admitted for first 6 days, and at that - nothing upfront - but were asked and accepted that we could get a 20% discount if paid in the next 3 days.  Thats it - for 18 days in the hospital and hospital rehab.  It does seem like we paid about another $300 at some point for something.

[startedwithamouse]

1 hour ago, voljeep said:

#us either

 

$25-30-35 copay - yep

$90 copay at ER or ED - whatever it is called these days

$295 per overnight at Hospital Emergency when admitted for first 6 days, and at that - nothing upfront - but were asked and accepted that we could get a 20% discount if paid in the next 3 days.  Thats it - for 18 days in the hospital and hospital rehab.  It does seem like we paid about another $300 at some point for something.

 

1 hour ago, MsSoCalCruiser said:

Thank you. Maybe it just depends on insurance because I’ve never had to pay at an urgent care either.

Wow! Does that insurance cover your family including dependents?

[TRLD]

6 hours ago, PescadoAmarillo said:

Also, cause a great deal of additional stress for your spouse at a time when they might not have the capacity to deal with it. We make sure we travel with two cards, generally giving us more than $50K credit limit. That kind of credit limit is ridiculous and we would love to get it reduced, but it is exactly for cases like this that we keep it. 

My emergency backup beyond credit cards is an atm card from my brokerage. In a major emergency I can transfer a far amount of cash in that account as long as I have an internet connection

[PandaBear62]

On 7/30/2024 at 6:13 PM, TRLD said:

A couple of problems:

 

1. 2 different companies, neither one Princess

2. Insurance pays only after primary declines

 

They could do what you suggest, but would be a substantially higher cost since it would need to be primary.

 

I feel the Princess insurance is generally poor (in terms of coverage), given the cost. I pay for yearly out of USA health insurance. For dh and I it was $263 for both of us (he's 65, I'm 62). The best part is that it's primary coverage (but you also have to have primary coverage). If you use their providers, you don't pay at all, they get reimbursement via GeoBlue. I buy all my insurance through Steve at the Trip Insurance Store. I like it if we do have an issue, they'll help out as well!

 

My coverage stops in October. I am going to "up" to the higher level for the next year because we have a trip from Seattle to Singapore. That could be an expensive evacuation! My trips this year have generally been closer to the US, except for our Iceland trip in two weeks. 

 

On 7/30/2024 at 6:32 PM, ROXIETHEHORSE said:

We always buy insurance within a couple days of booking a trip that will be outside of the US so that it covers pre-existing conditions. Also only buy insurance that has primary coverage with a high (at the minimum $100,000 per person medical) and $500,000 medical evacuation. We can eat the cost of a vacation (wouldn't be real happy about it), but we cannot eat the cost of a major medical issue away from the US. That would be catastrophic.

 If I am buying insurance, I do the same. I also discovered (thanks to Steve) that you can insure just the deposit. So the payment is low. Then, as you add expenses (such as airfare or the balance of the trip), as long as you up the coverage within 10 days you retain the pre-existing condition benefit. But if the trip gets cancelled, I haven't invested as much in the unneeded insurance. 

 

However, dh and I are essentially self insuring some of our trips. I figure I can afford to lose up to about $5000. Wouldn't love it, but could live with it. I keep a running tally of trips I don't insure and how much insurance would have been. So when the time comes I do need to cancel something (and I'm sure it will), I'll know I'm likely still ahead of the game.

In general, we could afford to lose money from a trip. But an evacuation from a distant location could be very pricey. The premium is worth every penny for peace of mind!

[kirtihk]

On 8/1/2024 at 10:49 AM, axd said:

We are scheduled to take a cruise from our hometown SF to Hawaii. We have Chase Sapphire credit card which provides cancellation/interruption travel insurance. 
looking for advice if this is good enough coverage. 
Thanks in advance 

Which one do you have, Preferred or Reserve?  There are some differences in coverage (for example, Preferred doesn't cover Medical Evacuation while Reserve covers it up to $100,000).  We have Reserve.  We used it once for the trip (cruise) cancelation and we paid in full for the cruise total (the cruise line paid tax portion).

 

Edited August 2 by kirtihk

[axd]

19 minutes ago, kirtihk said:

Which one do you have, Preferred or Reserve?  There are some differences in coverage (for example, Preferred doesn't cover Medical Evacuation while Reserve covers it up to $100,000).  We have Reserve.  We used it once for the trip (cruise) cancelation and we paid in full for the cruise total (the cruise line paid tax portion).

 

We have Preferred card. Thanks for the reply