Travel & Medical Insurance for oversea trip

[pinetree1]

I just wonder whether anyone purchased travel insurance with emphasizing on medical coverage & medical evacuation.



Our friend got very sick while on vacation in Europe and had to be hospitalized over 1 week to be stabilized so they could fly back to USA safely. Of course, all pre-paid hotel nights, train tickets had to be dealt with credit cards if there are any travel interruption coverage. The most concerned issue is the huge medical bill accumulated which their health insurance company in USA may only have limited coverage and have little appetite to pay or take forever to evaluate medical files in a foreign language. They are thinking about to pay themselves because the hospital and medical staffers did their best to save a life. It is against their personal value to witness the hospital and medical staffers to be denied compensation by an insurance company.


We did research travel/medical insurance over 10 years ago and purchased a policy for around $1000 to cover 2-week Europe trip. Because nothing ever happened, we did not purchase any policy in subsequent visits. And I could not find the policy anywhere now.

Did anyone have experience with reputable travel/medical policy for oversea? The trip expense is a consideration point, but not our major concern, our main worry is the medical coverage, local transportation to medical facility, care coordination, translation of local language and medical evacuation if necessary.

I know that Chase Saphire Reserve offers some medical coverage, and just not so sure whether the coverage is adequate for major sickness.

Does Marriott VC offer some travel insurance? Any experience?

Your suggestion or insights are highly appreciated.

 

[Fasttr]

For evac coverage….

Premier Air Medical Transport and Travel Protection | Medjet

Medjet is the premiere global air medical transport and travel security membership program for individuals, families, groups and corporations. Starting at $99.

medjetassist.com

If you are an AARP member, I believe they offer a discount.

 

[dioxide45]

You could look into a medical only policy. We have an annual one through GeoBlue. It doesn't cover trip interuption or cancellation. We just opt to "self insure" that part of our trips. If we have to cancel or lose a stay or flights, we just write off the loss. In most cases we would be able to cancel all or some of the travel plans and get refunds or credits. We had a whole trip planned to Europe once that we cancelled and we lost nothing except for about $75 for some prepaid tour tickets we had purchased.

 

[Passepartout]

@pinetree1 you don't mention your age, but that's a concern- especially if the insured is on Medicare. We are on Medicare, so that filters my answers. We buy through www.squaremoutrh.com/. They allow side-by-side comparison of policies. If you have a claim, they will go to bat for buyers who purchase through them.

One thing we consider top priority is 'Primary Medical Coverage'. This means they don't require you to submit a claim to any other coverage you may have. This vastly simplifies the claim process. If you have pre-existing conditions, be sure to buy your initial travel insurance within the first 10 days to 2 weeks from making a deposit on your travel. The insured amount can be adjusted as your trip gets more complex and expensive.

When I was removed from a German River Cruise and hospitalized for 9 days with total heart block and heart failure, got a pacemaker implanted and had to fly home lay flat Business Class with a flight nurse and oxygen, the bill was a half page.

Happy travels!

Jim

 

[frank808]

I buy an annual plan through Allianze Travel. $500,000 for emergency travel protection and $50000 for emergency medical/dental coverage. Has trip cancellation, trip delay, trip interruption, baggage loss, baggage delay and rental car damage. This is for a year and it cost under $500 for wife and myself. I wanted the emergency travel insurance. We are on cruise ships and the evacuation from there to a hospital could be very expensive.

 

[Dean]

I just wonder whether anyone purchased travel insurance with emphasizing on medical coverage & medical evacuation.



Our friend got very sick while on vacation in Europe and had to be hospitalized over 1 week to be stabilized so they could fly back to USA safely. Of course, all pre-paid hotel nights, train tickets had to be dealt with credit cards if there are any travel interruption coverage. The most concerned issue is the huge medical bill accumulated which their health insurance company in USA may only have limited coverage and have little appetite to pay or take forever to evaluate medical files in a foreign language. They are thinking about to pay themselves because the hospital and medical staffers did their best to save a life. It is against their personal value to witness the hospital and medical staffers to be denied compensation by an insurance company.


We did research travel/medical insurance over 10 years ago and purchased a policy for around $1000 to cover 2-week Europe trip. Because nothing ever happened, we did not purchase any policy in subsequent visits. And I could not find the policy anywhere now.

Did anyone have experience with reputable travel/medical policy for oversea? The trip expense is a consideration point, but not our major concern, our main worry is the medical coverage, local transportation to medical facility, care coordination, translation of local language and medical evacuation if necessary.

I know that Chase Saphire Reserve offers some medical coverage, and just not so sure whether the coverage is adequate for major sickness.

Does Marriott VC offer some travel insurance? Any experience?

Your suggestion or insights are highly appreciated.

In principle, I don't buy trip insurance for a number of reasons. I have some coverage under the CSR, the price is generally unreasonable compared to what's covered, getting to pay can be difficult and I feel if I can't absorb the cost of a given trip, I shouldn't take the trip. That said, I do buy the MVC coverage because it's for a whole year, covers all MVC related trips and for up to 8 people. I do buy medical for certain situations, especially cruises. When I looked at MedJet it was my understanding they only covered the evacuation not medical otherwise though that would be the largest risk. I usually look at Geo Blue but have also consider IMG but for medical only. I do believe if one travels enough an annual plan is better but has more limitations than a trip specific plan and for sufficient volume I think it would make sense.

 

[AnnaS]

Last year for our trip to Italy, we also purchased a medical only policy. Medical was our main concern.

 

[Janann]

You can use www.insuremytrip.com to compare and purchase policies.

 

[ljmiii]

I buy an annual plan through Allianze Travel....

Ditto for the same reasons.

 

[pinetree1]

Thanks for everyone's recommendation. I will take some time to research for "Primary Medical Coverage" on www.insuremytrip.com and www.squaremoutrh.com as well as MedJet, Geo Blue.

We are around 60s and still insured by commercial health insurance policy.

 

[Luanne]

We have been using Squaremouth to find our travel insurance for the past few years.

 

[pinetree1]

After reading suggestions on this forum and some research online, we decided to purchase the annual Travel insurance for multi-week offered by MVC and purchase an annual multiple-trip GeoBlue policy for 1 million as our first step to safeguard our future travels. We spent almost 2 months oversea and 7-8 weeks in timeshare resorts.

I have some additional questions for knowledgeable friends on this forum.

For MVR Travelex policy, does it cover Interval Exchange weeks or just our own Marriott weeks? If it does cover Interval exchange weeks, does it cover exchange fee, E-plus fee and/or size upgrade fee? How about Hyatt timeshare week since we own Hyatt week as well?

For GeoBlue policy, it is secondary policy with required underlying primary health insurance. Although it states that it will work with the primary health insurance, how hard to get claim processed? Anyone had any experience?

Should we add another MedJet evacuation policy in addition to GeoBlue since GeoBlue only covers to the nearest suitable medical facility?

 

[WBP]

After reading suggestions on this forum and some research online, we decided to purchase the annual Travel insurance for multi-week offered by MVC and purchase an annual multiple-trip GeoBlue policy for 1 million as our first step to safeguard our future travels. We spent almost 2 months oversea and 7-8 weeks in timeshare resorts.

I have some additional questions for knowledgeable friends on this forum.

For MVR Travelex policy, does it cover Interval Exchange weeks or just our own Marriott weeks? If it does cover Interval exchange weeks, does it cover exchange fee, E-plus fee and/or size upgrade fee? How about Hyatt timeshare week since we own Hyatt week as well?

For GeoBlue policy, it is secondary policy with required underlying primary health insurance. Although it states that it will work with the primary health insurance, how hard to get claim processed? Anyone had any experience?

Should we add another MedJet evacuation policy in addition to GeoBlue since GeoBlue only covers to the nearest suitable medical facility?

I can’t speak to GeoBlue, but I can tell you that I think MedJet Assist is amongst the best. We used them once, and would not think of traveling (particularly, Internationally, but, domestically, too), without MedJet Assist.

 

[Pink_Warrior]

We use UATP. I did have Allianz a few years ago and I had a cruise planned. Then I got the breast cancer diagnosis. Dealing with Allianz was an absolute nightmare.

 

[WBP]

We use UATP. I did have Allianz a few years ago and I had a cruise planned. Then I got the breast cancer diagnosis. Dealing with Allianz was an absolute nightmare.

Same experience, here. Dealing with Allianz is a nightmare (likely, an understatement).