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Some bank credit cards provide “trip cancellation” insurance as part of their package of benefits aslong as you paid for the trip using their credit card and can provide proof the trip was cancelled for medical reasons. I have a MasterCard and a Visa Card that provide up to $5000 coverage per person for each occurrence. We were forced to cancel a cruise last year after we discovered that my wife required an operation. The bank reimbursed the entire cost of the cruise, which was around $4000 per person, as I remember. The cards I have were issued by Chase Bank. I’m an American citizen, over the age of 65, so I must get medical coverage since Medicare does not provide coverage when out of the country. And my secondary policy only covers what Medicare covers, so they don’t provide coverage either. However, starting in 2018, my secondary does provide coverage when out of the country. So, no more travel insurance for me!

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Does your secondary coverage pay any medical bills at 100%? Will any of this insurance cover medical evacuations? If so, what's the maximum?

 

I have not received all of the documentation on the newly added travel benefit. These are questions I will need to know before completely relying on my secondary coverage when traveling outside the United States.

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Some credit card coverages do not include pre-existing conditions, so double check that if you haven't already.

 

That's why we don't use it.

 

(Also, almost all of our trips exceed the amount it would cover, so it's not a close call for us anyway.)

 

GC

 

Good points!

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I have not received all of the documentation on the newly added travel benefit. These are questions I will need to know before completely relying on my secondary coverage when traveling outside the United States.

 

 

 

Kindly keep us posted! That sounds interesting for us!

 

 

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Also check out the following

 

repatriation of remains. My insurance does not cover this.

Evacuation. My insurance DOES cover evacuation just as if it was an ambulance transport to nearest medical facility. But what about transportation back home for continued care???? Nope, no coverage.

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So here is a bit of a primer on medical coverage. It is a very rare policy (it it even exists) that will simply pay 100% or billed charges. Most medical policies will pay a percentage (and it can be 100%) of "UCR" or what the industry calls the "Usual and Customary Rate." What this means has driven many of us in the insurance industry to drink. And it becomes a real mess with foreign medical bills (which often must be translated into English by the insured). Our own GeoBlue Annual Travel Med policy covers 100% of most UCR charges with a $50 deductible. What we do like about GeoBlue is that its part of the BC/BS network and has affiliate hospitals and physicians around the world. If you happen to use on of their affiliates or enrolled physicians they might actually agree to direct bill GeoBlue (although this is not guaranteed).

 

What we do like about our GeoBlue policy is the $250,000 of med coverage (plus $500,000 of medical evac) and the fact that its an annual policy that covers the first 70 days of every trip we take throughout the entire policy year. This policy costs us about $450 a year which covers both DW and myself. Like the other poster, we rely on our credit card cancellation coverage and do not purchase Trip Cancellation Insurance.

 

Hank

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My Hartford Foreign Travel Coverage pays 80% after a $250 deductible during the first 60 days of travel. No medical evacuation coverage is included, but this type of coverage is fairly inexpensive. There was no additional premium charge for this coverage, so this is better coverage than before when they covered nothing outside the United States. I'll just take out a cheap medical evacuation policy to supplement the medical coverage. Most of our trip are under $5,000 per person so the cancellation insurance will be covered by my credit card.

 

Ron

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In Summary:

My wife and I are doing anMSC cruise in February followed by a Collette Land Tour of Sicily and the SouthernPart Italy. The total cost is for thecruise and land package $3562 per person (not counting airfare the USA). The airfareof $1363 per person makes the total cost of the trip $4925 per person (just under the $5000 maximum for credit coverage). We have charged this on our MasterCard throughChase Bank, so if we have to cancel for medical reasons we will be reimbursed forthe total cost of the trip by Chase Bank.

I am over age 65 and haveMedicare, so this does not cover medical coverage outside the UnitedStates. I have a secondary group-policythrough my former employer with the Hartford Company that will cover foreign medicalexpenses up to a $100,000 limit after a $250 deductible, but the policy does not cover medicalevacuation.

I plan on purchasing anadditional Medical and Evacuation Policy from Travel Insured International. This type of insurance is pretty cheap if youdon’t accept the trip cancellation part of the policy. To do this you simply list the price of thetrip as $0 (zero) when filling out the questionnaire. This eliminates and payments for tripcancellation, but leaves the medical and evacuation provisions in force. The cost for policy proving $100,000 inmedical and $1,000,000 in evacuation coverage is $144 per person. You can get a cheaper policy that cover $10,000/$100,000for $82 per person.

So, in summary, for your$49 annual fee on your credit card you got cancellation insurance in the amountof $7125 for FREE. Then to supplement yourown medical/evacuation policies you can get a policy for two people for $164.

This appears to be aboutthe cheapest method of providing trip cancellation, medical, and evacuationinsurance to a trip.

Ron

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"My insurance pays 80%." I can't tell you how many times I've heard that from patients. As Hlitner noted, you need to know 80% of what. For example, If the charge is $100, your insurance may allow only $40 of that charge, which means they'd pay only 80% of $40, which is $32, leaving you with a $68 balance.

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"My insurance pays 80%." I can't tell you how many times I've heard that from patients. As Hlitner noted, you need to know 80% of what. For example, If the charge is $100, your insurance may allow only $40 of that charge, which means they'd pay only 80% of $40, which is $32, leaving you with a $68 balance.

 

If only it were so simple :(. It is impossible to gauge a potential foreign billing/payment issue based on what happens inside the USA. In our country there has been an age old battle between hospitals and insurance companies about cost/charge ratios. And consider that Medicare pays DRGs (based on diagnosis) for inpatient cases...and there is nothing comparable outside the USA. So insurance companies have to look at what they call "Usual and Customary" charges and act accordingly. But they do not have much of a data base to work with.. so unless the charges are ridiculous they are likely to be paid. However, most insurance companies insist on having detailed hospital/physician billing and everything should be in English. We know of some cases where a patient has had to pay for the costs of translation...and other cases where the insurance company handled the billing (and translation) on their own.

 

Just keep in mind that the patient always has the right to appeal an adverse decision...and should certainly avail themselves of that right if they are unhappy with the initial outcome.

 

Hank

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In Summary:

My wife and I are doing anMSC cruise in February followed by a Collette Land Tour of Sicily and the SouthernPart Italy. The total cost is for thecruise and land package $3562 per person (not counting airfare the USA). The airfareof $1363 per person makes the total cost of the trip $4925 per person (just under the $5000 maximum for credit coverage). We have charged this on our MasterCard throughChase Bank, so if we have to cancel for medical reasons we will be reimbursed forthe total cost of the trip by Chase Bank.

I am over age 65 and haveMedicare, so this does not cover medical coverage outside the UnitedStates. I have a secondary group-policythrough my former employer with the Hartford Company that will cover foreign medicalexpenses up to a $100,000 limit after a $250 deductible, but the policy does not cover medicalevacuation.

I plan on purchasing anadditional Medical and Evacuation Policy from Travel Insured International. This type of insurance is pretty cheap if youdon’t accept the trip cancellation part of the policy. To do this you simply list the price of thetrip as $0 (zero) when filling out the questionnaire. This eliminates and payments for tripcancellation, but leaves the medical and evacuation provisions in force. The cost for policy proving $100,000 inmedical and $1,000,000 in evacuation coverage is $144 per person. You can get a cheaper policy that cover $10,000/$100,000for $82 per person.

So, in summary, for your$49 annual fee on your credit card you got cancellation insurance in the amountof $7125 for FREE. Then to supplement yourown medical/evacuation policies you can get a policy for two people for $164.

This appears to be aboutthe cheapest method of providing trip cancellation, medical, and evacuationinsurance to a trip.

Ron

 

 

 

You may want to check with your CC company because some will not waive medical PEC (arising during lookback period preceding trip purchase date) as a covered reason for trip cancel/interrupt coverage. If so, it should be in the fine print.

 

 

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We have the Bank of America Premium card, which offers almost identical coverage to the Chase Sapphire Reserve. 15K Med Evacuation is a little light, so we may get a very minimal additional policy.

 

 

 

Big issue remains regarding whether any particular credit card will/will not waive PECs.

 

 

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