How do HIPPA laws affect filing a claim on an immediate family member

[4275princess]

If you were on a cruise and an "immediate" family member became critical; how would your travel insurance company be able to obtain medical information of that "immediate family member"? If the family member was unable to sign a release form at that particular time and there would not have been a need to have a "release form" with their doctor...how does your travel insurance company gain access to the patients medical records?

 

ie: an immediate family member goes into a coma & maybe doesn't make it; there would be no "release form" that would have been signed, which is what you would need to file a claim to cancel partial or full cost of your cruise. How does the travel insurance company gain access to the "immediate family's medical records"?????

[cruiseco]

If you were on a cruise and an "immediate" family member became critical; how would your travel insurance company be able to obtain medical information of that "immediate family member"? If the family member was unable to sign a release form at that particular time and there would not have been a need to have a "release form" with their doctor...how does your travel insurance company gain access to the patients medical records?

 

ie: an immediate family member goes into a coma & maybe doesn't make it; there would be no "release form" that would have been signed, which is what you would need to file a claim to cancel partial or full cost of your cruise. How does the travel insurance company gain access to the "immediate family's medical records"?????

 

Call the hospital and ask them their procedure. Hopefully the relative has designated someone with a medical power of attorney or living will type of arrangement. The insurer won't really care how they get the authorization but the doctor/hospital certainly should care who they're releasing it to.

[6rugrats]

an immediate family member goes into a coma & maybe doesn't make it; there would be no "release form" that would have been signed

If a patient dies, this would not be a concern; once you die, your information is no longer protected under HIPPA.

 

Everyone should have a Medical Power of Attorney that would allow the designated person to sign a release, if the patient was unable to do so.

[donaldsc]

If you were on a cruise and an "immediate" family member became critical; how would your travel insurance company be able to obtain medical information of that "immediate family member"? If the family member was unable to sign a release form at that particular time and there would not have been a need to have a "release form" with their doctor...how does your travel insurance company gain access to the patients medical records?

 

ie: an immediate family member goes into a coma & maybe doesn't make it; there would be no "release form" that would have been signed, which is what you would need to file a claim to cancel partial or full cost of your cruise. How does the travel insurance company gain access to the "immediate family's medical records"?????

 

Have you asked the company that is issuing your insurance that question? What did they say? Also, do HIPPA laws even apply on foreign flag ships in foreign countries?

 

 

DON

[6rugrats]

Have you asked the company that is issuing your insurance that question? What did they say? Also, do HIPPA laws even apply on foreign flag ships in foreign countries?

 

 

DON

The OP is asking about cancelling a cruise due to a family member's illness. The travel insurance company is going to require information from the patient's doctor to prove the validity of the claim before considering it for payment. To receive information about the patient's illness from the doctor, the patient must sign a release of information form, which gives the doctor permission to provide this information to the insurance company. The patient's doctor would be in the US, and US laws apply to the protection of these records.

 

This has nothing to do with the cruise ship.

[Host Caroline]

IMHO this is a technical question that should be addressed by the OP with the travel insurance company if this is of concern.

[donaldsc]

The OP is asking about cancelling a cruise due to a family member's illness. The travel insurance company is going to require information from the patient's doctor to prove the validity of the claim before considering it for payment. To receive information about the patient's illness from the doctor, the patient must sign a release of information form, which gives the doctor permission to provide this information to the insurance company. The patient's doctor would be in the US, and US laws apply to the protection of these records.

 

This has nothing to do with the cruise ship.

 

Not true - the assumption was that you were on the cruise - "If you were on a cruise and an "immediate" family member became critical",

 

DON

[4275princess]

Thanks for all the replies.

 

My situation: Family cruise 12/11, traveling passenger found out 6 wks ago that she has a brain aneurism. She is motivated to get well for the cruise & dr's just say "she can go if she does fine". Family wants to keep her optimistic & she does NOT have a power of atty, so not "pushing" the issue @ this time.

 

I called the dr's office to ask if she was comatose after the surgery, would they provide info to our travel insurance companies. Answer was "NO" w/o a letter of authorization. We have requested this and had to add ALL involved with the cruise in case a claim is needed.

 

I contacted 1 travel ins co & was advised that they have patient release forms only available when a claim is started. I could NOT even go online to print the claim since I was not filing @ that time. They would NOT use the LOA my mother-in-law will sign for her dr's to add ALL agencies involved with this vacation. I called 3rd party selling us the insurance & she got the insurance company to send them her a copy of their "Letter of patient Authorization" & she sent it to me. I will get this signed this weekend before the surgery.

 

The 2nd insurance company agreed that what I was sending to the dr's office would be sufficient for a claim to cancel; since they don't process the patient authorizations forms either until a claim is started.

 

The 2nd company told me that a lot of claims are NOT PAID when a family member gets ill and no "authorization form" is filed to release information to travel insurance companies. (Who would even think about this prior to something happening ???)

 

This is NOT a problem when "power of attorney" is signed. But how many times is this NOT available @ the time?

 

I am sure my situation is 1 in 1000, but is sure does give you something to "think" about when a person may be "critical" prior to leaving for a cruise.