Insurance for older folks with only medicare insurance outside the country

[12thAggie]

My travel partner only has medicare insurance. We are cruising outside the US. Medicare does not cover this. Any recommendations for insurance. When I check the normal suppliers they all say medical is secondary.

[lacy20]

We are also on Medicare with a supplemental plan. Since we travel frequently outside the US, we purchased an Annual Frequent Traveler health plan from United Healthcare Global.

[Orator]

My travel partner only has medicare insurance. We are cruising outside the US. Medicare does not cover this. Any recommendations for insurance. When I check the normal suppliers they all say medical is secondary.

There is another active thread on insurance. I'm in my mid seventies and use GEO BLUE. It is an annual plan that covers medical and evacuation when you travel. Cost me about $265 per year for DW and I. You can check other options on: insuremytrip.com. GeoBlue is part of Blue Cross of Florida, but available anywhere.

[ready2cruzagain]

We use insuremytrip dot com. You can compare different rates for different companies and types of insurance.

[ghstudio]

Some of the medicare "gap"/supplement policies offer up to $50K of medical coverage outside the US. Check if your friend has one of those policies.

 

Secondary insurance only means that that policy will only cover expenses after your prime coverage pays. If you have no prime coverage that pays, secondary, by default, becomes primary. Effectively this means that your friend may have to pay out of pocket until medicare denies the coverage and the secondary gets the claim and pays.

 

If you require a policy that pays immediately, then you will need a policy that states it is primary coverage....and I would go to insuremytrip.com or squaremouth.com (may be some others) who give you the opportunity to compare policies.

 

Geo Blu is effective if all you want is medical and evacuation coverage (but not trip cancellation, delay, interruption,....). Focusing on evacuation, you should consider MedJet Assist. Much written by me and others about why MedJet coverage is important.

Edited March 9, 2018 by ghstudio

[Chloesmom1]

If I only expect to take one or two trips outside the country I look at insuremytrip or squaremouth and compare plans. If it looks like I'm doing more traveling or the trips are particularly long I look at a yearly plan.

 

BTW, if you don't have insurance that covers you outside the US, or no medical insurance at all, you don't necessarily have to get "primary" coverage. I suggest you do your own research since I could be wrong, but based on my reading the secondary will cover you. You may have to submit a claim and have it denied by medicare, but unless there are specific requirements for primary coverage in the secondary plan you purchase, it should cover expenses. IE:

https://www.squaremouth.com/press-room/top-three-misconceptions-travelers-have-when-buying-travel-insurance-advises-squaremouth/

http://www.travelinsurancereview.net/tips-and-advice/understanding-travel-insurance/primary-vs-secondary/

https://www.insuremytrip.com/travel-insurance-policies-and-claims/secondary-vs-primary/

[DogLover]

There is another active thread on insurance. I'm in my mid seventies and use GEO BLUE. It is an annual plan that covers medical and evacuation when you travel. Cost me about $265 per year for DW and I. You can check other options on: insuremytrip.com. GeoBlue is part of Blue Cross of Florida, but available anywhere.

 

Another vote here for Geo Blue. We usually take one big trip a year, so we purchase per trip instead of annually. Happy Hubby is on Medicare but I am not - we get the Voyager choice plan. Their plans are ONLY International medical and evacuation, they do not cover any trip cancellation, delay, etc.

 

Here is the link: https://www.geobluetravelinsurance.com/

 

Safe travels!

[Host Jazzbeau]

In addition to whatever coverage you decide for medical costs you should consider adding MedJet Assist which provides superior medical evacuation coverage (it puts you in the driver's seat on the decision to evacuate and lets you pick the destination hospital). AARP members get a nice discount on MedJet.

[nojoke]

Last year I had occasion to visit the ship doctor. I submitted the claim to both my cruise line insurance as well as Medicare. Medicare paid most of the bill. Admittedly it was only $160 bill total, but I was surprised that Medicare did cover me.

[Straughn]

In addition to whatever coverage you decide for medical costs you should consider adding MedJet Assist which provides superior medical evacuation coverage (it puts you in the driver's seat on the decision to evacuate and lets you pick the destination hospital). AARP members get a nice discount on MedJet.

 

Thank you for this info. I like that it is an annual membership with no restrictions on when you sign up relative to when your travel was booked. The AARP rate is a very reasonable fee.

[vvnh16a]

There is another active thread on insurance. I'm in my mid seventies and use GEO BLUE. It is an annual plan that covers medical and evacuation when you travel. Cost me about $265 per year for DW and I. You can check other options on: insuremytrip.com. GeoBlue is part of Blue Cross of Florida, but available anywhere.

 

 

Pretty certain, accoeding to there certificate of coverage, the GEO BLUE plan requires you to have a Primary Health Plan...thats one question I would ask the GEOBlue rep.

[Duanerice1]

My wife just qualified for Medicare. We ended up getting her an Advantage plan because it also includes international medical insurance. Ours is through Humana but there are many out there.

 

We don't really care about cancellation insurance but are starting to look at secondary and evacuation policies. Over 15 cruises and no issues so far but since we are getting older......

[GerScot]

There are many threads on CC where us "Brits" moan about the price of cruises compared to our friends across the pond. Insurance is one place where we benefit, We pay less than £150 per couple for multi trip insurance which covers us for evacuation, lost trips, cabin confinement and most important repatriation to our home country. Its the one bill I do not mind paying as we both have pre existing medical conditions. This covers us for any stay away from home as long as it is 2 nights or more.

[Orator]

Pretty certain, accoeding to there certificate of coverage, the GEO BLUE plan requires you to have a Primary Health Plan...thats one question I would ask the GEOBlue rep.

The OP's Medicare would be the primary.

[Lastdance]

I pay a fortune for insurance, mostly due to my dad and all of his issues...I love insuremytrip!

 

 

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[phoenix_dream]

In addition to whatever coverage you decide for medical costs you should consider adding MedJet Assist which provides superior medical evacuation coverage (it puts you in the driver's seat on the decision to evacuate and lets you pick the destination hospital). AARP members get a nice discount on MedJet.

This is an important point. I have GeoBlue, which will provide evacuation, but only to an acceptable hospital which may not be acceptable to you and is certainly not like being able to fly home. I am definitely going to consider MedJet going forward.

[Merriem]

Did the celebrity cruise care, and added AMEX insurance where you can beef up the medical and the evacuation. It was only $100 extra, and added a lot of coverage.

[bboop51]

I have Medicare and Federal BC/BS as my secondary insurance. I consider us very lucky until we travel outside the US where we have no health benefits. I also wanted any reason to cancel insurance. I called insuremytrip.com and was delighted with their advice. They took the time to explain everything to me, not just to sell me something.

 

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[MadManOfBethesda]

I have Medicare and Federal BC/BS as my secondary insurance. I consider us very lucky until we travel outside the US where we have no health benefits. I also wanted any reason to cancel insurance.

 

That's only true if you're enrolled in the BC/BS Basic Option. The BC/BS Standard Option provides coverage when an enrollee travels internationally.

[12thAggie]

I have Medicare and Federal BC/BS as my secondary insurance. I consider us very lucky until we travel outside the US where we have no health benefits. I also wanted any reason to cancel insurance. I called insuremytrip.com and was delighted with their advice. They took the time to explain everything to me, not just to sell me something.

 

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Thank you so much for this advice.

[12thAggie]

Thank you to everyone. I didn't see another thread on insurance and I appreciate your comments and advice.

[hcat]

Curious to know:

 

Does the annual Med Jet policy cover the US ports and other places in the US..like for Fla snowbirds?

 

With Celeb cruise care, Medicare and our Supp policy, should we get another poilcy for medical`? We have done that in the past but wonder if it is "overkill"....

 

Our Edge cruise is about 8 months away...hope not too late or to early for ins purchase.

[ghstudio]

Curious to know:

 

Does the annual Med Jet policy cover the US ports and other places in the US..like for Fla snowbirds?

 

With Celeb cruise care, Medicare and our Supp policy, should we get another poilcy for medical`? We have done that in the past but wonder if it is "overkill"....

 

Our Edge cruise is about 8 months away...hope not too late or to early for ins purchase.

 

Depending on your situation, you should cancel your celebrity cruise care (if you can) and buy some real travel insurance. If you are concerned about "pre-existing conditions", talk with someone at one of the insurance web sites because in many cases you don't have a pre-existing condition at all under the terms of the policy. That's used as a "scare tactic" to get you to sign up early because so many don't understand that if you have a chronic condition that only requires periodic checkups and you have had no change in medication or treatment in the "lookback period", you DON"T have a pre-existing condition. yes, it's confusing.

 

If your medicare supp policy covers foreign medical (up to $50k), then you probably have enough....but what you don't have is good evacuation coverage....aka MedJet.

 

Medjet covers you any time you are 150 or more miles from home. If you are snowbird, you have to be careful about which location is "your home" and how long you are at the other "home".

 

This thread really belongs in the travel insurance section of CC.....

Edited March 10, 2018 by ghstudio

[aggiejeff]

Did the celebrity cruise care, and added AMEX insurance where you can beef up the medical and the evacuation. It was only $100 extra, and added a lot of coverage.

 

Would Celebrity’s insurance fill the Medicare gap the OP was mentioning?

[Host Jazzbeau]

Curious to know:

 

Does the annual Med Jet policy cover the US ports and other places in the US..like for Fla snowbirds?

 

With Celeb cruise care, Medicare and our Supp policy, should we get another poilcy for medical`? We have done that in the past but wonder if it is "overkill"....

 

Our Edge cruise is about 8 months away...hope not too late or to early for ins purchase.

 

The regular MedJet policy covers you as long as you are 150 miles away from home (even if you are still in the US). There is also a new higher level of coverage, but I didn't look into it very deeply.

 

We also buy travel insurance from our TA, in addition to having MedJet. TAs can sell a policy from Allianz that waives the pre-existing condition clause as long as the policy is purchased up to 14 days after Final Payment.