Reimbursement for onboard medical expenses

[shipgeeks]

While in a ship medical center, I overheard a patient being told to keep his receipt, and submit it to his health insurance provider at home.

I've never needed to do so, but I'm curious whether anyone has done this, and what the outcome was.  Most posts only mention claiming it on the travel insurance they bought for that cruise.

[sassycruiser]

My husband fell on the Joy in May 2022 and dislocated his shoulder.  We paid nothing in the ships medical center because we had NCL travel insurance.  They sent us to the ER in Bermuda.  I had to pay before they would discharge him.   I sent that bill to my US healthcare (United Healthcare) and received 100% reimbursement.  Never had to make a claim on our travel insurance.  

[Charles4515]

16 minutes ago, shipgeeks said:

While in a ship medical center, I overheard a patient being told to keep his receipt, and submit it to his health insurance provider at home.

I've never needed to do so, but I'm curious whether anyone has done this, and what the outcome was.  Most posts only mention claiming it on the travel insurance they bought for that cruise.

Some US insurance plans cover medical expenses outside the US and others do not. If yours does you have to submit it, the ship won't.

[GeezerCouple]

10 minutes ago, shipgeeks said:

While in a ship medical center, I overheard a patient being told to keep his receipt, and submit it to his health insurance provider at home.

I've never needed to do so, but I'm curious whether anyone has done this, and what the outcome was.  Most posts only mention claiming it on the travel insurance they bought for that cruise.

 

We get travel insurance, and we've had several claims, including some large ones.

 

However, the first time we had a claim for medical expenses, the total wasn't much, some charges from the ship's medical center/staff, plus a few hours spent at a land-based ER (where they told us that the ship's physician had done "exactly the right thing, and we'll just keep you here for a couple of hours to make sure you are stable..."

And our regular health insurance covers us "anywhere" in an emergency.

 

So we dutifully sent in COPIES of the receipts from the ship and the ER.  NOTE:  Good thing it was "copies" because our ordinarily good insurance kept losing the documents... after acknowledging receipt.  We finally had to go to the head of HR/Benefits at Employer to complain.  She then took over (thank goodness it wasn't anything sensitive!), and they played the *same* games with her.  Then... they ran out the clock for our travel insurance for us to make the claim that our primary insurer had denied the claim... because they still hadn't even done that!

We told Employer at that point that we were going to file a complaint with the Insurance Commissioner's Office.  We were beyond furious.

Note that our Employer "self insures"; the "insurer" simply processes claims, or, er, does *not* process them.   (We suspect that at that point, Employer may have directed our insurer to PAY, and perhaps Employer even paid extra, but we'll never know if that happened.)

 

After that, we *always* get PRIMARY travel insurance, meaning we do not need to be declined by some other insurer first.

We NEVER had any such nonsense from our travel insurer, even for large claims!

And we never have problems like that with our regular health care claims.

That HR/Benefits head said that she thought that "maybe they don't do many international claims and just didn't know how to handle them..."

That doesn't really account for the repeated many times, "We can't find the forms you submitted, could you send them again?" to both us and then later to her.  😡

 

Note that I emphasized sending COPIES above!  Never send "only copies" of anything!

 

GC

[wheezedr]

I submitted my bill for a procedure that was necessary on a Princess cruise.  My regular insurer covered all but $20 of a multiple hundreds dollar charge. Since I would have had a copay at home anyway I just let it rest there and did not spend the time and energy to submit the small balance to my travel plan

[Charles4515]

11 minutes ago, wheezedr said:

I submitted my bill for a procedure that was necessary on a Princess cruise.  My regular insurer covered all but $20 of a multiple hundreds dollar charge. Since I would have had a copay at home anyway I just let it rest there and did not spend the time and energy to submit the small balance to my travel plan

The caveat is that all insurance plans are not alike. When I was working my employer plan would have covered 80%. It  covered outside the US but was considered out of newtwork. Some plans cover nothing outside the US. I always bought primary travel insurance (not secondary travel insurance) since travel insuance covers medical evacuation. 

[LHT28]

We have submitted  bills from the ship to our  extended health insurance  & it was covered

 We paid  the cruise line on disembarkation day  they do not submit the claim for you

 We are in Canada  so might be different  for others

[TheOldBear]

In 2019 I needed onboard treatment for a sinus infection - and my travel insurance provided secondary coverage. I needed to go through the motions of submitting the claim to my carrier [Cigna] knowing it advance it would not be paid. The travel insurance paid promptly once the rejection was in hand.

This year, another cruise, another sinus infection - this time with primary coverage. Its been a few back and forths with the carrier but payment was approved after about 6 weeks since the initial claim.

[ldubs]

3 hours ago, shipgeeks said:

While in a ship medical center, I overheard a patient being told to keep his receipt, and submit it to his health insurance provider at home.

I've never needed to do so, but I'm curious whether anyone has done this, and what the outcome was.  Most posts only mention claiming it on the travel insurance they bought for that cruise.

 

Yes, we have done that.   Because our travel insurance was secondary, we submitted a visit to the ship med center to our primary insurer in the US.  After asking a lot of follow up questions, they considered it an ER visit and reimbursed us.  We had fully expected the claim to be denied so we could submit to our travel insurer.   

 

 

Domestic US health insurance policies while not providing coverage abroad, may provide coverage for emergency room type care.  

 

[bonsai3s]

4 hours ago, shipgeeks said:

While in a ship medical center, I overheard a patient being told to keep his receipt, and submit it to his health insurance provider at home.

I've never needed to do so, but I'm curious whether anyone has done this, and what the outcome was.  Most posts only mention claiming it on the travel insurance they bought for that cruise.

We have, several times.

 

* It's never fun having to visit the doctor onboard...It is often serious...and expensive.

 

* Lucky for us we have good (actually outstanding) health insurance. We get reimburse for just about anything...including a medevac.

 

* We ate at a specialty restaurant called "Wonderland" onboard the Ovation of the Seas. There was something I ate that I was allergic to...I couldn't breathe. Rather than hear "Alpha, Alpha, Alpha", my wife and I excused ourselves and went straight down the medical unit.

 

About 5 hours later...great nurses and wonderful doctor...I was fine and released.

 

* Bill was $1,702.17...we paid it. Filed a claim with our health insurance (providing detailed receipts)...and were reimbursed.

[Lois R]

16 hours ago, shipgeeks said:

While in a ship medical center, I overheard a patient being told to keep his receipt, and submit it to his health insurance provider at home.

I've never needed to do so, but I'm curious whether anyone has done this, and what the outcome was.  Most posts only mention claiming it on the travel insurance they bought for that cruise.

I needed to file a claim this summer and definitely needed to submit paperwork (receipts). I was fully reimbursed for everything I paid out.  Oh, I bought travel insurance and my regular insurance also covered part of the charges as well. 

[klfrodo]

It's all going to break down to the fine print in your policies.

Is your Travel Insurance considered "Primary" or "Secondary". If Primary and your medical happens during the covered period, then you only have to submit a claim to the travel insurance.

If "Secondary", then you must submit to your health insurance provider first, collect what you can, then submit to the travel insurance provider. In this instance, even if you're on Medicare, you must submit to them and wait for the denial letter. Then you submit to the travel insurance along with a copy of the denial from Medicare.

 

BTW, most cruise line insurance is secondary when it comes to medical coverage.

 

[Joebucks]

On 12/23/2022 at 1:12 PM, klfrodo said:

It's all going to break down to the fine print in your policies.

Is your Travel Insurance considered "Primary" or "Secondary". If Primary and your medical happens during the covered period, then you only have to submit a claim to the travel insurance.

If "Secondary", then you must submit to your health insurance provider first, collect what you can, then submit to the travel insurance provider. In this instance, even if you're on Medicare, you must submit to them and wait for the denial letter. Then you submit to the travel insurance along with a copy of the denial from Medicare.

 

BTW, most cruise line insurance is secondary when it comes to medical coverage.

 

 

This is good advice. Too many people think the dimensions of coverage are: travel insurance, and no travel insurance. Some may already have health insurance that would cover them. Some even have this and buy secondary coverage, which is often a waste. 

[GeezerCouple]

15 minutes ago, Joebucks said:

 

This is good advice. Too many people think the dimensions of coverage are: travel insurance, and no travel insurance. Some may already have health insurance that would cover them. Some even have this and buy secondary coverage, which is often a waste. 

 

Something to consider if you do have insurance that includes foreign travel is what amount of reimbursement it will cover.

There are usually some regular limits that relate to customary fees/etc., and perhaps different criteria for emergencies... or coverage may be *only* for emergencies if overseas (or away from regular health care system).

 

I'm not sure if travel insurance tends to have "customary fee" restrictions.  We haven't seen any indication of "maximum amounts", but we also haven't submitted any "very high" medical bills. 

I suspect they'd investigate if costs seemed exceptionally high (?).

 

In many cases medical care seems to be less expensive outside the USA than within, but this certainly isn't guaranteed.

 

GC