Where to get Medical coverage & medical evacuation for people 85 years old ?

[skidroe]

Where can we  get medical /medical evacuation insurance for people  85 years old & older for foreign travel.

Right now we just travel Alaska, Hawaii, and Coastal cruises, where we can utilize our Medicare insurance,

[klfrodo]

A few option that require some background explaination.

 

Being 85 means 3rd party insurance is going to be a bit more expensive since 3rd party is based on age and levels of coverage. Cruise line insurance does not take age into consideration when pricing. Just the cost of the cruise.

 

Cruise line insurance is always secondary. Meaning you must submit all paperwork to Medicare for re-imbursement, wait for Medicare to decline coverage (if outside the US), then submit the claim to whatever company the cruise line insurance goes thru. Many 3rd party policies do offer to be "primary" for medical meaning you only submit to them for reimbursements.

 

Cruise line insurance also does not waive pre-existing medical conditions, whereas 3rd party will waive if purchased in the time frame they set in their policy.

 

Cruise line insurance medical and evacuation limits are low compared to 3rd party policies.

 

Cruise line policies include Cancel For Any Reason (CFAR) up to scheduled sailing time. 3rd party policies off CFAR for an additional cost and is limited to cancelling at least 48 hours prior to ship scheduled departure.

 

Having said all this as an introduction to travel insurance 101, many of us here reach out to Steve or his people at TripInsuranceStore.com. Don't be afraid to call them if you have questions. I believe they have 6 to 9 companies that they have vetted, and they do business with. It doesn't cost you to call Steve or purchase the insurance thru them. They receive a commission just like a TA and they will help in times of trouble just like a "good" TA.

 

Her is a link to get started if you so wish. The phone contact is at the top of the page.

 

Instant Side-by-Side Travel Insurance Quotes From TripInsuranceStore.com

[GeezerCouple]

We strongly agree with Klfrodo, about his description of some aspects of travel insurance plus his recommendation of TIS.

 

We learned about TIS here on CC just 10 years ago, and thank goodness.  It was for an expensive (for us, then!) trip.  Steve and his associates were *so* patience with all of my "what if A?", "but what if B?", and then another call, "Would C be covered, too?"

Anyway, less than 2 weeks before our planned departure, DH had a medical emergency, and the only travel we did for some weeks was to/from medical appointments.

We got back every cent we had paid.

 

Yes, we could have "afforded" the loss; after all, it was already paid for.

However, IF we had lost that money, then... we probably would never have planned another "special" trip.  As it was, during those drives to medical appts, we frequently mumbled, "At least we won't have to pay a SECOND time to take that trip!"

And... we have enjoyed our travels so much that we now spend much more, and we've had the most amazing experiences.

 

We've had several more claims, and all have been paid promptly.  Once, when I landed in hospital overseas, we really wanted to try to recover the last part of our trip rather than just give up and come home.  Steve helped us while we were trying to figure out some complicated changes to the transportation.

 

 But CALL them.  Do NOT rely upon the little policy summaries.  Those are okay for an overview, but they cannot capture all of the fine print, which is especially important for insurance.

(Most of the complaints here about travel insurance denials is because the claim was for something that was never included in the coverage to begin with.  Try to avoid that risk.  Do you have pre-existing conditions? They are defined differently in most travel insurance than regular insurance.  Any family members not traveling with you who have medical issues and you might need to return?  Etc.)

 

And one extra advantage of getting primary travel insurance is that one doesn't need to wait for the other "primary" coverage to make a determination.  With Medicare, it's almost always denied if out of country.  But you'd still need to wait for that denial, and many report that is... slow.

And with pre-existing conditions not excluded, if you make a claim based upon a medical reason, the claim is usually faster, as the insurer doesn't need to request medical records to "make sure" that the problem wasn't something pre-existing.

 

Enjoy!

 

GC

[Suzanne123]

https://www.geobluetravelinsurance.com/products/multi-trip/trekker-5-overview.cfm
 

 

[SimplyAlbert]

DH is on Medicare and we always contact Steve at the Trip Insurance Store to buy primary out of the country coverage.  He's great at explaining the ins and outs.

[nini]

It is hardly known... But our Medicare Advantage Plan covers us internationally. It even covers us for a helicopter evacuation from the ship.

[Jersey42]

6 hours ago, nini said:

It is hardly known... But our Medicare Advantage Plan covers us internationally. It even covers us for a helicopter evacuation from the ship.

While it would not do me any good as I don't live in Washington, I am curious what Medicare Advantage plan covers helicopter evacuations from a cruise ship.  I have never seen this type of coverage in any MA plan I have looked at several eastern states.  If you have a minute, can you post a link to your plan, or at least give us the name of the company and the plan.

 

I also wonder how many claims are paid annually by any type of insurance to cover the cost of a helicopter evacuation from a cruise ship.

[nini]

6 hours ago, Jersey42 said:

While it would not do me any good as I don't live in Washington, I am curious what Medicare Advantage plan covers helicopter evacuations from a cruise ship.  I have never seen this type of coverage in any MA plan I have looked at several eastern states.  If you have a minute, can you post a link to your plan, or at least give us the name of the company and the plan.

 

I also wonder how many claims are paid annually by any type of insurance to cover the cost of a helicopter evacuation from a cruise ship.

 

I do not think that living in Washington state has anything to do with it. Ours is a "Regence MedAdv+RX Classic PPO plan. This Advantage Plan includes prescriptions and dental. In USA, our co-pays are from $15.00 to $35.00. Internationally, they are $90.00.

When we had a Supplemental Plan, that covered a lifetime maximum of $50,000.00 for international coverage- which really is not much.

I will say that I our international coverage is not obvious or advertised. I had to call our insurance company to determine this coverage.

[klfrodo]

First of all there is zero chance that an individual would be billed to be evacuated off a cruise ship. By international treaty, these evacuations are handled by well trained military or coast guard type entities.

Evacuation from a land facility to a hospital better suited to handle your medical condition is treated just as if you had an ambulance come to your house and take you to your local hospital. Further evacuation for continuation of treatment after you have been stabilized is a complete different story and most likely will not be covered by your Medicare advantage plans. You need to be very very specific when asking your insurance provider these questions. Even more specific, I asked if they paid to bring my dead body home. The answer was no.

[nini]

18 minutes ago, klfrodo said:

First of all there is zero chance that an individual would be billed to be evacuated off a cruise ship. By international treaty, these evacuations are handled by well trained military or coast guard type entities.

Evacuation from a land facility to a hospital better suited to handle your medical condition is treated just as if you had an ambulance come to your house and take you to your local hospital. Further evacuation for continuation of treatment after you have been stabilized is a complete different story and most likely will not be covered by your Medicare advantage plans. You need to be very very specific when asking your insurance provider these questions. Even more specific, I asked if they paid to bring my dead body home. The answer was no.

Which is why we always get "extra" insurance.

[Jersey42]

3 hours ago, nini said:

 

I do not think that living in Washington state has anything to do with it.

Actually it does as your plan is limited to residents of the areas served by Regence.  Regence offers plans in four western states, so I could not purchase any of these plans in Florida.

 

3 hours ago, nini said:

Ours is a "Regence MedAdv+RX Classic PPO plan. This Advantage Plan includes prescriptions and dental. In USA, our co-pays are from $15.00 to $35.00. Internationally, they are $90.00.

Yes, there are Medicare Advantage plans available in many parts of the country that offer international emergency coverage, although many are not as generous as yours.  I was more curious about coverage for a helicopter evacuation from the ship, as I have never seen this before.  I looked at your Regence plan doc and could not find it there either.  Maybe as @klfrodo suggested, they rep was talking about a ground or air ambulance from somewhere on land to a hospital that can treat you.

[nini]

6 hours ago, Jersey42 said:

Actually it does as your plan is limited to residents of the areas served by Regence.  Regence offers plans in four western states, so I could not purchase any of these plans in Florida.

 

Yes, there are Medicare Advantage plans available in many parts of the country that offer international emergency coverage, although many are not as generous as yours.  I was more curious about coverage for a helicopter evacuation from the ship, as I have never seen this before.  I looked at your Regence plan doc and could not find it there either.  Maybe as @klfrodo suggested, they rep was talking about a ground or air ambulance from somewhere on land to a hospital that can treat you.

You are incorrect. I have spoken with many reps with the company and as I previously stated, it is not obvious when looking at the plan. I have no idea why. Regence/ Blue Cross is part of a network which provides the International side of the coverage.