How much is needed for Emergency Medical and Emergency Evac?

[jakenzie32]

Family of 4- (57,50,21,19) taking a West. Carribbean 7 day cruise.

I have two policies I am deciding between. This is the first time I am purchasing travel insurance, so I am not sure how much I need.

 

Policy 1: $250,000 Primary, Emergency Medical and $500,000 Emergency Evac/Rep.

Policy 2: $100,000 Primary, Emergency Medical and $1,000,000 Emergency Evac/Rep.

 

Which is better?

[GeezerCouple]

49 minutes ago, jakenzie32 said:

Family of 4- (57,50,21,19) taking a West. Carribbean 7 day cruise.

I have two policies I am deciding between. This is the first time I am purchasing travel insurance, so I am not sure how much I need.

 

Policy 1: $250,000 Primary, Emergency Medical and $500,000 Emergency Evac/Rep.

Policy 2: $100,000 Primary, Emergency Medical and $1,000,000 Emergency Evac/Rep.

 

Which is better?

 

Do you have any regular health insurance that covers out of country?

You're all below Medicare age, so those restrictions aren't relevant (yet!).

 

Having Primary for travel insurance is good, in our opinion.  The policy will pay before you need to deal with any other insurer, especially if that other one gives you grief or weird delays, etc.

We had *one* situation where our regular insurance, which does cover overseas as any emergency would be covered at home... kept losing the claim... after acknowledging receipt... repeatedly.  They even ran out the clock on our travel insurance deadline to file.  This was an employer plan, and we finally turned the problem over to HR/Benefits (who got the same run-around, and told us, "They don't seem to know how to process these..."  😡).   So, *always* primary for the travel insurance, and we've had several such claims, all paid without nonsense!

 

What are the prices of the two types?

Are you getting these through a travel insurance broker?

They can help you figure out the *other* terms and conditions that might make a difference (pre-existing medical conditions, frail family members not traveling with you...).  There's no extra cost to the traveler.

 

We recommend www.TripInsuranceStore.com - but *call* them to discuss the "fine print", which can make all the difference come claim time...

 

GC

[jakenzie32]

This is through TripInsuranceStore.

 

Policy 1 is $155

Policy 2 is $199

 

No regular health insurance that covers out of the country.

[Jersey42]

@jakenzie32 - IMHO $100K medical per person and $500K of medical evacuation is more than adequate coverage in almost any cruise situation. Steve from TripinsureanceStore recently posted "I've never seen a medical claim for more than $74,000 outside the USA."  He has also posted the following in December: "The most expensive medical evacuation I've seen was $127,000 from South Africa to Minnesota". 

 

So both policies are absolutely fine for the specific question you asked. It is the other terms and conditions that determine the best choice for your needs.  So either read the policy details (pay special attention to covered reasons and pre-existing conditions for you and non traveling family members), or call TIS and ask a lot of questions.

 

It is difficult to purchase the right policy from summary charts.  The charts are great to help eliminate policies you don't want, but the devil is often in the details that do not show up in the summaries. 

[GeezerCouple]

6 hours ago, Jersey42 said:

...

It is difficult to purchase the right policy from summary charts.  The charts are great to help eliminate policies you don't want, but the devil is often in the details that do not show up in the summaries. 

 

This is one of the best, and nicely brief, statements about why it is so important to *call* an insurance broker about the various choices one is considering (or that one might want to consider) for travel insurance.

 

However, I also wonder if even the "elimination" of policies would always work just right.  One of the problems is that "civilians" (non-experts with respect to travel insurance) may not always understand the technical use of some terms in "travel insurance usage", which can be different from everyday language usage, etc.

 

One good example of this is with the term "pre-existing medical condition".  Each policy will have its own definition, and depending upon someone's specific circumstances, "pre-existing medical condition" might be quickly understood to be more restrictive than it actually is, or to be more liberal than it actually is!

So... CALL and discuss!  There are no costs to the call, other than some time that might save you a lot of aggravation or disappointment later, and perhaps a lot of money.

 

GC

[FlightMedic555]

While I agree that the first policy is fine, it can be much more expensive for a evacuation from some far flugh areas of the world.  A few years ago we organized a transfer from NY to India.  A very sick patient whose family wanted the plane to fly non stop.  It was $250k.  A one stop would have been about $200k.  From the Caribbean I would find it had to think it could ever be more than $100k. 

[Philob]

Check what "medical evacuation" is defined in the policy you are looking into.

 

Evacuations from ship to shore are handled by the coast guard of the particular country's waters that your in, hopefully, for free.

 

Medical Evacuation may not mean that you'll be evacuated to the US or to your home town, but from one island facility to the next closest place that has better emergency medical facilities to treat you. 

 

Also "primary" coverage doesn't mean the company will pay the medical provider directly. "Primary" travel insurance means you file your claim with them when you get home and get reimbursed and no need to get your other health insurance involved. 

 

In most instances overseas medical providers will require YOU to make payment at time of service. If you call the insurance company while your waiting in the ER they maybe able to make payment arrangements.

 

Otherwise make sure you have a high limit credit card(s) to take care of the bills. And secure as much documentation about your treatment, a description of your illness and treatment and itemized bill are the bare minimum.

Edited March 24, 2023 by Philob