Shipboard doctors accept insurance?

[onthelake]

I have been reading all the insurance threads but I am not clear on whether or not the medical facilities on the ships accept travel insurance coverage. We are going on a long cruise with many sea days so we want to understand where the 'holes' are in our policy coverage. Thank you all, Kay

[RHefley228]

The best way to get your question answered is to call your cruise line. I suspect the answer is going to be no, and whether your medical insurance company will reimburse you for any expenses depends on whether you are covered outside the US. What you are probably going to need is travel insurance which will cover both medical and--most important--evacuation expenses (an air ambulance is staggeringly expensive). If you're on Medicare, there are other considerations.

[nlb1050]

My husband went to the ship's doctor once and it was billed to our room. If you have bought travel insurance then when you get home you can send the bill to them for repayment. The ship's don't have a way to bill your medical insurance.

 

A lot of medical insurance in the US will not cover care outside of the US but you can always try to send a claim to them.

[4FRCruising]

I have been reading all the insurance threads but I am not clear on whether or not the medical facilities on the ships accept travel insurance coverage. We are going on a long cruise with many sea days so we want to understand where the 'holes' are in our policy coverage. Thank you all, Kay

 

I believe the usual procedure is that you pay for the service and then have to file a claim with the Travel Insurance Co.

 

Just be sure to read the Travel Insurance Co info to make sure you follow their "rules" - especially in the case of a med-evac.

[spotgrey]

I had to go to the ship's doctor on the Jewel of the Seas last year for a bad sinus infection...I had to pay him $200. for visit and two bottles of pills. When I returned home I submitted the bill to my insurance company and was reimbursed all of it except my normal $20. deductable per office visit..I guess it depends on your insurance company...Hopefully you want need it.

[CC Help Michell]

I agree with the above posters -- it's almost always a reimbursement situation -- you pay up front, and are reimbursed later by your travel carrier (or if you are lucky) your domestic insurance carrier if it covers you.

[hammybee]

Make sure you get a copy of the bill at the time of service and that it has a diagnosis code on it. Assuming your heath care provider provides coverage for out of network and country health care, you can send it in for reimbursement.

[wieslaw]

I have been reading all the insurance threads but I am not clear on whether or not the medical facilities on the ships accept travel insurance coverage. We are going on a long cruise with many sea days so we want to understand where the 'holes' are in our policy coverage. Thank you all, Kay

 

Hello Kay,

 

Wife got sea sick on Legend OTS and had to go to the medical facility for help. She / we had both medical insurance from ( home ) and travel insurance - neither was accepted on the ship by the medical people.

The payment went on our ship account. After returning home we got reimburstment from our medical inurance and what was not covered by them, the travel insurance .

 

Wes

[newmexicoNita]

I have been reading all the insurance threads but I am not clear on whether or not the medical facilities on the ships accept travel insurance coverage. We are going on a long cruise with many sea days so we want to understand where the 'holes' are in our policy coverage. Thank you all, Kay

There may be exceptions, but normally you will be billed and your insurance will re-imburse you.

 

Nita

[LHT28]

You may want to call your insurance provider.

When DH became ill I called them in the first port of call (Norway) 3 days after his 1st visit.

 

They said just to pay the bill & send in the forms when we returned ...

If we had called when he first went into the medical centre they would have made arrangements to pay the ship.

But each insurance company may do thing differently.

If you have a very large bill I am not sure how you would pay.

[kitty9]

It makes no difference the size of the bill as the cruise ship will put the charges on your shipboard account----and don't worry about the charges getting too high because if you're that ill or severely injured, you're going to need to be evac'd off the ship for treatment. I've visited the med center on Celebrity, Carnival, RCCI, Crystal, Seabourn and a couple others and the charges for the med center were always put on the account, and then I had to submit that bill for reimbursement. BTW, if you have to be medically evac'd off the ship, you have to pay the bill up front and then submit that to the insurance. I feel sorry for anyone who has to be evac'd from a distant port to the US because not many people have credit cards that have that high a limit.

[jlp20]

As someone has already stated, it’s up to your insurance coverage, not the cruise line. The vast majority of medical policies cover you while inside the borders of the U.S. Look at your policy or give your company a call.

 

A separate travel insurance policy covers medical plus a long list of situations that can occur on your cruise.