Travel medical insurance without trip cancelation component?

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BarbBrooklyn
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Travel medical insurance without trip cancelation component?

Post by BarbBrooklyn »

We are leaving in 3 weeks for our first extended trip outside the US since starting Medicare, which of course does not provide medical insurance when one is abroad.

We are traveling via air to the UK, staying less than a week there, then doing two back to back cruises (for which we have purchased upgraded insurance which includes medical coverage) then spending a few days in Greece before flying back to NY.

I tried the Geo Blue site which says we cannot purchase their products (no idea why;I will call in the AM).

I don't need trip cancellation--I have that through our cruise insurance and our flights are changeable. Just need medical coverage gor the UK and Greek seg.

Any ideas? We are both 69.
Last edited by BarbBrooklyn on Thu Oct 06, 2022 4:00 pm, edited 1 time in total.
BarbBrooklyn | "The enemy of a good plan is the dream of a perfect plan."
ModifiedDuration
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Re: Travel medical insurance without trip cancelation component?

Post by ModifiedDuration »

First, many Medicare Advantage plans and many of the Medigap plans (including the popular F, F-HD, G, G-HD, and N plans) provide international emergency medical care.

For the Medigap plans, there is a $250 deductible and then 80% coverage up to a lifetime maximum of $50,000 for international emergency medical care.

Second, I would suggest you contact Steve Dasseos, the owner at the Trip Insurance Store. He is very helpful, knowledgeable, and friendly - no high pressure sales or the feeling that he is trying to sell you a high priced policy for a higher commission:

https://tripinsurancestore.com/

I got the GeoBlue Trekker Choice plan through him. A lot of people on Bogleheads have used him and recommend him.

Third, the Cruise Critic website has an active forum on insurance that you might find informative:

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/4 ... insurance/

Have a great trip!
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galawdawg
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Re: Travel medical insurance without trip cancelation component?

Post by galawdawg »

Did you purchase the insurance for the cruise portions of your trip from the cruise lines or from a site such as insuremytrip.com or tripinsurancestore.com?

If you purchased a policy independently (through one of the websites noted or another similar entity), you can usually input your date of departure, your date of return, what type of travel is involved (in your case you would have wanted to select flights, hotels, cruises) and your entire journey and all of its components would have been been covered with a single policy.

If you purchased a policy the cruise line offered, that won't be the case. In that event, look at one of the sites mentioned above and price a policy that meets your needs. Many will have trip cancellation "baked in" to a good comprehensive policy, just take a look at the various options...

Enjoy your trip!
ekid
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Re: Travel medical insurance without trip cancelation component?

Post by ekid »

" when one is a broad."

tsk, tsk.
Topic Author
BarbBrooklyn
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Re: Travel medical insurance without trip cancelation component?

Post by BarbBrooklyn »

ekid wrote: Thu Oct 06, 2022 11:51 am " when one is a broad."

tsk, tsk.
Oy! I should not post at 2.40AM. Edited to correct.
BarbBrooklyn | "The enemy of a good plan is the dream of a perfect plan."
miket29
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Re: Travel medical insurance without trip cancelation component?

Post by miket29 »

use squaremouth.com or insuremytrip.com

The former has a pulldown to decline cancellation coverage. Haven't used the other for a while, but you can just enter zero for the trip value.

Note that if you don't insure the full value of the trip with cancellation coverage most if not all policies will not waive preexisting conditions. Read the policies carefully before choosing one. I prefer medical coverage labeled as primary, if you don't have alternate coverage maybe it doesn't matter (but I'm not an insurance agent)
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BarbBrooklyn
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Re: Travel medical insurance without trip cancelation component?

Post by BarbBrooklyn »

So, thanks to everyone who replied. I had an email conversation this AM with Steve from the travel insurance site; he's going to get back to me but encouraged me to call my secondary insurance. It turns out that when out of the country, my retiree benefit becomes primary and is subject to a $200 deductible and the "out of network" payment schedule, which isn't terrible, but at least it's something.

Thank you so much for all your suggestions!
BarbBrooklyn | "The enemy of a good plan is the dream of a perfect plan."
Gideont
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Re: Travel medical insurance without trip cancelation component?

Post by Gideont »

I’ve used AMEX for medical travel insurance only. It’s a very easy process. The home page gives you the option to build your own policy before submitting and the choices are very clear when you see the results. https://aeti.americanexpress.com/travel ... ce/home.do

Definitely worth a look.
InMyDreams
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Re: Travel medical insurance without trip cancelation component?

Post by InMyDreams »

Even with existing medical insurance that works in a foreign country, medical evacuation for you back to your home is probably not included.

I think MGap policies have a cap on what they pay emergency overseas medical care (lifetime), and may be a submit bills for reimbursement model.
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BarbBrooklyn
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Re: Travel medical insurance without trip cancelation component?

Post by BarbBrooklyn »

Steve of tripinsurancestore.com solved my problem for very little money. I recommend working with him highly!
BarbBrooklyn | "The enemy of a good plan is the dream of a perfect plan."
ModifiedDuration
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Re: Travel medical insurance without trip cancelation component?

Post by ModifiedDuration »

BarbBrooklyn wrote: Fri Oct 07, 2022 1:03 pm Steve of tripinsurancestore.com solved my problem for very little money. I recommend working with him highly!
I won’t say I told you so, but……….😉
Topic Author
BarbBrooklyn
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Re: Travel medical insurance without trip cancelation component?

Post by BarbBrooklyn »

ModifiedDuration wrote: Fri Oct 07, 2022 1:35 pm
BarbBrooklyn wrote: Fri Oct 07, 2022 1:03 pm Steve of tripinsurancestore.com solved my problem for very little money. I recommend working with him highly!
I won’t say I told you so, but……….😉
MD, yep, you nailed it! Thank you so much.
BarbBrooklyn | "The enemy of a good plan is the dream of a perfect plan."
placeholder
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Re: Travel medical insurance without trip cancelation component?

Post by placeholder »

Medigap coverage somewhat limited and besides the deductibles mentioned there is a 50k lifetime limit so if I were to travel I'd look at my own insurance with evacuation and all that.

https://www.medicare.gov/supplements-ot ... gap-travel
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ResearchMed
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Re: Travel medical insurance without trip cancelation component?

Post by ResearchMed »

placeholder wrote: Fri Oct 07, 2022 7:28 pm Medigap coverage somewhat limited and besides the deductibles mentioned there is a 50k lifetime limit so if I were to travel I'd look at my own insurance with evacuation and all that.

https://www.medicare.gov/supplements-ot ... gap-travel

This is where it can make a big difference if one gets a 3rd party travel insurance along with the Medicare with $50k lifetime limit: That other policy should have *primary* coverage, so one doesn't need to tap the Medicare amount first.
(Leave that for some time when there isn't any other coverage.)

RM
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musicagogo
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Re: Travel medical insurance without trip cancelation component?

Post by musicagogo »

Medicare is not good enough. Consider GeoBlue Trekker. Cheap and great coverage for medivac-which frankly should be your biggest concern.
lungman
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Re: Travel medical insurance without trip cancelation component?

Post by lungman »

would $100,000 medical limit be sufficient or is $500,000 needed?
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ResearchMed
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Re: Travel medical insurance without trip cancelation component?

Post by ResearchMed »

lungman wrote: Mon Jan 23, 2023 4:39 pm would $100,000 medical limit be sufficient or is $500,000 needed?

It depends upon which illness or injury you are planning to have. :wink:

Seriously, it's a matter of risk, no surprise.

Where are you going? How expensive is care there? How much would medevac cost from there to get home, if it came to that?

Finally, would you be satisfied with the insurance company beancounters' decisions about which hospital was "satisfactory" for your care?
If no to this particular question, then also consider MedJetAssist.
Their coverage kicks in if you are admited as an INpatient.
At that point, YOU can decide to be medevac'd to the USA hospital of your choice (for USA residents), without "medical need for better facilities". Obviously, you need to be stable enough for air ambulance transport with medical staffing, but if you aren't that stable, you probably have other more immediate problems.
And the receiving hospital needs to agree to accept you. (In our case, we'd want to be taken to "our" regular hospital, so unless there is another crazy COVID/or such overflowing hospital-turning-everyone-including-ambulances-away, we should be fine.)

MJA means that no beancounters get involved in whether it is "worth it" to move you, and no local medical providers need be put in the possibly awkward position of declaring themselves/their facility "not satisfactory for your care" or such.

If you *call* a broker such as TripInsuranceStore.com, they can give you quotes so you can compare benefits available.

RM
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BarbBrooklyn
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Re: Travel medical insurance without trip cancelation component?

Post by BarbBrooklyn »

Just got back from a different cruise! No illnesses on the last one or this one, but talked to a guy at breakfast on disembarkation day who'd had to go to the on-board medical provider.

His policy provides for reimbursement, not upfront payment. He ended up shelling out 13k; maxed out both of the cards he had with him and "couldn't even buy my grandson a bottle of pop" is what he lamented to us.

Something to consider.
BarbBrooklyn | "The enemy of a good plan is the dream of a perfect plan."
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ResearchMed
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Re: Travel medical insurance without trip cancelation component?

Post by ResearchMed »

BarbBrooklyn wrote: Mon Jan 23, 2023 5:10 pm Just got back from a different cruise! No illnesses on the last one or this one, but talked to a guy at breakfast on disembarkation day who'd had to go to the on-board medical provider.

His policy provides for reimbursement, not upfront payment. He ended up shelling out 13k; maxed out both of the cards he had with him and "couldn't even buy my grandson a bottle of pop" is what he lamented to us.

Something to consider.

Good point.
Almost all travel insurance medical coverage (not all, but most) require that you pay and then get reimbursed.

However, in more serious situations, some travel insurers will try to help by either guaranteeing payment or wiring money. In that case, you'd still need enough credit card availability to at least get the emergency care started!

In one ER overseas, in the ER billing office, there were signs that they would "only" work with "the following..." list of travel nsurers for guarantees. Yes, this was a tourist area!
But even that would take time, and if time is of the essence, we want to be able to hand over a high limit charge card fast in a real medical emergency.

RM
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InMyDreams
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Re: Travel medical insurance without trip cancelation component?

Post by InMyDreams »

BarbBrooklyn wrote: Mon Jan 23, 2023 5:10 pm ...who'd had to go to the on-board medical provider.... He ended up shelling out 13k...
Wow. On one cruise, a 13k medical bill? Sounds like US pricing! And the problem is - there's no way to go to another provider for competitive pricing.
Wow. Something else to think about on a cruise.

Medical evacuation and repatriation is likely to be the highest cost risk when traveling (even within the US). That's usually the realm of travel insurance.
Topic Author
BarbBrooklyn
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Re: Travel medical insurance without trip cancelation component?

Post by BarbBrooklyn »

InMyDreams wrote: Tue Jan 24, 2023 9:10 am
BarbBrooklyn wrote: Mon Jan 23, 2023 5:10 pm ...who'd had to go to the on-board medical provider.... He ended up shelling out 13k...
Wow. On one cruise, a 13k medical bill? Sounds like US pricing! And the problem is - there's no way to go to another provider for competitive pricing.
Wow. Something else to think about on a cruise.

Medical evacuation and repatriation is likely to be the highest cost risk when traveling (even within the US). That's usually the realm of travel insurance.
Yes, it was on-board medical care. His situation became dire on the first of 3 sea days (Caribbean cruise out of NYC).

Heard several stories like this on this trip, mostly folks who needed stitches due to falls. One guy estimated each stitch cost 1K!
BarbBrooklyn | "The enemy of a good plan is the dream of a perfect plan."
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