Medical Cards

No reason to do so. Medicare covers nothing in Europe.
If you do need medical care, you will find it quite inexpensive, compared to the costs in the United States.

Means nothing in Europe. If you have a medical problem in Europe, you will be expected to pay cash if you are charged. Depending on your supplemental insurance you probably will receive some reimbursed when you return home if your supplemental covers travel. Our chief concern is a medical evac insurance in the event of something really serious.

Thank you for the responses. We do have medical evac insurance. We will leave our medicare cards home. One less thing to forget in Europe. Jan

Your medigap policy probably covers you in Europe but the process is probably that you pay and they reimburse. At any rate, I take a photo copy of those cards so we have the information if needed. Most Medigap policies cover 60 days of emergency care when traveling outside the US.

Actually, you presumably will need to get from your home to the airport and may have some kind of connection in the US. For this reason you should have your Medicare and supplemental ins cards with you.

Don't worry about taking your Medicare card.

Last year both my husband and I wound up getting ticks after hiking in Italy. Our first stop was the farmacia where we were told that it was very dangerous to have ticks as we were in Liguria and lyme disease is prevalent there. The pharmacist told us to go to the hospital ASAP which we did. When we arrived we went through triage and were put on the lowest priority, nothing life-threatening, no bones poking out. We were seen by a doctor within 1/2 hour. She and her nurse looked us over very thoroughly. My husband had several that she removed, and he was given a local anesthetic. We didn't feel rushed; she took her time to make sure that we understood what to watch for should be become infected. We expected to pay at least 500 euro, but when we asked how much, she said nothing was owed and sent us on our way.

In France this last spring I had an infection that I just couldn't get rid of. Our b and b hostess called her doctor and set up an appointment. She told us to be on time because he is never late. We arrived 15 minutes early to make sure: he called me in at the appointed time, took my vitals, asked about my symptoms and prescribed an antibiotic. Cost? 24 euro for the visit and 12 euro for the antibiotic. I was given a form to take to my health provider for reimbursement. I keep it as a memento as I am sure that Medicare would not honor it.
So not to worry. And in both cases very good English was spoken.
But do take a list of legible prescriptions, including for eye glasses.
Happy travels.

If you have medical insurance here, seems like you would want medical insurance covering you on your Europe vacation.

We have Medicare supplement plan F which covers emergency medical care outside the United States, but there's a $250 deductible so most of the minor items people have listed wouldn't be reimbursed -- but the purpose of insurance is to protect against MAJOR expenses. So yes, I carry my Anthem card (doesn't weigh much) just in case.

I went to a place called InsureMyTrip.com and got a cheap 2 week policy for the basics ($100.00 deduct) for about $45.00 (the company I went with was GeoBlue a division of Blue Cross)

Would you need your Medicare cards in the event of a medical crisis between your US home and the international bounday departing or returning? The transit medical crisis would have a higher risk exposue if you must fly from a US local airport to a US hub airport and have a long layover. That said I would expect emergency treatment would be offered even without your card.

I've been on a domestic flight that had to return to the terminal and the paramedics evacuated a passenger.