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A non-horror travel insurance story

Decided to buy more than a Medjet evac policy for my recent trip to Austria so after perusing Squaremouth and such, randomly picked a policy from UHC. Good thing.

First my wife and I needed a doctor in Vienna who conveniently made a hotel call. Then in Salzburg my wife was still ill and the hotel said instead of a doctor, they recommend going to the ER. Which turned out to be fairly OK for such a visit, better than most of the ER experiences I've had in the States (and substantially cheaper although we had to pay on the spot).

So claims filed upon return, had all the necessary receipts and invoices. And then UHC says hey that's fine and everything but we need proof that you were actually in Austria. Oh, you mean besides the dated and itemized invoices and credit card receipts? So we sent them airline itineraries, boarding passes, a Bayern Pass train ticket, a little blurb about how Medicare doesn't cover expenses overseas. And I'll be darned if a check didn't show up in the mail yesterday.

So yes Virginia, sometimes insurance pays claims.

Posted by
5314 posts

Glad to hear it can be just that straightforward. Hilarious about the "proof of being in Austria thing!" I guess they had to find some sort of red tape since you were so prepared with your receipts!

Posted by
496 posts

Let’s celebrate this good news!! Sorry for illness overseas….but your insurance came thru! Soooo grateful we have not had to find out! Sure pays off to keep every receipt and any documentation. Maybe even keep part of your struddel….

Posted by
6713 posts

Good to hear about a happy ending, and hope your wife is OK now. How long did it take from filing the claim to receiving the check?

Posted by
1960 posts

Glad to hear United Healthcare handled your file quickly. Had no idea that United Healthcare sold Travel Insurance but it makes sense since they are a huge company with revenue of $324 Billion in 2022. They know that everyone wins when— at the very beginning of a claim—they are upfront with their customers and ask for ALL the documentation they require to pay the claim and then put the check in the mail.
UHC made 72% of its income from the government in 2021. So they know what a skeletal operation Medicare has for claims-processing They’ve learned they profit more when they don’t need to finance a bloated payroll from hiring too many claims processors who couldn’t be blamed for thinking their employer expects them to infinitely delay paying claims because it’s good for the stock price.

Posted by
19948 posts

Kenko, glad you had good experiences with United. I've been with them half my adult life. I have very little praise for them. In fact, one of the reasons I moved to Europe was to not have to deal with them. But in reality, I guess no worse, no better than any.

Posted by
3446 posts

When I made a claim last year with my Canadian travel medical insurance, they also asked for proof of my original flights as well as my new reissued flights.
They wanted to verify when I had travelled and how long I had stayed before taking ill.
So don’t discard your boarding passes or travel documents until you are safely home and have submitted a claim if you need to, just in case.