Do I change anything on my Health Insturance while in Europe?

First check to see if your health insurance covers you in Europe--for many of us it doesn't but it's possible--see this link for more on that: click here. Then, if you're like many of us and not covered in Europe, go to insuremytrip.com and buy a traveler's medical policy that includes medical and medical evacuation. For most people these are not costly because the coverage is only for the duration of your trip, not for a year as with your regular health insurance.

I have Blue Cross which does cover me for medical care in Europe but after I pay upfront. This is not as terrible as it sounds as Europe is a socialized medical system. I always buy TravelGuard in addition. It's a $100 or so but then you have NO worries. A friend had to med-evac her father from Normany to Dallas. I forget what the bill was but it was in the $100,000 category and TravelGuard picked up everything up-front. Mind you he was in good health and only 62. So, it's your call. I've bought TravelGuard a dozen times and never needed it. Who knows?

Buy medical evac. insurance for sure via Travelguard or MedJet Assist or the like. Otherwise you should be fine if your policy covers travel abroad.

Ditto the calling your insurance company to find out all details ahead of time, also make sure you carry your health card and have their phone number while you're away. Our coverage is the same percentages in Europe. We do not have to pay upfront. My daughter ended up in the hospital for 4 days a week into her semester abroad. Our insurance company immediately assigned us a coordinator who delt with the hospital for us. It was nice to already know our coverage was the same...one less worry. We did have to eventually send a payment to the hospital directly for our portion once everything was settled.

Most of the time you will have to pay costs up front. The biggest thing to look for is what your insurance requires you to do if you need health care overseas. Often your policy states that you must notify them right away. If you don't follow your policy's rules, there is a chance they won't cover anything when you get home.

I think the evacuation issue is the big one.Most insurance other then Medicare will cover you although you might have to pay upfront,which could be a problem.I have life insurance also and thankfully have never had to use it in the past but that doesnt mean I dont need it.

YIKES! We've been to Europe three times and never even thought about insurance! Hubby is on Medicare and I have Blue Cross. We leave for Montreal & Quebec in three weeks and don't think we'll bother with this "local" trip, but next April we'll be in Australia for three weeks so we'll be sure to investigate coverage before we go.

Also check out Divers Alert Network. www.diversalertnetwork.org. They offer med-evac for members from quite a few countries - though you'll want to check to see if the countries you're going to are covered. You don't have to be a diver to join. And as I recall the membership rate ended up being lower than what it would've cost me to pay for med-evac insurance from other companies.