Planning for an emergency

One area that is rarely covered by your own medical insurance are the costs associated with getting you back home after a medical incident. If you had, for instance, a complicated fracture after a fall (something that can happen to anyone no matter what your general health looks like) you need specialized transportation that could easily exceed $50,000.

At home and when traveling, I carry a "medical info" sheet that lists my insurance info, dr's phone #s, all medications(doses, generic and specific names) and the conditions for which I take them, and a medical history summary (medication allergies,major med. conditions, operations, etc.) I give copies to my Dr.'s when I go for checkups- it makes updating med lists, etc. easy. I have also had to use it a few times when my asthma was really bad and emergency responders have complimented it.

I have Kaiser coverage. It is my understanding that if I need medical care abroad, I must pay and will be reimbursed when I submitt my receipts to Kaiser.

It is also important to have a list with the name and dosage of medicine for each individual.

Remember your list of phone numbers, whether banks or medical, should be non-800 numbers as those won't work when calling from Europe.

I would also add to the emergency list a copy of your eyeglass prescription if you wear glasses.

Also add if you are allergic to any medications. And if you are taking blood thinning meds, I would highlight that.

I take down all the addresses of the Canadian Embassies/Consulates that are in or the closest to the cities that I'm visiting, just in case I lose my passport

People who have pacemakers,insulin pumps,ostomies,contact lenses,joint replacements,fused vertebrae,any sort of implant,etc. should have several easily discovered notations of these aids.

Also,make people aware of any "invisible" challenges whether it is something like a hearing loss,epilepsy,diabetes,
autism,sleep apnea,depression,sickle cell anemia,lupus or pregnancy.

Travellers should check with their physicians to determine what accommodations might need to be made for glaucoma,
bariatric surgery,deep vein thrombosis or any special condition.

This would include the periods between travel and not just while en route.

Do this for everyone in the party -including babies and animal companions.

If something new comes up during the journey,don't forget to include it in an update of medical and dental charts.

I've been out of state and called Kaiser and asked them for help, they said go to the outpatient clinic and have the clinic call them (Kaiser) and they will take care of payment. Well, the outpatient clinic refused to call. They weren't interested, they don't do that, credit card only please. That was that. Kaiser did not reimburse since it was not negotiated at time of treatment. If you're shopping for an appliance you walk away, but when you're very sick and without a car you hand over the VISA. When Kaiser has a recommended partner hospital in the area, I'm sure it works much better. Therefore, even if you choose not to address evacuation and hospitalization, I would talk to Kaiser long and hard about how the logistics work should you have a medical emergency that exceeds the limits of your card when you're in Europe.

Kaiser Medical services are very good, but you never get the same information twice from health plan office and you are always the loser financially. I didn't mean to take over your thread with a Kaiser rant, but I'm pointing out you have to really know HOW your emergency coverage REALLY works should you need it in the real world of a European hospital or doctors office instead of the ideal scenario painted by the health plan office. Ask multiple "What if" questions.

My husband and I are long-time Kaiser members. We've both had medical emergencies in foreign countries (France & the Bahamas) and, in both cases, we paid up front and were reimbursed by Kaiser afterward. We didn't have to negotiate anything before receiving care. Our normal co-pays were assessed. In our experience, foreign medical expenses have been very reasonable (unlike in the US) and they haven't been a problem to put on our credit card. In 2008, an ambulance ride, a night in the ER and all of the tests and meds came to a grand total of €113.