Travel major medical insurance and med evacuation insurance

We have EA+. The annual fee is about $150. Covers us whenever we are more than 50 miles from home. Unfortunately (fortunately) we have never filed a claim so have no idea how it will work. Medjet Assist is another company.

Frank, thank you. That at least gives him a starting place.

I have a yearly policy with MedJetAssist, which covers me anything over 150 miles from home. As soon as I'm stable, I'm flown out to a hospital of my choice no matter where I am. There is no medical coverage with this. For some extra medical coverage, I just buy medical thru travel guard or last time, Allianz, or AIG...I research each time. I don't care about trip/luggage insurance.

However, I've never had a claim. I am assuming that reaching the stable point will reduce my medical bills overseas as I or my family member is in charge of getting me home to my hospital for treatment.

Wray,
Good to know TravelGuard DOES sell medical-only policies. I was not sure if they did, but the cousin was going to check with them, too.

And, yes, always a good thing when we hear no one has had to file a claim :)

This site https://www.insuremytrip.com enables you to compare like coverage across multiple companies, compare prices, reviews by those who had claims, AM Best rating, etc. and buy a policy. If you have questions or need help their customer service is superb.

Many (perhaps most) "regular" travel insurance policies cover a little bit of everything including medical evacuation. However, many of them will only evacuate you to the nearest hospital that can treat you. The devil is in the details and a careful reading of the policy is highly recommended. We had one claim with Travel Guard. They required documentation of course, but nothing that was unreasonable. Had a check in ten to twelve days if memory serves correctly.

Drill down at Travel Guard and you will find they sell Medevac only policies that also include $50,000 of emergency medical insurance as well.

Alan and TC,
Thank you. I'm sending responses to him.

Sam,thank you, too.

$50K does not seem like much for a really major medical event, but he may decide that's enough, especially if coupled with a med-evac rider, too.

Another web site to check is squaremouth.com

I take advantage of the free travel insurance that comes with my credit card but, because I have heart disease and a few other issues, I have to pay an extra premium to cover 'pre-existing conditions'. For my next trip to Europe (30 days), that extra premium was AUD438 (USD330).

It hurts me to pay such high premiums but the potential to incur enormous costs should I have some sort of medical emergency overseas means I have little choice.

Someone on this forum recommended GeoBlue which is a Blue Cross product. Annual subscription for medical insurance and evacuation. There are different levels of coverage. That's what I got for this year since we are taking three overseas trips. No experience with claims yet, but I was pleased with the price/value. We also self insure our actual trip costs.
https://www.geobluetravelinsurance.com/products/multi-trip/trekker-5-overview.cfm

Thank you all!! I've forwarded a link to this thread to the cousin, so he know has some good paths to explore.

This Forum is so very helpful, and it is people like you that so kindly share your knowledge that make it so.

Got to assume your relative has checked what Medicare Supplement covers -- we have Plan F which covers out-of-U.S. medical after a small deductible, so we don't buy additional medical insurance. Also have some medical insurance from the Chase Reserve card I use for airline tickets and other trip costs. Never filed a claim on either.

Thank you ALL again for your replies.
I just returned from the grocery store and had an email from our cousin that he purchased a plan from RoamRight that provides coverage under Arch Insurance, and apparently he knew of Arch. The cost was $60something for it vs. the $90something for TravelGuard's similar plan, but I have no idea th details of the two plans.

Laura, my husband said that if one has Medicare Plan F that one can continue (renew) on that plan; but, in the near future the Plan F will NOT be available to those who do not already have it. The other Medicare plans that will offer some foreign travel benefits evidently won't have as rich of benefits. He is not sure if that Plan F change will take place later this year or next year.

My husband said that same foreign travel benefits are in Medicare Supplement Plans C, D, F, G, M, and N at this time.

hey guys
thanks for all this info, my friend says she was going to look into this type of insurance. she says coverage with her credit card, what it covers i don'i know. we do have medical with our pension we pay per month, not international. Thanks @Laura B about medicare supplements, had no clue. Like maggie i will be forwarding all this info to her and keep her busy. her holiday starts september to copenhagen, stockholm, cornwall and st ives. they'll have a blast, someplace new to explore.
thanks aloha

Princess................ but, to our knowledge, the Medicare supplements may not cover medical evacuation (getting someone home from a foreign country to the hospital of their choice)............but check your individual Medicare supplement policy to read the language. It is our understanding there is coverage for emergency medical treatment (not non-emergency) during the first 60 days of each trip outside the USA, with the understanding that it is limited to a lifetime maximum benefit of $50,000.. Check individual policy language for any deductibles and co-payment %s, which can vary by which type Medicare supplement one has..

@maggie
thanks for the info about medicare plan F. I will look more into it and pass it on to my friend. always great to have travelers here put your thoughts in. thanks
aloha

This topic comes up repeatedly, so:

Medicare supplement (Medigap) coverage. Here is the CMS webpage: https://www.medicare.gov/supplement-other-insurance/medigap-and-travel/medigap-and-travel.html
Important take always: 1) Medicare itself has NO coverage outside the US, 2) the Medigap policies listed do, but there is a $250 deductible and a $50K lifetime limit. While $50K is a lot of money, catastrophic care can easily exceed that. There is no coverage for medical evacuation.

Credit card coverage:this varies from card to card. Some will not cover anything if the trip was not charged to the card. Others are “pay and chase”. You pay then file a claim with them. Others offer more real time services, similar to a travel insurance policy.

We have a Medigap policy (F) and credit cards with some coverage. We still purchase travel insurance as I want higher medical limits, evacuation coverage, cancellation, etc. We’ve used it twice, money well spent.

Alan,
Very well stated!!

It is all too easy to blow thru $50,000 with a serious emergency medical situation.....we can all name many of them very quickly. And, would you want to be in another country for a prolonged period of time or face the high cost of a medical evacuation to a hospital near your home.

Even if you are planning adventurous activities, things can happen simply walking down a street. We met a two young ladies in Sweden (from the US) who were slowly making their way to England so their friend (who broke a leg or something like that) was going to catch a cruise ship to get home (which was far from the original plan) because she could not fly home. Dear friends to help her by renting a vehicle and change their original vacation plans, seeing various countries that were en route that they would not have otherwise seen.....all the while their friend stayed in the hotel(s) along the way.

A broken leg can be minor compared to a quadruple bypass surgery, etc. or being hit by a car with serious injuries.

While our cousin is self-insuring his alumni tour, we personally insure not only our tours, but also insure for $1 million emergency medical and much more than $50K medical.

And, again, I hope no one needing this ever needs to make a claim under these circumstances, just like I hope you never have to file a claim for a tornado, lava, or earthquake affecting your home. But, being properly insured is just wise!

Also important about Medigap insurance -- you can get it without medical underwriting if you buy it within strict time limits after you first become eligible, but any later changes to try to increase uour coverage may require that the insurer approve you -- so pre-existing conditions may be a problem.