Health insurance

Posted by lisab14 on 06/13/24 03:05 PM

Hello everyone - I'm so grateful to have found this blog. Your answers to some of my previous questions have been so helpful.

I have never been to Garmany and only have traveled out of the US a few times in my life. My 18 year old son will be traveling by himself in July from the States to Germany. He will be there for 2-3 weeks this summer staying with a friend (general areas of Bavaria and Hungry.) I was told our current health plan does not cover any incidents outside of the United States and they were nitvatcall helpful. I would feel much better knowing he has some type of health coverage even for that short time. Does anyone know of a place that I can contact about this?

Posted by KD

06/13/24 03:31 PM

924 posts

We purchase GeoBlue. We first bought it for our son when he studied abroad. We purchase it for our international trips too, and just had to file a claim for a minor injury we had treated in France last month. The process for the claim was quick and easy. Also, we purchase the 0 deductible insurance plan to make things easy. And it will be very inexpensive to purchase for your son, as the price is based on age as well as length of stay.

Posted by Plumeria54

Bainbridge Island, WA

06/13/24 03:33 PM

288 posts

I have also used GeoBlue for medical - they have a good app that your son will be able to download with all the relevant info and it can be used to find providers if he ends up needing medical care. You can easily find them online and the signup process is pretty quick.

Posted by Paul

Eastern Iowa, USA

06/13/24 03:59 PM

8066 posts

Look at health insurance specifically geared for travel. Beware of travel insurance that includes health coverage, you may wind up overpaying, since it is based on cost of the trip, you only need to insure what you might lose, and are concerned more about the health insurance. There are lots of companies like Allianz, AIG, Travel Guard, GeoBlue, and many more.

Compare plans, have a decent amount of coverage, and especially good evacuation insurance. If there is an accident, and he can't travel back on his original ticket, without assistance, that can get expensive.

Posted by Sandancisco

Bay Area SF & Uppsala Sweden

06/13/24 04:19 PM

997 posts

Yep, also purchase Geo Blue although I've not had to put in a claim, thank goodness. Welcome to the Forum! There's quite a bit written about travel insurance and what you may or may not need, pre-existing conditions, whats covered and what's not. The Search bar above is your friend! Here's what I just found - https://search.ricksteves.com/?button=&filter=Travel+Forum&query=insurance&utf8=%E2%9C%93

Posted by Carol now retired

Lynnwood, Washington

06/13/24 04:46 PM

8886 posts

Allianz offers a low cost plan.

Posted by Dick

Olympia, WA, USA

06/13/24 05:01 PM

6713 posts

You should be able to compare travel health plans here and here. As advised above, don't buy a "comprehensive" insurance plan unless you also want to cover financial losses due to cancellations, delays, lost bags, and other risks. A quick look at insuremytrip.com suggests a premium around $20 for up to $50,000 medical coverage for an 18-year-old over three weeks in July in Germany. If that's the whole story, it would be a bargain.

You might also want to learn more about Germany's and Hungary's health systems and how foreigners could access and pay for care. My wife needed care for an infection in Budapest and we paid less than $100 out of pocket, including medication. Of course much more expensive scenarios are possible, and insurance for us would have cost much more because of age.