Health insurance

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.

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.

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.

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

Allianz offers a low cost plan.

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.

For our upcoming Vietnam trip, I compared Allianz with American Express

I went with Amex trip-specific because it offered 4x the medical coverage ($100k vs 25k) for a fraction of the money. It’s a bit apples to oranges because Allianz is annual, but I could buy four 17-day Amex policies per year and still get more coverage

The proof is in the claims processing since all insurance companies kinda suck after they have your money, but we’ll see.

In Germany, in the "general areas of Bavaria and Hungary"? LOL, Hungary hasn't been under Germany control since 1945 and doesnt share a border, but that aside (and you write like I do, and things slip through ... I get it. just joking with you or I would have to hold myself to the same standard and I would fail), I live in Hungary and have an Alianz Expat medical plan. Pays 100% of everything up to some fairly low levels. I dont have the policy in front of me, but the coverage is generally good to $20 or $30 thousand.

Now I just talk about Hungary, not sure how it compares in detail to Germany. I go to Private healthcare providers. Alianz pays them direct and in two years I have never paid a cent for anything out of pocket (except meds) and I go to 2 doctors every 3 months (limit to how long they can write prescriptions for) and one doctor every six months and an outpatient procedure every other year. Then there is the annual oddball like an opthomologist or a dermatologist. So, a lot. But the prices, if I did pay, are half of what the US would cost for office visits and lab tests, and 1/10 for the outpatient procedure.

If I were to exceed what the policy pays we have a National Healthcare system here. It is very .... hmmmmm .... adequate. The doctors truly are very good, the facilities are "okay" and the prices are truly a fraction of US prices. No matter what it is I suspect the survival rate between Hungary and the US is more or less the same.

BUT, I also have evacuation insurance and its pretty liberal under what conditions i can activate it. So I can get home to Texas if it is something prolonged or complicated. At home I have Medicare Part B.