Medicare travelers

If you need emergency treatment at a foreign hospital, supplemental insurance policies such as certain Medigap and travel plans may cover the expenses. Evacuation clause? Read the fine print!

You aren't covered, as you know. If your supplemental or Medicare advantage plans don't cover you, each participant can get insurance. See insuremytrip.com for lists of policies. Also, as stated above, look at evacuation insurance in case anyone needs special transport home after an accident or illness.

I'll double down on Bets suggestion. While some Medigap (supplements) policies have some extended coverage Medicare does not and Medicare Advantage usually does not (call customer service to find out) so no coverage overseas. The site he suggest is easy to navigate. Note: Many policies you purchase will not cover pre existing conditions or will limit coverage of those conditions unless you buy the policy within 10 days of making your initial deposit for the trip, so if you are in that window, go to the site now! Read the fine print, easy on the site. When choosing you can call them with questions.

You will get good care in Europe. They will not turn you down because you are a tourist or don't have local insurance. There have reports here of receiving medical services and no bill. BUT - I would not count on that as the norm. In addition to Medicare and the supplement we carry a year around medical evacuation policy. Our supplement provides limited coverage in Europe. Pay first and get reimbursed at home. Generally speaking the actual cost of hospital, meds, etc., in Europe will be relatively low so I can cover that. My biggest concern is getting home in the event of something really serious. Doesn't have to be a private jet but could be. Just a last minute ticket with disruption of current plans can be expensive.

Medicare will not cover you overseas. Your supplemental insurance may or may not. Read the fine print. Most general travel polices do have medical coverage as well as coverage for missed flights, lost luggage, and etc. Bets made a good suggestion about a place to compare plans. Also, most med. evacuation portions of general travel policies will only evacuate you to the nearest "suitable facility" or some such wording. The is a company called Med Jet Assist that offers a variety of evacuation plans that will return you home in a medical aircraft. It is not medical insurance -- just evacuation insurance. Google them and see what you think.

While i think Frank is correct, do remember that "Europe" is not a country and that costs, options anf outcomes may vary significantly from country to country. I have a health condition so I do a little research for the major cities that i will be in.

I've never bought insurance before and we've had to get (brief) care once in England and once in Canada. Bills were so minimal that I didn't even worry about them. Medicare supp my travel partner has is pay-first-and-we-reimburse-you-later for medical emergencies and resulting hospital stays only. My Blue Cross actually lists hospitals in nearly every city we travel to as an in-network option. We therefore don't buy any medical coverage.

I did, just yesterday, purchase my first medical evacuation coverage from MedJet Assist as we are going to China next week. I chose them because they would fly you home, not just to the nearest hospital deemed acceptable and because YOU decide if you want to be transported, not some guy on a phone somewhere who's having a quick call with a doctor in some random hospital.

MedJet gives a generous discount for AARP members. 8 Day single person policy goes from $99 to $80. For a couple it was $155. Yearlong policy goes from $270 to $240, I think.

We purchased the AARP supplement because it provides coverage abroad.

I would mention that Medicare Supplement policies are regulated and the coverages do not differ between companies, only the prices. Last time I looked, there were some fixed limits, like $50,000 in some cases. But many of the regulated policies provide no overseas coverage.

I cannot imagine traveling abroad without some coverage. Admittedly, when my parents are gone I won't need cancellation insurance as much as I do now, but you could get hit by a car in a mall parking lot the day before the trip. Why wouldn't you (I mean, they, the others on the trip) buy a comprehensive policy? It's burying your head in the sand not to.

To answer your question, if someone has an emergency that requires a hospital visit, that person would go to the hospital, just like at home. And, if that person is an American citizen, the bill will be a pleasant surprise. Our experience with European hospitals has been (1) they said they'll bill us, and they did, (2) they took a credit card, and (3) they told us that there would be no charge. The first case was when my husband spent the night in the ER and the others were when were treated by a doctor in a hospital, but weren't admitted.

Our Medicare Senior Advantage policy covers us wherever we are. We submit the bills, or proof of payment if we put it on a credit card, and Kaiser pays it. We also carry a policy with EA+ in case of need for medical evacuation.

We don't buy additional insurance, but that decision should be based on your financial situation. I don't consider that choice to be a "head in the sand" issue, but rather one that results from knowing exactly what we are spending and just how much we can afford to lose.

For those in traditional Medicare Parts A and B, supplemental "Medigap" may or may not provide 80% foreign travel: https://www.medicare.gov/supplement-other-insurance/compare-medigap/compare-medigap.html
https://www.medicare.gov/supplement-other-insurance/medigap-and-travel/medigap-and-travel.html

Medigap & travel

Your Medigap policy may offer additional coverage for health care
services or supplies that you get outside the U.S.

Standard Medigap Plans C, D, F, G, M, and N provide foreign travel
emergency health care coverage when you travel outside the U.S.

Plans E, H, I, and J are no longer for sale, but if you bought one
before June 1, 2010 you may keep it. All of these plans also provide
foreign travel emergency health care coverage when you travel outside
the U.S.

Medigap coverage outside the U.S.

Medigap Plans C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, M, and N pay 80% of the billed
charges for certain medically necessary emergency care outside the
U.S. after you meet a $250 deductible for the year. These Medigap
policies cover foreign travel emergency care if it begins during the
first 60 days of your trip, and if Medicare doesn't otherwise cover
the care.

Foreign travel emergency coverage with Medigap policies has a lifetime
limit of $50,000.

Our Kaiser policy (and in future years our Kaiser Senior Advantage Medicare supplement policy) includes medical coverage for all travel, anywhere, anytime. That includes evacuation. We also have a credit card that includes the same sort of travel insurance coverage that the independent policies offer. It is always good to inform yourself of what your policy/credit card covers so that you don't end up overpaying for duplication of coverage. So much better to use that extra money on more travel right?

Just signed up for Chase Sapphire Reserve credit card (BIG signup bonus) which for $450/year card fee includes evacuation/repatriation insurance. I read the benefits section and it looks OK, except that as stated above THEY decide whether you get evacuated back home or just to a nearby hospital.

But we have been relying on Medigap plan F coverage for overseas emergencies. (Which we have not experienced to date.)

Nancy, in what country did you utalize the hospital?

James, the ambulance ride and overnight stay in the hospital was in Arles, France. Final bill, with 2-page itemized list of charges came to €113. We've seen doctors in hospitals in Bath and Prague and and had a doctor come to our hotel room for treatment in Budapest. When I asked in the Bath hospital where I should go to pay, the doctor said that no one would know how to do that. I left my name and address and assumed I'd get a bill, but I never did. The bill for the doctor in the Prague hospital was 764 CZK. The hotel visit in Budapest was 45,000 Ft.

I visited an emergency clinic in Ljubljana last year because of a gastro problem. The clinic looked more like an ER than one of the quick US-style walk-in clinics, and I think it was attached to a hospital. They took a medical history, did blood work (confirmed some sort of bacterial infection), gave me IV fluids, and transported me in a wheelchair to a nearby gastro specialty clinic. The latter took a more extensive medical history. Because I was already feeling better at that point and had to leave the country (Schengen!) before more detailed lab results would be available, I did not get antibiotics.

Total cost, which I paid on the spot by credit card: about US $250, of which my BC/BS insurance reimbursed about $220.

In 2014 I fell and broke my wrist on the last day of our Coast to Coast walk, and emergency care in the UK was free.

Nancy, that's great to hear. I've been more fortunate with my health on the road. I developed strep throat in Romania about 5 years ago and ended up in a small town clinic. There was a long, long, long waiting line, but because I was a cash customer I was put at the front of the line. I was put in a 10 x 10 room with nothing but a steel desk in the middle. The Doctor only spoke Russian and Romanian. He felt the bumps on my head and had me sit on the desk while he did the hammer on the knee thing. I kept pointing to my throat and finally he held up a finger and left the room, returning a few minutes later with a brand new, never before used tongue depressor. He looked down my throat made a horrible expression and wrote me three prescriptions. Cost was about $10. The pharmacy in didn't have any of the prescriptions so they substituted some really good vitamins.

These days I get all of my dental work done in Budapest for about 30 cents on the dollar as compared to US prices. The place I go is as modern as any place in the US and the dentist treats me like a human being. The savings on a root canal and a crown almost pay for the plane ticket.

My wife had a minor emergency surgical procedure performed at a private clinic in Budapest, and again the service and quality was outstanding while the price was about 30% of what the same would have cost in the states. And again, the doctors were kind and respectful.

Of course, all of the examples, mine and the others posted here, were in paid clinics and not on the national health plans which can be different. I have an English friend that has lived in Budapest for more than 10 years now and he says that the Hungarian health care system is better than that in the UK. The news I've heard coming out of the UK this week sort of supports that as well. Oddly enough half of my dentist's clients are Swiss.