Take Medical Insurance Cards?

You might want to have that card to show to any hospital you end up in. Perhaps your Travel Guard insurance will get in touch with your Medicare plan G, if you have that. Plan G supplemental will cover up to $50k lifetime out of US.
I say this based on ending up in a Bangkok hospital when I had Allianz travel insurance and I walked out with the bill paid and no money out of pocket from me on discharge. I believe that Allianz contacted my Medicare Kaiser and they all worked it out. Although my only contact at the time was Allianz.
The truth is that if you don’t have the card and you need it, you are out of luck. It is only a small card to carry. What’s the problem?

If there were some kind of accident or emergency on our way out of the US or before your return to your house, you would need them, if photos or upload to the cloud were okay, then you would never need to carry the originals anywhere. Sorry, but I had a career as an SSA specialist, and originals are required.

Carry them. They don't weigh that much.

Medicare itself does not cover you overseas. But some supplemental plans do have some coverage. Best to call the insurance company and see what is covered. Your travel insurance may specify that they are “secondary” coverage and you would need to be denied by your regular insurance first before they cover you.

Regardless, I would take the cards with me. What if you needed medical care at a layover in a U.S. airport? I put cards that I am unlikely to need (medical cards, extra credit card, etc.) in an interior zippered pocket inside my purse and forget about them. Taking pictures of important documents is also a good idea.

original cards are required? Cmon I know it's the government but even they must recognize that time and tech march on.

I take photos of my cards and that should be sufficient for anything. My medicare advantage plan through Kaiser covers urgent and emergency care worldwide so that would be my primary source of health care.

Thanks to all for your input. Good points made by all. Will take the cards.

Every medical office we go in to has required our original cards to be scanned into their system, not copies. In order to get a Real ID a drivers license PA not only requires an original SSA card, it also may not be laminated. If employers would actually examine real SSA cards from new hires, and not copies, a significant amount of misuse of SSNs and identity theft issues could be accomplished.

While you are in the USA, you are covered by Medicare. So, from the time you leave your house to the moment the plane lifts off, you are covered by Medicare. And so is the return.

My Medigap poicy offers decent international coverage. You should check yours before you go to see if you have international coverage.

Note that even if your gap, supplemental, or advantage program covers medical costs overseas, it doesn't mean that the care provider and your insurance company will work together seamlessly to cover the costs. US health insurance is not something European care providers will bill automatically or deal with directly. You may have to pay when treated, and request reimbursement from your insurance, which is not something we're used to doing at home That means you need good documentation of what was done, and good contact info if you need more info to support your claim. Maybe translation services as well.