How much travel health insurance for 1 week cruise?

[Gigi22]

This is to settle a difference of opinion. A friend in her 60s has $500,000 health insurance coverage for out of the country travel. I suggested she buy more, but she feels she has enough insurance because her trip is only for 1 week. Opinions?

 

[Mortlives]

I have $1,000,000 and I'm not over 60. So much to go wrong.

 

[isabellea]

I think we have 2 000 000$ with DH's work insurance plan. We don't buy extra insurance since his work plan covers the medical and my Mastercard covers cancellations.

 

[Starwind]

Length of trip is irrelevant, because if it is needed it is needed - think of it as a one-time event that may be quick and over (quick ER trip) or prolonged (serious medical incident requiring prologonged specialty care and medical evacuatiion and repatriation). Whether the trip is one day or one hundred days, either extreem and everything in between is possible.

Location of trip and activities you are doing ARE relevant and may result in higher cost insurance since the "normal" insurance usually excludes certain things like higher risk sports and to have them covered you need an additional rider.

Our travel emergency medical insurance policy covers upto CAD$5 million and includes evacuation coverage.

 

[AngelDisney]

I have insurance from work but I still get extra medical insurance ($2,000,000) for DD and myself. I am considering trip cancellation insurance for trip this coming January. Winter travel worries me.

 

[ilovetotravel1977]

YES! Always make sure you are fully covered for air evacuation off the ship!

 

[deedubb]

Length of trip is irrelevant, because if it is needed it is needed - think of it as a one-time event that may be quick and over (quick ER trip) or prolonged (serious medical incident requiring prologonged specialty care and medical evacuatiion and repatriation). Whether the trip is one day or one hundred days, either extreem and everything in between is possible.

Location of trip and activities you are doing ARE relevant and may result in higher cost insurance since the "normal" insurance usually excludes certain things like higher risk sports and to have them covered you need an additional rider.

Our travel emergency medical insurance policy covers upto CAD$5 million and includes evacuation coverage.

Agree with this. Doesn't matter how long you're gone. What does matter is what happens to you. If it is something catastrophic with a prolonged stay in the ICU and you are too sick to be airlifted back to Canada, you could definitely burn through $500K.

 

[minnie56]

$2M PP
And I think that's on the low side...

Plus, cancellation and interruption insurance of course

 

[Cruisin]

Where would you look for health travel insurance for someone with pre-existing conditions?

My husband had a heart attack in July and had 3 stents inserted at that time. He was hospitalized again in mid September with chest pains. The September hospitalization turned out to be for medication reactions and not related to his heart as they had originally thought.

He was also diagnosed as diabetic at the time of his heart attack. He takes medication for that.

We would like to travel but don't really know where to look for appropriate out of country insurance coverage.

 

[a1tinkfans]

Where would you look for health travel insurance for someone with pre-existing conditions?

My husband had a heart attack in July and had 3 stents inserted at that time. He was hospitalized again in mid September with chest pains. The September hospitalization turned out to be for medication reactions and not related to his heart as they had originally thought.

He was also diagnosed as diabetic at the time of his heart attack. He takes medication for that.

We would like to travel but don't really know where to look for appropriate out of country insurance coverage.

Best of health to ur husband and safe travels.
I’m sure others with more experience to help will offer up specifics. Good luck!

 

[deedubb]

Where would you look for health travel insurance for someone with pre-existing conditions?

My husband had a heart attack in July and had 3 stents inserted at that time. He was hospitalized again in mid September with chest pains. The September hospitalization turned out to be for medication reactions and not related to his heart as they had originally thought.

He was also diagnosed as diabetic at the time of his heart attack. He takes medication for that.

We would like to travel but don't really know where to look for appropriate out of country insurance coverage.

Try the Snowbird Association.

http://www.snowbirds.org/medipac-travel-insurance

 

[Cruisin]

Try the Snowbird Association.

http://www.snowbirds.org/medipac-travel-insurance

Thanks. I will check this out.

 

[pigletto]

My then 5 year old required two ambulance rides, a CT scan , and one night of hospitalization and I.V. Drugs while were in Orlando in 2010. The bills were above 40,000 usd. We were completely covered through my husbands work but we were mailed copies of what our insurance company paid. You could burn through 500,000 very very fast if hospitalized and unable to get home.
Most importantly , and I cannot stress this enough, the very last thing you want to be doing while sick and terrified in a foreign country, is worrying if it’s going to bankrupt you or take all of your savings.

 

[von Monster]

Where would you look for health travel insurance for someone with pre-existing conditions?

My husband had a heart attack in July and had 3 stents inserted at that time. He was hospitalized again in mid September with chest pains. The September hospitalization turned out to be for medication reactions and not related to his heart as they had originally thought.

He was also diagnosed as diabetic at the time of his heart attack. He takes medication for that.

We would like to travel but don't really know where to look for appropriate out of country insurance coverage.

You need to talk to a broker and make sure that whatever you buy and where ever you get it from your husband is covered for his pre-existing conditions. If you don't explicitly mention something and make sure the insurance company knows about it before hand you could be in real trouble if something came up.

 

[Cruisin]

You need to talk to a broker and make sure that whatever you buy and where ever you get it from your husband is covered for his pre-existing conditions. If you don't explicitly mention something and make sure the insurance company knows about it before hand you could be in real trouble if something came up.

Yes, definitely. I understand that you have to make sure that they know everything in advance. Too big of a risk if they don't.

Thank you for your help.

 

[hardis5]

We travel with an annual policy having $5M in medical coverage. I'd never travel with $500,000 in coverage, for a single serious medical incident and you would literally be financially ruined. As PP said, the length of a cruise is irrelevant. Travel out of country (and people forget out of province as well could cost you) for a single day or a month - the coverage one should have would be the same. One has a serious medical incident requiring a sea evacuation from the ship, that transport, the foreign hospital stay, transfer to another medical facility or medical transport back to Canada would easily be in the millions.

Older family member more than 20 years ago had a stoke in FLA but thankfully had insurance and was in hospital for several weeks which was all covered ($$$$$). Feeling better they check themselves out of hospital against the doctors recommendation that automatically voided further medical coverage. Having another stroke, they had to pay (make payment arrangements) for everything from that second incident through to the $56K to medically transport them back to Canada when a bed could be found for them. This incident always drummed in me to travel with enough insurance unless I am willing to risk everything I have for a medical emergency I may have had no control in preventing or controlling.

 

[kiford]

I didn't even know you could purchase travel health insurance with only $500K coverage. The plan we always purchase has only one option: $5M. I wouldn't go with anything less. I assume that any kind of injury or medical issue that would cause me to have to cancel my trip early and spend significant time in hospital would be reasonably catastrophic and the initial medical treatment would be no less than $1M based on what I know about US hospitals. If it wasn't catastrophic, I would be able to come home to get treatment but would still probably have a $20-50K bill. I'm less worried about that than the $1M+. While the smaller cost is the most likely scenario and can be covered by a less expensive, less comprehensive plan, the higher cost one comes with a much higher impact but the cost differential between the two plans is probably minimal.

 

[BLAZEY]

We each are dually covered under both our work plans for a total of $2.5M each. If we are going further south to Florida I buy extra insurance. If we stay closer to the border I don't. I also carry with me twice as much of prescription medicine as I need for the length of my trip. I carry OTC meds (including ear drops) and I really harp on hand washing to avoid having to see a doctor for relatively minor illnesses.