NY TIMES ARTICLE--Accident overseas--tips
 

I wanted to link this with the recent report about the accident in Bali,but I could not find it with a search.

Anyway, maybe this will be helpful.


http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/04/tr...amp;ref=travel

my initial response is that he hurt his ankle...not broke his leg, or had a bone piercing his skin....

i think i would have taken lots of pain pills, gotten back to singapore, a fairly short flight....and from there just done a flight adjustment on my original ticket costing $100 +/-....

this seems like overkill...i'll get yelled at for this, but...'typical new yorker.....'

i guess trip insurance is important, but we never get it....we do have medical evacuation insurance through the divers network, DAN, at about $50 yr for the two of us...

My travel insurance came in handy when I fell and broke my fifth metatarsal in 11/07 in Japan. I had to appeal to get the full amount to which I believed I was entitled but I ended up successful. :) My 'flight adjustment' cost over $1500......

RHK:

I also think it was a bit of overkill..and this is coming from a New Yorker! I guess they were really frightened.


Do you have to be a diver for the DAN insurance? Have you ever had to use it? Thanks!


http://www.diversalertnetwork.org/trip/

Not sure what you're describing as "overkill." He had a broken ankle--not just a "hurt ankle"--and he needed orthopedic surgery. My daughter broke her ankle roller-blading with serious and painful results. She described her foot as loosely "flopping" after the break. Required several surgeries, pins inserted, etc.
The NYT traveller had to keep his leg in the cast elevated on the flight home, and therefore at least needed two seats, if not first or business class.
What am I missing in this account that you esteemed FodorFolk (ekscrunchy and rhkkmk) are responding to?
Last year, before my current six-month trip to Asia, I was looking into insurance options, including DAN. I finally decided, after considering our other existing coverages, to go for additional medical insurance beyond medical evacuation that I hope will cover something like this.

no you need not be a diver or have any other relationship with DAN..

The author says in the article that it is doubtful that insurance would have authorized a medical airlift. Do you think they would have paid for a first class ticket?


"We did not have medical travel insurance. Would special travel insurance coverage have made it cheaper or easier? While medical evacuation is normally included with most comprehensive travel policies, it is doubtful a fractured ankle would have merited an air ambulance."

"The author says in the article that it is doubtful that insurance would have authorized a medical airlift. Do you think they would have paid for a first class ticket?"

That's why you need to read the really small print on the policy. I was covered under what they call medical repatriation which is less stringent than medical evacuation.....

However, in my case because of the ins. co. doctor being unavailable to authorize my trip, I bought my own ticket (reimbursed after my appeal to ins. co.) and traveled coach - had I waited for the ins. co. I would have insisted on first class and I think I would have gotten it as my foot needed elevation - it's a long trip from NRT to JFK... ;-)

I, too, thought the article was overkill. I broke my elbow in Japan. They cast it, 10 days later recast it, and then when I got home, three weeks later, I had the surgery to replace the radius. IMHO I had a faster recovery from the surgery since the swelling was down from the original injury. My surgeon did not think the waiting had been a problem. But, walking on a broken ankle could be quite uncomfortable. There are good docs and hospitals in Singapore. Unless it was an unusual problem...getting it fixed in Singapore and recovering in a nice hotel doesn't sound bad to me. Flying home in a state of pain and fear, then getting from airport to hospital is also not fun. Fyi...my medical insurance paid for my treatment in Japan.

I guess I would like to know why the option of going to Singapore was “quickly dismissed”, when that would be the logical choice for most of us here. The article does not discuss why this very obvious option was not used. To travel more then 24 hours (via a change of planes) with a broken and untreated ankle seems crazy to me. Barry Cooper the victim, is hotel developer and his wife, the author is a travel writer. For two people who should have some travel experience, they seem incredibly dense.

Always the cynic, I wonder if this is just a plug for buying travel insurance. I have no argument against travel insurance and have purchased it from time to time, but this seems like a scare-the-uniformed article.

Barry actually flew to Singapore on his way back to the US, and the class he flew was not noted, and one wonders if Barry flew economy on that leg. Entirely possible that he did so, and yet he seems to have survived. He then he could have easily had surgery in Singapore where presumably health insurance would have covered his surgery.

I am no doctor, but would you even put ice on a <i>fractured</i> ankle? I can’t see how ice is going to help a fracture, and may even be bad for it. I did not get the point of that part of the article.

I also want to know why the author had to point out that their phone service was with AT&amp;T. The whole article just smacks of a commercial: use AT&amp;T so you will have good phone coverage, get travel insurance from the sites listed.

Finally, my last question would be: why were these two people, who were staying at the Oberoi Lombok and from my basic research seem to be fairly well off (they live in a 2220 square foot apartment in Greenwich Village and buy Pratesi sheets; see NY Times article “Gender wars on the Home Front” February 8, 2001) NOT ALREADY FLYING BUSINESS CLASS ON THIS TRIP? Taking this trip on an economy class flights would not seem to match their lifestyle. And the change in class of flight seems to have been their only expense. This again begs the question of whether this article is genuine.

While it's too bad about the broken ankle, I. too think this was overkill. Why? Well, as other have pointed out, it would have been perfectly possible to have the surgery in Singapore for considerably less than the US. If the regular medical insurance would have covered it, that would be the way to go, IMO. But even if one decided to have it in NYC, there was no real reason to opt for the First class ticket on the first flight out - a business class ticket at far less cost would have been available in the next couple of days. Many travel med policies would pay for a premium class ticket in lieu of med evac (a friend of mine had this paid for) , but you do have to read all of the fine print to know for sure.

My medical insurance pays for urgent medical care world-wide. I also carry med evac for really serious issues. If your medical insurance doesn't cover urgent care outside the US (note that medicare does not) it makes sense to carry a travel med policy.

it might make nice cocktail chat to have all these things to talk about in the village one nite...

rhkkmk, where did you get the
med evac insurance? I looked on the DAN website and it was not listed (at least, I did not see it listed!) Thanks, Jane

Jane, go to the DAN site and click on &quot;membership&quot; (not &quot;insurance&quot;). In that section you will see that one of the benefits of membership is med evac insurance. You just pay the yearly membership fee. I've been carrying this for years - it's very inexpensive insurance.

Thanks, Kathie!

i just renewed my membership...$55 for two people

I joined. Has anyone ever had to use their services and how did it work??
Jane

I haven't had to be med evac'd - fortunately - but I know someone who was med evac'd by them from Nepal. It all went very smoothly, and the couple had nothing but praises for the med evac company. Note that as with all med evac policies, the company must arrange the med evac.

I finally read the article. Pretty much useless in my opinion, except to emphasize the need for good travel insurance.
Sounds like the writer did not have a clue what kind of coverage they had before they left. Kind of shocking for a travel writer (assuming she is one).
I have coverage I buy through AMEX. It is automatically added on to every international ticket I buy.

I looked at the DAN policy. It seems to cover accidents but not illness. It does not cover illness/accident before you travel which forces you to cancel the trip. DAN does have supplement policies which give more protection. I did not find the very small print giving the full details. We used STA (recommended on the Africa board) and it paid EVERYTHING when we had to cancel our Africa trip due to my husband's illness. It was an expensive trip done thru multiple travel agents, hotels, camps, airlines, guides. It took a long time, but they did fully cover everything. We were lucky because I had not read the fine print. But my husband's illness was acute with multiple hospitalizations and surgery. When accidents happen during travel, I think, in all policies they decide where you need to go for medical care. In my understanding you can't just decide to have them pay for a first class ticket or med evac to return to the US if there is &quot;acceptable&quot; care closer.

As with most travel medical policies, it looks as though the DAN insurance will normally evacuate or repatriate you only to the nearest capable medical facility. For most of us that would be an ambulance ride to a hospital wherever we are travelling.

From their website:
Emergency Evacuation means that, due to medical necessity, the Member or Family Member requires immediate transportation from the place where such person has a medical emergency to the nearest
appropriate medical facility.

Repatriation means that, due to medical necessity,
the Member or Family Member requires transportation to either:
• their primary residence as listed in the DAN
database; or
• the region where they are currently living and/or working at the time of the injury; or
• the appropriate medical facility for care or evaluation, whichever of these is nearest.

I would love to hear the definitive answer as to which travel insurance is &quot;the best.&quot;

I thought STA was for students..no??


Last year I had an African trip planned. Everything was booked and paid for including RT coach air tickets from JFK to SA.

Six weeks before the departure date, one of the two people I was traveling with was hospitalized for a pulmonary embolism that had begun with a leg clot. We all had insurance from TravelGuard. The doctor told my friend she could go, but should fly business class so that she could have more leg room. (she also needed to get a blood tests in SA to check about the Warfarin levels in her blood)

She wanted to cancel the KLM coach flights and buy business class tickets. The insurance company would not reimburse for the cancelled coach tickets. She ended up buying the business tickets and taking a total loss on the non-refundable coach tickets..

Not sure why I am writing all this, but in a situation like this, for example, would another company have refunded the coach ticket price..do you think??

I, too, thought STA was for students until I contacted them. In my case, they were excellent. Paid for everything...no problem that my son-in-law had prepaid part of our trip. We got back the money and repaid him. I just called DAN and they will pay in case of illness not just accident. But they will only take you to nearest acceptable facility. I have no idea about airfare upgrades. I think STA would have paid for cancelling your friend's coach ticket. It was cancelled due to illness, but, of course, only STA could really answer that. I also asked DAN what would happen if (from the original example) broken leg. Did not need to be flown out but couldn't do much. They would pay for the ticket change to a time the person could fly (no info on upgrade) but not pay for new hotel, but if you had bought trip cancellation/interuption insurance, they would pay for your prepaid stuff. Don't know what is best, but my feeling is unless your have bought really expensive insurance, you will probably take a loss somewhere. We were just lucky with STA and our circumstances. Now we should rebook our Africa trip and get more insurance.

You do need to know exactly what a policy covers. DAN membership covers only med evac. It is not a more general travel policy. And, like most med evac policies it covers transport to the &quot;nearest
appropriate medical facility.&quot; An ambulance ride to the local hospital or clinic is not med evac.

Rufus, I don't know where you travel, but I travel mostly to Asia these days, and mostly to third world countries. If I had broken an ankle in Nepal, the &quot;nearest
appropriate medical facility&quot; would have been Bangkok or Singapore, not a clinic in Kathmandu.

Some people object to getting treatment at a hospital outside their home country. If that's you, you need to get a policy that will fly you home after medical stabilization.

There is no &quot;best&quot; travel insurance. Everyone's needs are different. I buy just what I need, so never buy a whole package policy. Right now, I'm not looking for cancelation insurance or for medical insurance, I just need med evac insurance.

Eks, I don't know if another insurance company would have reimbursed your friend for her tickets or not. It seems to me that it falls outisde the usual travel insurance policies I've seen.

I am really surprised this was published by the NYT - doesn't seem that much of a story, a bit hyped up for the paper? I thought the report recently about the accident in Bali was far better written and illustrated the same points - does anyone agree?

I also cannot believe that the writer is a travel expert - perhaps I am a victim of very effective insurance company marketing, but I wouldn't dream of travelling without really comprehensive travel (inc medical) insurance.

We get very comprehensive travel insurance from Amex as part of the 'deal' for being card holders - but we are UK card holders. Is it different in the states? The writer seemed to have some cover from Amex but nowhere near as much as we get. The cover is good as well and we don't have to use our Amex at all in booking the holiday to get it. My sister's bf was on holiday when he got DVT - the ins would have paid for them to stay on (inc accommodation, travel and medical expenses - not food though) or for the medical evacuation to the UK (across europe in an ambulance - no flying of course). Luckily for him (given the state of our National Health Service), his doc recommended staying put and they stayed on for an extra few weeks.

Bella, the insurance regulations are different in the states. One of the regulars here, Leigh, said that in the UK they can buy a whole year of comprehensive travel insurance... not available in the US.

I am looking for thread by the person who broke his leg in Bhutan. He got a walking cast flown in from Bangkok, I think. I went back 500 items and could not find it. Anybody note it??

that's right Kathie - you can get a really comprehensive worldwide annual multi-trip policy for a family of 4 with medical coverage for up to &pound;10m starting from about &pound;85 (just had a quick scoot)

I too felt the NYT article was a shameful advertisement incognito.

Elainee, I remember the post, searched for it but also couldn't find it.

Kathie--that's why I said &quot;for most of us.&quot;

I am bringing this up again in case anyone has something more to add. Even with the new forums, I could not find that thread about the accident in Bali and the discussion that followed.

The InsureMyTrip site is overwhelming!

We are 3 persons looking to purchase insurance that will cover cancellation and medical evac and treatment. My two friends want to buy a policy that will also allow them to cancel if I cannot go for any reason. (They would not want to go themselves).

Any thoughts here before I make some calls?

Let's get this straight. You have two friends that want to insure against your unreliability? Who would have thunk it? How is such a thing possible. We Fodorites can assure your frinds that you are completely reliable, if glacially slow.

I believe that trip cancellation insurance (which I never buy myself) usually covers cancellation due to the illness of family members or traveling companions, but you have to read the individual policies. I always have medical evacuation coverage from tenweb.com, but nothing else. However, if I were buying a really expensive tour of some kind (like the Pandaw boat, lol), I would.

Well at least I do not have to worry about you, Panda! (See Shanghai thread)

Yes, these two misguided souls have decided that they will not be able to take this trip if ekscrunchy has to bail out due to incarceration or other misfortune.

Do you buy travel insurance and if so, please give me a hint?

Did you notice that a certain trip report is all but complete, lacking only the mudane details of the airport transfer and plane trips back to base?

I know that there is trip cancellation insurance available that allows for cancellation for any reason, but it is expensive and must be purchased within two weeks of booking the trip. I've never purchased such insurance. Like thursdays I only carry med evac.

Thanks, Kathie. I am looking into both Ten Web and MedJet Assist. I will pass along the related info to my friends since their needs, and their ages, are different than my own.

http://www.tenweb.com/ (less expensive; trying to figure out the difference between the two)

http://www.medjetassist.com/ (why twice the price?)

We never buy trip insurance. On our seven Asia trips, but not doing so, we have essentially paid for the eighth trip. We do have DAN evacuation insurance.

Perhaps your unsuspecting "friends" will accept your assurance that you will actually carry through in ONE of your commeittments?

You'd better watch out Mr. Snarky Panda! There are dastardly deeds that I can pull on my captors!

Have you not heard the news that the report in question is just about complete?

Ok--here is how I will forgive you. You have to tell me why the Medjet is more expensive than the DAN evac insurance. And make it snappy! No time wasting or dragging out a simple chore!

http://www.medjet.com/

Don't know about medjet. I've just followed Kathie's sage advice and signed up with DAN.

BTW, I am not your captor. Merely a snide observer. If there wasn't so much ammunition, I wouldn't fire so often.

Pandas do not seek forgiveness, ever. We proceed forward at all times. To paraphrase on old "hill Street Blues" line:

We ain't got no back-up genes.