I am wondering if any Fodorites use AMEX emergency health care coverage for travel health insurance? I have chosen not to use the most often cited insurance companies whose policies usually include lost baggage, coverage for loss due to cancellation, etc.
When I looked into a few companies they were very expensive for health coverage.

Our situation is that we own a home in Portugal and spend time there every year in the spring and fall so all we want is health coverage. Amex , for the very reasonable price of $18 billed every month on my card, provides what looks like good basic coverage for accident/sickness including (God forbid it's needed...repatriation) and this is for 2 people
with a $100,000 level of coverage.

If anyone on this forum has any claim experience with them I would love to hear how they responded and how well all was handled. A friend who is in insurance is not so confident they are really going to cover willingly what the policy states as they are not primarily health insurers. His recommendation is to go with a Dutch company that will cover Americans for short periods abroad ...about $275 for coverage for two persons for 30 days.

I have a european amex card and was unaware of the medical policy until I was going to cancel my card. The staff on the phone was quite a good salesperson and recommended I read up on the insurance policies, as she saw I travelled frequently,.

When I buy my tickets with -amex I am covered. I have used them for airport delays, and bought up to $50 worth of items at the airport stores.. food and t-shirt, etc.

I also made a claim for a root canal the day before i was returning, They paid the first 250E of that .

So I am keeping my card because until now, I have been reimbursed for every claim I have made.

I have used other companies also and never had a problem claiming normal, health related and delayed flight problems on our trips.

Speaking to them again on the phone might give you more confidence. The Dutch company may have a lower or no deductible or cover up to a higher $$ amount.

Carol. I would be very interested in knowing the answer. My husband will be on Medicare starting in May and since we travel frequently this is something we would be interested in. Medicare does not cover him in Europe and neither does our supplemental.
Keep us posted.

You all might check out the various policies via: www.insuremytrip.com also so that you can compare coverages, premiums and the maximum amount of time the coverage is good for. I believe they have an 800 toll free number also if you want to talk to a represenative.

Thanks for your replies Lincasanova and LoveItaly. Of all the policies I looked at the AMEX was a great price, one is covered for an unlimited number of trips to Europe and just for medical coverage which is what I wanted. Eighteen dollars monthly seems fantastic.

I do not know about the European AMEX card that you referred to, lincasanova but it sounds like they did cover what you were expecting then so that is encouraging to hear.

Sher, this is something those on medicare have to think about as there is no coverage in Europe. I do understand that supplemental coverage companies such as Blue Cross/Blue Shield
do offer "foreign emergency coverage" with certain plans...the F plan being one of those. Maybe you can check this our as far as your husband is concerned.

I have considered cancelling my AMEX card as they are no longer going to transfer points to Continental which we use to fly into Lisbon but may keep the card just for this insurance. I just hate to have to pay an annual cc fee. Our Chase Visa earns points on Continental and has no fee.

I believe Amex has different coverage on different cards. Fees on, for example, a Platinum card, may be worth paying if you consider the insurance that is included. What I like about Amex is that they will also offer help, as well as reimburse costs; for example finding you an English speaking doctor while abroad. They will even cover your kids on a Gap year.

My European Gold Amex comes with the insurance included. I do not pay extra for the insurance. I only need to buy the tickets with Amex, and then I am covered for THAT trip. In the end, the 125 or 150E yearly fee is justified for the time being.

Carol. My former employer provides us with supplemental insurance gratis. But they only offer two or three plans in my area that they will pay for. The ones they offer do not have coverage outside certain areas Europe being one of them.
I could pick up coverage outside of those provided but it seems silly to do that just to get insurance in Europe.

So after May, for the August trip for instance, I went to a travel/medical policy. But we would be interested in something like Amex so that when we want to take off anywhere we would have some kind of coverage.

Sher,

I only got my AMEX gold card when they solicited me and had an unbelievable offer of 50,000 free air miles if one signed up for the card and in 6 weeks charged 500 dollars which was not hard to do...and no fee for the first year.

I was planning on cancelling the card before the anniversary date and the subsequent $150 annual fee but they have this insurance that seems too good to be true. If I were you I would call them, explaining your need for travel health coverage and see what they tell you is available.

It sure seems to be easier to have a "running" coverage rather than having to set it up each time one travels (if that is frequent enough) I think it also depends on whether one also wasnt trip delay, lost baggage coverage, etc. which I did not.

Hi LCC,

>A friend who is in insurance is not so confident they are really going to cover willingly what the policy states....<

My father was in the business for 40 years. He never told me about any Insco that willingly paid a claim.

FWIIW, I had a fender bender in a rental car in Switzerland a few years ago. I was very pleased with the way Amex handled the problem.

Re: repatriation: Read the fine print. It is quite likely that the policy says that repatriation to the US for a living person is solely at their discretion. If there is a local hospital, they will send you there.

This is true of nearly all inscos.

Hi Ira,

Thanks for the thoughts. I am sure that the repatriation regarding AMEX coverage is to transport a body back to the US. This can become very expensive and involved as I understand it. This policy states they will transport you to the nearest facility that is equipped to handle your needs and fly a spouse or other person who is needed by you also to that location. This seems very generous to me.

I guess any insurance company does not want o part with their money. I just seem to read good things about AMEX as far as travel help and am hoping if an emergency ever arrived with this insurance necessary things would be covered.

As you travel a lot do you mind my asking what you do for emergency health coverage in case of a very big health event while abroad?

Carol. I like the coverage that one gets from insurance for lost baggage, etc. And until now we had a very good Blue Cross policy that would even send an interpreter if we needed it. But that kind of coverage ends when he turns 65 unless we want to foot the bill for it and you can imagine what that would cost.

The lost baggage, etc kind of insurance we have been getting has coverage and for evacuation, etc. But shortly, the most important thing for me is going to be the medical coverage he will no longer have since Medicare doesn't cover one outside the US.

So. Primarily I will be looking for a policy heavy on the medical which is more important. The new policy will cover him for emergency care but only in the US. And if we start to spend extended periods of time in Florida it would be nice to have some extra coverage for care here should he need it.

I am very interested in reading any tips people here might have.

Sher,

I am not sure how familiar you are with medicare but I am a bit as my husband has been on it for 2 years.

You will probably want a "supplemental" insurance as medicare does not pay 100% of the allowable fees...only 80%. This supplemental comes in a few varities of coverage, some as good as covering your initial deductible for medicare and the remaining amount (20%) that medicare is not going to pay. The F plan is just such coverage offered by a variety of insurers at varying prices for the plan. Blue cross medicare supplemental plan does show foreign "emergency" care coverage on the F plan but I am not sure just what they mean by that (as does Mutual of Omah)....will they only cover 20% of your fereign emergency medical cost? (and medicare of course nothing)
This is something I need to check on but I know that I still need coverage for myself for certain at this time.

I've been looking at the Amex medical coverage because I take several trips a year and the price is great. The part that concerns me is the pre-existing conditions. Their FAQ says:

"Travel Medical Protection is designed to cover unexpected emergencies. Pre-existing condition precludes coverage for those medical conditions that have manifested themselves, became acute, or were being treated in the 60 days before a Covered Trip which will take you more than 150 miles radius from your Permanent Residence"

So you have to make sure you're healthy for 60 days before each trip

Medicare supplements have a LIFETIME limit on benefits for foreign travel of $50,000, so if you have travel medical insurance, you may want to make sure it's primary coverage, not secondary.

I've been discussing these various issues with Steve at tripinsurance.com. He seems very knowledgeable and helpful.

Oops, I was wrong. Some Medicare supplements do not have a $50,000 lifetime cap, apparently.

http://tripinsurancestore.com/5/medicare.shtml explains it nicely.

Note that I have no connection to the tripinsurance store, just a little bit of personal experience with their services.

I'm batting 0 for 2 so far -- it's tripinsurancestore.com.

I'm going to retreat back into lurking until my fingers warm up.

Scooterr, Seems like a good idea for me to check out tripinsurance store. Thanks for the info....I just hate dealing with this stuff!! The travel planning is much more fun than this.

Hi LCC,

>...what [do] you do for emergency health coverage in case of a very big health event while abroad?

My Medicare supplementary ins through BC/BS covers my spouse and me.

For repatriation insurance, I joined https://www.diversalertnetwork.org

Carol. I understand that some plans do cover you but the supplemental plan provided free of charge by my former employer is not one of those plans.
Rather than pay for my own insurance plan that does have this benefit I would like to get just a travel medical policy.
Thanks.