My mother has medicare health insurance with a supplement. Someone told me that medicare is not valid in Europe. Can anyone give me more information? If this is the case, what would you recommend for a two week trip for catastrophic illness...

First of all check the supplement. My partner's medicare supplement gives pretty much full coverage for everything when traveling out of the country. Many don't, but he specifically chose one that did.

Medicare is not valid outside of the US. There are numerous travel policies available, if the supplement isn't valid either. For comparison of polcies - www.insuremytrip.com

I would be more concerned with emergency repatriation insurance that will allow her to fly back home and be treated. Without insurance this is virtually cost prohibitive for many people.

www.medjetassist.com

Travelguard www.travelguard.com has a number of different policies you might consider including medical coverage and medical evacuation.

It also depends which countries she will be traveling in. The UK and Ireland will provide some health service free of charge. For catastrophic situations check insuremytrip as noted above. If you get into evacuation coverage remember that an important part of that is who makes the decision and where are they going to evacuate you to (some policies will not bring you home, they will deliver you to the nearest 'qualified' services.)