I have traveled to Europe and have never bothered with the thought of extra insurance - but this time I am ... I have insurance in the states and it will cover medical needs in a true emergency in Europe - but what I'm wondering, is would I have to pay Italian hospital upfront ? And if, I did, would the fact that I have a personel loan available through my bank that I could get ascess to quickly. Is this sufficient ? I'm fearful of all the potential loopholes in a "bought" travelors insurance, plus don't want to spend the money. Any advice would be appreciated.

Whether or not you should pay upfront, depends on your insurance, you can call and ask them, there is an 800 number on your card.

Few years ago we had Cigna. My son spent a night in a hospital with an IV attached. He paid out-of-pocket an equivalent of $250 US dollars (in Germany). Cigna reimbursed us later.

This time I have Blue Cross, and was told all I need to do is to show them the card. I still make sure my credit card is paid off, just in case.

I would never travel without addequate insurance not just for my illness/hospitalization BUT more importantly for my trip home. Commercial airline may not be an option (or maybe but with a first class seat to accomidate your cast, paralized leg (I dont even want to think about this)); if you require an air ambulance think tens of thousands..2 pilots at least 2 medical crew and all that gas for the lear! I would always make sure I am fully covered for peace of mind. Read the small print on your policy and check to see what is covered (and more importantly not covered) before you make a purchase.

marcielee --

We had a medical emergency in France in October. When we arrived at the hospital they stated they needed a guarantee on our credit card of 3,000 &euro. Since we always pay off our balances, that was no problem.

Luckily, the hospital didn't actually do this. Rather, we just "paid as we went." It came to about 1,500 € for the whole thing. Stateside insurance is reimbursing us - they're policy. We had called them from France and were told that we were to pay, they would reimburse.

Hi M,

as noted, check with your insurance company.

You might be interested in Evacuation Insurance.

http://www.diversalertnetwork.org/me...p/benefits.asp
Basic membership gives you 100k worth of evacuation insurance (not medical coverage- but just to get you home) for diving or non-diving accidents or injuries from anywhere 50 miles from your home or farther. The family membership is $44

Ira is right, as usual. Check with your insurance company if the medical evacuation is covered.

ira - good to know. I know our medical insurance does not cover evacuation.

thanks

You'll find your medical insurance somewhat lacking when traveling abroad unless you happen to be a major player in a corporation. This is especially true when it comes to Medical Evacuation Insurance. It's best to purchase a policy through one of the companies that specialize in insuring expats who are traveling and working outside of the country. One company we have used in the past is SRI - Specialty Risk International, Inc., which offers several types of policies, but there are several other companies in the market to choose from.

Hello marcielle, I have never purchased medical insurance for trips either but I will next time.

So many people recommend going to www.insuremytrip.com where you can review all kind of coverages. Evauation insurance is something I think would be good to buy as lately I have known a few people that had health problems while out of the US.

I think some BCBS plans have the best networks in Europe, which may not require payment by the patient. However, as long as you are checking out what your insurance covers, you would have to check out what any travel insurance policy would cover, also. I think many of them would be no different, and only reimburse people after the fact and bills are sent in.

One good thing is European hospitals and doctors do not generally charge as much as American ones, for example, so the costs are not as outrageous as what you'd be billed in the US.

On the two occasions that we had to pay for medical bills in Europe, Blue Cross in one instance and Kaiser in the other paid up in full, minus the normal deductible.

I was checking out the fine print in some medical evacuation/repatriation plans. The ones I've checked so far say they'll (1) evacuate or repatriate you to your home, or (2) to a medical treatment facility near your home, or (3)to the medical facility nearest to where you become ill or are injured WHICHEVER IS THE CLOSEST.

This sounds to me as if they'll almost always send you to a medical facility located wherever you become ill/injured.

But I've only looked at 5 so far.

I know that the insurance we sell in our office provides a pre-paid medical insurance up to $30K. Most insurances make you pay for your medical ahead of time and then wait to be reimbursed.

I'm a consultant in the health insurance field, and am working on a project right now about payment around the world for our beneficiaries, so I've looked at a lot of payment systems and spoken with others. BCBS said that they do typically pay the bill as is, rather than setting lower allowable charge levels like they do in the US. It's just too hard to figure out a foreign medical system in terms of deciding what would be a rational allowed charge because it depends on other countries' medical care system and how it is financed, rather than just exchange rates. Well, that's background and not relevant here, but that's how I know BCBS does have networks set up in Europe now.

AS for evacuation, from what I remember from reading other policies, most of them will not evacuate you just because you want to be (ie "on demand&quot. There has to be a very good medical reason or that you are in a country with substandard care or something. This does not apply to Italy which has an excellent health care system, nor any Western European country I can think of. Insurance policies aren't going to pay for "medical evacuation", which is expensive, for no reason other than the patient wants it.

If someone wants to get medical evacuation just because they want it, they must buy a policy that allows it for any reason, on demand. There are a few companies that specialize in that type of insurance alone, and you get it for a yearly premium, perhaps. MedJetAssist is one of them.
http://www.medjetassistance.com/

Sorry if this was mentioned already, but with the med. evac. and preexisting med. conditions, the ins. co.'s give you just two weeks to purchase it after your initial trip deposit is made.

And it does appear that to be evacuated it's got to be a good medical reason as Christina mentioned. But it's good to have it as you never know, right?

Thanks, marcilee for starting this thread. I learned a lot!

Hi Christina,

See my post re Divers Alert Network.

Regarding the terms - a website gives you comparison of different insurances and the terms of purchase are from immediately (the day of getting the air tickets) to 2 weeks to any day.

I think it was insurance101 or insuremytrip... sorry don't remember for sure!

A good primer on medical evacuation services/insurance is on page B1 of the Dec 24/25 edition of the Wall Street Journal.