Medical insurance for trip to Turkey?
 

I’ve read differing things about the need for medical insurance or medical evacuation insurance for tourists visiting Turkey. Does anyone have a clear answer? We are three Americans and one Argentinian traveling there in September.

It's a good idea to have travel insurance no matter where you're going. You never know what might happen. When I was in Thailand, I tripped, just one of those freak things, and spent the next week in a Thai hospital with my leg in a cast, plus had to have a nurse escort on the way home (who had to fly there from the US) and a last-minute business class seat so I could keep my leg up. Cost for everything was almost $21,000. I was certainly glad I had that insurance! It paid for everything.

Do you currently have medical insurance that will cover you abroad? I would check with your medical insurance plans to see what they would cover should anything happen to you during your travels. If you don't have medical insurance, what would happen if you suddenly need medical care, an operation, etc.? My medical plan covers emergency care only but not any possible required follow-up care. Do you have enough money to pay for new flights and extra days of accommodations should your travel plans need to change due to illness, injury or natural disaster?

Currently I am in New Zealand with a broken leg that happened while I was walking on a trail. I needed ambulance transport to a hospital three hours away. I am staying longer than I planned at an expensive hotel, am missing part of my tour, and had to change and upgrade my airline ticket home to Business class. The doctor here won't release me to fly for another four days and wants me to be able to elevate my leg during my 13 hour flight home. I am glad I have travel insurance and hope to be reimbursed for some of my costs.

Wow KTravel! Hope you can travel home soon. What a bummer for you.

Why would you not take out travel insurance? It is such a small amount compared to the cost of the trip, and could save you a lot of money and hassle.

I sympathise with you KTtravel. It's the sort of thing I think happens to other people, you know, it won't happen to me. Obviously it can happen anywhere, any time. To any of us. I've read about tourists in places like Bali who come off a rented motor scooter, have serious injuries and to get back home for major treatment, friends need to try raising funds by crowdsourcing. It would be frightening to be ill or injured in a foreign country and worse if you had no way to get home.

Travel insurance is generally a good idea to cover the unexpected. I have medical insurance that covers me world wide so I’ve searched high and low to find a travel insurance policy that doesn’t duplicate the med coverage, to no avail. That’s fine - travel insurance is secondary coverage.

Re medivac, be sure to understand what is/is not covered. In most cases it will include evacuation to the nearest adequate facility - which in most cases is an ambulance ride to the nearest local hospital. Turkey is not bereft of medical facilities. Policies i’ve seen do not include medivac back to your home hospital.

Most of my trips the cost of my non-refundable expenses is relatively low as I book everything on my own. Organized tours or cruises have a higher up front cost including meals, etc.

the cost of travel insurance also goes up as you age. I think there are different tiers - over 80 definitely costs more than under 60.

You can compare policies at insuremytrip dot com but since I usually end up with Allianz I now go straight to their plans.

Thank you for all your answers. I have insurance. I just wondered if it was mandatory in Turkey; ie. would they check if you had it before they let you enter. I always have insurance before I leave, besides what my American health insurance might cover.

https://www.insuremytrip.com/travel-...vel-insurance/ this site suggests Turkey requires it

Bilboburgler, I think this is one of places I had read that says it is required. I have also seen the opposite. I think maybe I should call the Turkish embassy to ask.

They did not check me for health insurance when I entered Turkey but that was 5-10 years ago and things may have changed. I should also note that it's not just coverage for health that can be of concern but also the possible need for evacuation back home. I buy insurance coverage for VRBO/Airbnb but not my flights that I can cancel for credit to be used later.

mjs, thank you for your reply. I will look further. Good advice about Airbnb etc. didn’t give that a thought since we usually don’t rent from them and hotels are usually cancellable. Lots of things to always think about!!

Total bummer KTtravel! I'm so sorry to hear this! How far into your trip were you when this happened? I know NZ pretty well, and am curious where you were hiking.

I broke my wrist in three places while hiking a few years ago...I was traveling, but in my home state, so no major drama. We will forever refer to that trail as the 'trail of the broken wrist'.

Melnq8, I was on an "easy" trail - the Kea Point trail in Mt. Cook National Park. I had actually already done the steepest part and we were returning on a flat portion back to our hotel. The flat part did have lots of small stones and gravel and I somehow turned my ankle or slipped and down I went. Fortunately, I landed on some soft grasses but they were slightly damp. I was dressed for cold weather but got pretty cold after waiting more than an hour for the ambulance to arrive. I can see the trail may need to be renamed "the trail of the broken ankle."

We were on an organized tour of Australia and New Zealand although arrived early and spent three days on our own in Melbourne. We had completed the Australia portion but had only been two days in NZ when this happened. The accident happened when we had free time so we weren't with the group. We did have a lovely trip and I am fortunate the injury wasn't worse. I did, however, hope to see more of New Zealand than I did. I wish it were closer to home (California) for an easy return.

KTtravel -

Ah man! I know that trail. Bad timing...although a broken bone is never welcome, just would have been slightly easier to swallow if at the end of your NZ trip. I assume you were transported to Christchurch where you're currently hunkered down?

I really hope you get back to NZ - one of my favorite places in the world - to see the bits you missed, although I fully appreciate that it's not just a hop and jump from the US.

As for not being worse - as I said when I broke my wrist - at least it wasn't my head or a hip. I wasn't willing to undertake that particular hike again for three years, but I finally faced my fears last summer and hiked it again without incident (except for the torrential rain half way through). Once broken, twice shy.

I wish you a quick and full recovery, Okay, quick is overly optimistic, but full isn't. As my ortho told me at the time "bones want to heal".

Sorry for the hijack Debbielynn.

Yes, I hope you haven't mind the hijack, Debbielynn, and hope you have a great trip. Turkey was one of my favorite places to visit.

Melnq8, I was transported to Timaru where I was seen in the A&E. After spending the night in a hotel there, our tour director was able to arrange a ride for us to Queenstown where we caught up with our group. After examining the options and realizing I wasn't very mobile, we decided to leave the tour. We fly home tomorrow. I hope we can return to NZ someday!