Need recommenations for Medical Insurance while in Europe
 

We will be traveling to Europe and Ireland later this year and I need to get medical health insurance while we are gone for the 3 months since I will be on U.S. Medicare Insurance by then and they do not cover me while outside the U.S.
If anyone could give me a recommend a company that sells medical travel insurance I would greatly appreciate it.

While in the US won't you need to purchase also a medicare supplement plan as a matter of course? Most supplement plans have emergency travel coverage which should be sufficient in most cases.
However, if you're looking for something more inclusive other posters should be able to help.

Medigap plans, IF they include foreign travel (not all do), have a lifetime cap of $50,000, a 20% copay and no evacuation coverage.

I use Seven Corners. Make sure that whatever you pick includes repatriation as well as evacuation. Evac gets you to the nearest medical facilty, repatriation gets you home.

Interesting. My supplemental has no life time cap, no copay and on a permission basis, I can be flown home. However, I must pay all bills first and file claims for reimbursement.

But you don't live in the US, right? Once you go on Medicare, the content of supplemental (Medigap) plans is standardized. That's why the OP needs further supplemental insurance for travel if they want more than the limits.

I am on Medicare, a kind of Medicare Advantage. Medicare Advantage plans, as I understand, combine Medicare and Medigap plans. I don't fully understand the difference, and just as I get some understanding, the policy negotiated by my "group" changes. I do know that at the beginning of each yearly enrollment period, I am offered a choice between plans. Within a certain framework the benefits and costs differ. OP will have to check and see what will be offered to her.

Quite a few of Medicare supplemental plans do NOT include coverage in foreign countries, about a third do not (A, B, K and L plans). no, you don't have to have a Medigap plan, back in the old days no one did, now people buy insurance so they don't even have to pay the copays. I think the bigger reason would be to get the drug plans, and I think Medicare's Part A copays can be high, not sure. And as noted, it's limited coverage. Even basic travel insurance plans cover more than that, all the ones I've ever seen cover medical evacution.

I just compare prices on www.insuremytrip.com and buy the cheapest with the benefits I want, that's all. I've bought from CSA, Roundtrip, Travelex and Allianz that I can remember. I've never had to use them, but I just go by the AMBest rating, and the price.

Medicare Advantage plans aren't the same as Medigap, but some do have some supplemental benefits that cover some of the same things a Medigap plan does. There are about a dozen plans, they have different copayments and benefits, it depends what you are willing to pay. And if a group is negotiating plans for them, it's not the same thing as a single person buying something by themself, I imagine.

I should also add, that this is coverage in the case of an emergency only. I assume this is what OP is concerned about.

A few years ago, Cristina recommended insure.my.trip to me, and I saved a lot of money using it to find the right policy for me and my husband.

​​​​​​Make sure to check the fine print for age-related restrictions on coverage.

Medicare Advantage is not Medicare, and it is not a supplemental plan. It is a substitute for Medicare provided by private companies. Each plan sets its own rules. It was instituted by the Republicans in the hope that it would wean people off Medicare, making Medicare easier to kill. However, if you have a group plan that is something else again, and irrelevant to the OP's question.

Medigap plans are supplemental to Medicare, and as I said, each plan (A,F, N etc) has standard rules. My Plan F, from AARP/United Health, has the exact same coverage as someone else's from BCBS. All the plans that have coverage for foreign travel have the same coverage.

Drug plans are separate and are bought separately (unless drug coverage is included in a Medicare Advantage plan). They are known as Medicare Part D (not Plan D).

"However, if you have a group plan that is something else again, and irrelevant to the OP's question."

Might not be at all. She hasn't stated how her Medicare benefit is provided. This is something she should be checking on. Depending, she might have foreign travel emergency coverage at such a level that she heed not buy another. A research project for her.

Thank you so much for your concise answers but to whom were they directed? If to me, why didn't you just pm me?

The OP said:

"will be on U.S. Medicare Insurance by then and they do not cover me while outside the U.S. "

Why do you assume she hasn't already done her research and doesn't know the details of her own coverage? I avoid PMs - I think all discussion should be on the open boards for everyone to benefit. And your specific group plan is only relevant to the OP if she has the exact same plan.

Another vote for insuremytrip.com, or squaremouth.com

I'm not sure what options you want or need, but you might give specific consideration to hospital-of-your-choice coverage, which covers the cost of transporting you to a hospital of your choosing once you are medically stable, and which also sometimes pays for someone to accompany you. Read the small print.

And, depending on your concerns and those of your family, you might consider repatriation coverage, which -- in a worst case scenario -- covers the cost of transporting your mortal remains back to your home country.

Oh Good grief. I'm not assuming anything. In her first statement she said she would be on Medicare later this year . . . .and stated not one bit more about her plan. That's all either of us knows until she responds. I was just trying to be helpful by suggesting that the supplement she might pick up, if she does so, might cover emergency treatment abroad . . .and that's all I was suggesting. I do find your tone in your responses to me to be unnecessarily aggressive.
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I should have said that I was on a Medicare Advantage plan and let it go at that. I appreciate your concise answers filling in my knowledge gaps.

Insurance plans change. When I broke my ankle here in Paris a few years ago, BCBS of Illinois reimbursed me for 100% of my credit card bills as the rate of exchange could be determined. For whatever reason, the bitsy bills I paid in cash, although I had receipts, were problematic.

One question. If all the medigap plans are the same, why would a person pick plan C over plan A or B?

"My Plan F, from AARP/United Health, has the exact same coverage as someone else's from BCBS."

Yes. Your situation is only relevant to other people on the same plan.

All Plan As are the same. All Plan Bs are the same. Plan As are not the same as Plan Bs. See: https://www.medicare.gov/supplement-...e-medigap.html

>>Most supplement plans have emergency travel coverage which should be sufficient in most cases.<<

This thread got off on the wrong foot from the get go. Most plans do not cover any costs outside the US. So now we've gone down a winding path discussing things that don't apply to the vast majority of Medicare recipients, including almost certainly the OP.

floridapugmom: As mentioned, insuremytrip.com is one of the best places to start your research. Sometimes (single) trip insurance is best - but often getting a year-long policy covering any and all trips you take pencils out better.

Wrong. Four of the ten Medigap plans have no coverage, six plans have the coverage I outlined in post #3. Use the link I just posted in #15. I consider the coverage inadequate, but it does exist (although only for medical costs, not evacuation/repatriation).

start by calling your insurance and see if they have any suggestions. If on any sort of tour, often the tour companies have this type travel insurance. Also if you have home insurance or an agent see what he might recommend. You might try talking to some travel agents, they probably have some suggestions too. Our medical insurance did cover while in Europe.

janisj. YES things have definitely gotten on the wrong foot with back and forth comments about things I didn't ask about.
I will be on a AARP Medicare Complete plan when we leave for our trip but I will need something that covers medical issues
outside the U.S. I have checked insuremytrip.com but their cost ($110) seemed suspicious since I had found most quotes to be
around $900+. I will recheck them and also call United Health Care whom I have signed up for with the new insurance.

Thank you everyone for you input. If anyone has another company they would like to suggest for me to investigate for coverage
please let me know.

B.

As I posted early on, I use Seven Corners.