Insurance offered by Hadassah

Has anyone used the emergency assistance plan offered by Hadassah. It is very reasonable.

I have not but make sure that you read the fine print. Usually, you get what you pay for.

DON

Have never heard of them.

Look at the literature and find out the name of the company that is actually selling the insurance and then do a GOOGLE Search, BBB etc.

This sort of affinity group selling of travel insurance is very common. All sorts of groups market it from large churches to the NRA.

Study up and if you are satisfied that it meets your own needs, buy it.

You do get what you pay for an the affinity group and the selling company get most of your money.

I have not used them but I would be sure to read the entire policy.

Keith

We're very familiar with this policy which is indeed very low-cost. HOWEVER, it will definitely not cover any existing health conditions and, if you do have any, may not cover any emergency medical costs at all. As the previous posters have said, read all the fine print...but certainly be skeptical that any policy at this price is a substitute for regular trip insurance coverage.

(In fairness, this policy is not a bad idea for anyone who takes no medications, has no previous medical diagnosis and is in good health: it is especially useful in the US for such individuals who take many road trips as it will get you and your vehicle back home...in fact I've used it for just such purposes but luckily never needed it. Friends took it out for an overseas trip, wound up in the hospital via ambulance for weeks and could not collect ANYTHING because they hadn't understood the limitations.):(

It's the old saying......you get what you pay for....sometimes trying to save a few dollars could end up costing so much more.

We're very familiar with this policy which is indeed very low-cost. HOWEVER, it will definitely not cover any existing health conditions and, if you do have any, may not cover any emergency medical costs at all. As the previous posters have said, read all the fine print...but certainly be skeptical that any policy at this price is a substitute for regular trip insurance coverage.

 

(In fairness, this policy is not a bad idea for anyone who takes no medications, has no previous medical diagnosis and is in good health: it is especially useful in the US for such individuals who take many road trips as it will get you and your vehicle back home...in fact I've used it for just such purposes but luckily never needed it. Friends took it out for an overseas trip, wound up in the hospital via ambulance for weeks and could not collect ANYTHING because they hadn't understood the limitations.):(

If it doesn't cover pre-existing conditions and might not cover emergency medical care, what does it cover? :confused:

Is it strictly trip cancellation/interruption coverage and not medical?

As an "insurance freak" who worked for over 30 years in the medical insurance industry my curiosity took me to the Hadassah web site. After following the links the only medical policies I found were a Medicare Supplemental Policy (we assume this is not what the OP is referring to) and what they call their Hospital Indemnity Plan. IMHO this latter policy is nearly worthless to a traveler (and nearly anyone else) who does not have other real hospitalization insurance. All the Hadassah Hospital Indemnity Plan does is pay (in some limited cases) an amount equal to $50 - $150 a day for every day of hospitalization. This does not include hospitalization for pre-existing conditions (treated within the prior 12 months). IMHO this type of policy is not real medical insurance. Note that they call it "Hospital Indemnity" and not "Hospital Insurance" and this is for a good reason. This type of policy is simply provides a very low income/indemnity if you meet the restrictive requirments. Even the maximum indemnity of $150 per day of hospitalization is laughable in an age when even a relatively simple hospitalization will cost thousands of dollars per day.

My basic rule of thumb is that medical insurance that does not cover at least $100,000 of med expenses is not a good thing. In addition, travelers really need to have a decent medical evacuation clause (at least $50,000 and preferably $100,000+).

Hank

As an "insurance freak" who worked for over 30 years in the medical insurance industry my curiosity took me to the Hadassah web site. After following the links the only medical policies I found were a Medicare Supplemental Policy (we assume this is not what the OP is referring to) and what they call their Hospital Indemnity Plan. IMHO this latter policy is nearly worthless to a traveler (and nearly anyone else) who does not have other real hospitalization insurance. All the Hadassah Hospital Indemnity Plan does is pay (in some limited cases) an amount equal to $50 - $150 a day for every day of hospitalization. This does not include hospitalization for pre-existing conditions (treated within the prior 12 months). IMHO this type of policy is not real medical insurance. Note that they call it "Hospital Indemnity" and not "Hospital Insurance" and this is for a good reason. This type of policy is simply provides a very low income/indemnity if you meet the restrictive requirments. Even the maximum indemnity of $150 per day of hospitalization is laughable in an age when even a relatively simple hospitalization will cost thousands of dollars per day.

 

My basic rule of thumb is that medical insurance that does not cover at least $100,000 of med expenses is not a good thing. In addition, travelers really need to have a decent medical evacuation clause (at least $50,000 and preferably $100,000+).

 

Hank

Thanks, Hank.

I couldn't imagine what value that policy could have for medical and you have explained by suspicion seems accurate.

In addition to evacuation coverage, repatriation is also important. IMO

Thought I would add a tale that is not all that relevant...but its interesting. We were recently on a long Westerdam Cruise to the South Pacific and on our last day we were off the coast of Mexico enroute to San Diego. A passenger got very sick and the ships doctor decided to evacuate them immediately (rather then wait about 20 hour until we got to port). We were technically out of range of the available Coast Guard helicopters but they found a solution. The SEAL training facility at San Diego has their own aircraft. They flew out one of the choppers used to train Seals along with a KC130 airplane to do mid-air refueling of the chopper. As the KC130 circled our ship the chopper dropped a medic onto the bow of our ship. About 20 min later the medic and our sick passenger were both hauled off the bow into the chopper and then flew back to California. It is nice to know that our government is willing to go through such trouble to help a citizen in trouble.

Hank

Thought I would add a tale that is not all that relevant...but its interesting. We were recently on a long Westerdam Cruise to the South Pacific and on our last day we were off the coast of Mexico enroute to San Diego. A passenger got very sick and the ships doctor decided to evacuate them immediately (rather then wait about 20 hour until we got to port). We were technically out of range of the available Coast Guard helicopters but they found a solution. The SEAL training facility at San Diego has their own aircraft. They flew out one of the choppers used to train Seals along with a KC130 airplane to do mid-air refueling of the chopper. As the KC130 circled our ship the chopper dropped a medic onto the bow of our ship. About 20 min later the medic and our sick passenger were both hauled off the bow into the chopper and then flew back to California. It is nice to know that our government is willing to go through such trouble to help a citizen in trouble.

 

Hank

Thanks for sharing your story.

The policy is one offered to the public but the Hadassah price is cheaper, $$89 for one, $20 extra for a spouse. You can see the policy at http://www.emergencyassistanceplus.com with pricing for the general public. It is new, they just sent me the info in the mail, it looked pretty good to me and I signed up this morning.I don't have any trips planned but do travel a lot. It covers the US as well as international travel.

As far as preexisting conditions are concerned, when I saw this thread I called them back and they said as long as your doctor says you are good to travel, there is no problem with pre-exiting conditions.

Hadassah knows who their members are, and in general they are seniors. Seniors often have pre existing conditions. I thought this was a great deal to supplement my medicare supplement.

I needed to be evacuated by air once- good this I had good insurance at that time. Then another time I broke my hip in Alaska on a cruise. I could have used an outside advocate to help us manage all the details.

Please, do NOT rely on this policy for emergency evacuation/medical care internationally ESPECIALLY if you have any pre-existing conditions! (And I am speaking as a Hadassah life member, Past President and Regional VP)

Yes, this can be a useful additional policy under certain circumstances (refer to my previous posts) but it NO way replaces traditional travel insurance.

We just insured pur upcoming trip for $2300 with TravelGuard...do you think I would have spent that if I thought $89 would buy me the same coverage for a whole year?!

Trust me, I personally know too many Hadassah women who travelled relying on this $89 policy and were hurt financially by high out-of-pocket costs when they unfortunately had claims!

Nothing disparaging to Hadassah...this coverage works for some domestically...but if you have any health issues or travel internationally pay for what you really need!

I don't think it is good for cruising ..

has anyone heard of travel guard?

we thought we had purchased trip cancellation/luggage lost etc insurance but found we did not

it was suggested we call travel guard

please help!!!

has anyone heard of travel guard?

 

we thought we had purchased trip cancellation/luggage lost etc insurance but found we did not

it was suggested we call travel guard

please help!!!

Travel Guard is one of many different companies that offer various trip insurance plans. This particular company seems to be often recommended (or even pushed) by some travel/cruise agencies who get a nice commission for sales of their policies. Whether a Travel Guard policy is right for you can only be determined by analyzing the policy (and those offered by other companies) against your personal "wants" and "needs." There are a few decent web sites (squaremouth.com, insuremytrip.com, etc) that make it relatively easy to compare various policies (and levels of coverage). Many posters here on CC have also recommended calling the tripinsurancestore and asking to speak with Steve....who has a lot of expertise regarding various companies/policies.

Hank