Help with actually using my travel insurance

While on a cruise I had to go to the ship's doctor. I received a statement of services with the amount billed. That amount was put on my shipboard statement. There was some type of receipt that my dh says he ground up when we were at home. Now that Medicare has denied payment I have to send it to the travel insurance. They said to send Medicare denial and also proof of payment. I don't have proof of payment but just the statement of services and the amount it cost.

What have you done? Any suggestions? My dh thinks we should call Princess to get the proof which I will leave up to him but my gut feeling is it is a waste of time.

Is this third party or cruise line insurance? I am guessing third party...and assuming that is correct and assuming you paid the bill via your credit card onboard account, you may need the credit card bill, proof of payment of that total and a copy of the onboard account (the original of which is likely what your DH ground up). You could try to send just the copy of the bill and proof of your credit card charge and payment. I expect you may get a query back as to why the amounts differ, so do include an explanation that the onboard charge is a total and you are only claiming a portion which is the amount of the bill.

If you paid the onboard account by any other method, then I think you will need the receipt for that payment.

Since you have Princess' statement of medical services with billing, the shipment folio charges and Medicare denial, you can send them with your credit card statement with Princess' charges. Call the claims department of the insurance company to confirm sufficiency of proof of claim. If they need your actual payment being claim as reimbursement, you may need to advance the payment on your credit card if merely the billing is not enough.

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Thanks! My dh did grind up our final statement from Princess of our cruise. He called them and they are sending out a new one. Then we can show the travel insurance that along with our credit card statement to show we paid.

Nice to know. Good luck!

Also contact insurance co by phone or email to get ball rolling. They are usually very good and helpful.

Thanks. I did that already. Just waiting for Princess to send us a copy of our on board expenses.

OP, does your trip insurance only want the fact that you paid for medical care or do they want to also see the medical center's receipt for the type of medical care?

OP, does your trip insurance only want the fact that you paid for medical care or do they want to also see the medical center's receipt for the type of medical care?

I'm pretty sure they want both. We got our onboard folio from princess. Not sure how it will go as the background is black with white printing. Could be hard to read. We are waiting for the insurance to mail us the claim form or we will figure out how to upload things and do it that way. We have been sick for the past week but now starting to feel better so will be able to focus more on this.

OP, does your trip insurance only want the fact that you paid for medical care or do they want to also see the medical center's receipt for the type of medical care?

They ALWAYS want to see two things: Proof of the medical services provided (info from the doctor) and proof payment. Either by itself is not adequate.

i spent all yesterday afternoon and this afternoon getting quotes for mine and hubbys travel ins, for our cruise to the caribbean in dec. i have atrial fib, and had a mild heart attack in 2014. my hubby has intermitant claudication. i tryed 12 companys. 2 or 3 would not cover and the cheapest i got was with WORLD FIRST. £617 inc cruise cover all the rest was from £900 odd upwards. i honestly do not know where they get their prices from. but there is no way we would go away without it. sorry to rant on, does anyone know of any good insurance companies, ( might have tryed them !!!!).lol

i spent all yesterday afternoon and this afternoon getting quotes for mine and hubbys travel ins, for our cruise to the caribbean in dec. i have atrial fib, and had a mild heart attack in 2014. my hubby has intermitant claudication. i tryed 12 companys. 2 or 3 would not cover and the cheapest i got was with WORLD FIRST. £617 inc cruise cover all the rest was from £900 odd upwards. i honestly do not know where they get their prices from. but there is no way we would go away without it. sorry to rant on, does anyone know of any good insurance companies, ( might have tryed them !!!!).lol

Hopefully someone in the UK will answer you. I don't know if the companies we use in the US will do so. There is always the cruise line's insurance but usually their coverages are low. Good luck.

i spent all yesterday afternoon and this afternoon getting quotes for mine and hubbys travel ins, for our cruise to the caribbean in dec. i have atrial fib, and had a mild heart attack in 2014. my hubby has intermitant claudication. i tryed 12 companys. 2 or 3 would not cover and the cheapest i got was with WORLD FIRST. £617 inc cruise cover all the rest was from £900 odd upwards. i honestly do not know where they get their prices from. but there is no way we would go away without it. sorry to rant on, does anyone know of any good insurance companies, ( might have tryed them !!!!).lol

You'll get more hits and more replies if you start a new thread on this board and use the title UK Insurance,, or something like that.

i spent all yesterday afternoon and this afternoon getting quotes for mine and hubbys travel ins, for our cruise to the caribbean in dec. i have atrial fib, and had a mild heart attack in 2014. my hubby has intermitant claudication. i tryed 12 companys. 2 or 3 would not cover and the cheapest i got was with WORLD FIRST. £617 inc cruise cover all the rest was from £900 odd upwards. i honestly do not know where they get their prices from. but there is no way we would go away without it. sorry to rant on, does anyone know of any good insurance companies, ( might have tryed them !!!!).lol

One factor in pricing is risk.

If you can't find anything out, have you thought of asking this on the UK cruisers forum here?

Update ---- I received an email late last night saying the claim is being paid. Yeah!! I was a little concerned because the code on my EOB said it was for Encounter for general adult medical exam. I thought it was too vague and made it seem like I was just going for a checkup. Anyways... the email said a check for both myself and husband's claim was being sent.

One point I want to mention is that I have Medicare, secondary insurance through my dh old job and also travel insurance. Medicare denied the claim (even though we were docked in American Samoa and they should not have denied it according to the Medicare website). I called our travel insurance and they said I did not have to now send to my secondary insurance BEFORE them because they are also secondary insurance. They don't care if I have other insurance as long as I filed with PRIMARY insurance first. So that is what I did.

Update ---- I received an email late last night saying the claim is being paid. Yeah!! I was a little concerned because the code on my EOB said it was for Encounter for general adult medical exam. I thought it was too vague and made it seem like I was just going for a checkup. .

That is the CPT or procedure code. Your insurance company is going to be looking at the DSM-10 or diagnosis code. That will tell them about your medical problem.

Update ---- I received an email late last night saying the claim is being paid. Yeah!! I was a little concerned because the code on my EOB said it was for Encounter for general adult medical exam. I thought it was too vague and made it seem like I was just going for a checkup. Anyways... the email said a check for both myself and husband's claim was being sent.

 

One point I want to mention is that I have Medicare, secondary insurance through my dh old job and also travel insurance. Medicare denied the claim (even though we were docked in American Samoa and they should not have denied it according to the Medicare website). I called our travel insurance and they said I did not have to now send to my secondary insurance BEFORE them because they are also secondary insurance. They don't care if I have other insurance as long as I filed with PRIMARY insurance first. So that is what I did.

Glad your worry is over!

Glad your worry is over!

I am new to cruising . i was unaware the travel insurance you buy from the cruise line was 3rd party insurance? I am told by the travel Ins Company to contact my Primary Care insurance to see what they will pay , then submit another claim to Medicare and then send all the paperwork to them... Does that procedure sound correct? Now I am wondering if I should even bother with the cruise ship travel insurance?? Any Suggestions would be most helpful.. Thanks itango2:rolleyes::

I am new to cruising . i was unaware the travel insurance you buy from the cruise line was 3rd party insurance? I am told by the travel Ins Company to contact my Primary Care insurance to see what they will pay , then submit another claim to Medicare and then send all the paperwork to them... Does that procedure sound correct? Now I am wondering if I should even bother with the cruise ship travel insurance?? Any Suggestions would be most helpful.. Thanks itango2:rolleyes::

Assuming you are in the USA, we'd suggest that you contact an insurance broker such as Steve at

http://www.TripInsuranceStore.com

(No doubt, others here will chime in with agencies they've used, but this is who we've used, and we've had claims paid promptly by insurers we've selected through them.)

But please CALL them, and don't rely upon reading online summaries of policies. The fine print truly matters.

Ask them about "primary" coverage, given the concerns you've mentioned. In part, that means that you wouldn't need to first submit to other policies first and prove that you were denied, etc.

We happen to use Travel Insured, and we *always* get coverage that waives the exclusion of pre-existing condition exclusion.

(For our type of policy, we must start the coverage within 21 days of making the first deposit. But there are MANY different types of policy coverages.)

We have submitted a few claims to Travel Insured, and been paid promptly, and that's what really matters...

I am new to cruising . i was unaware the travel insurance you buy from the cruise line was 3rd party insurance? I am told by the travel Ins Company to contact my Primary Care insurance to see what they will pay , then submit another claim to Medicare and then send all the paperwork to them... Does that procedure sound correct? Now I am wondering if I should even bother with the cruise ship travel insurance?? Any Suggestions would be most helpful.. Thanks itango2:rolleyes::

Medicare is your primary insurance. Most travel insurance is secondary although some pays primary. In my case I filed with Medicare and was denied. I then filed with my travel insurance. My dh did his a little differently and sent the travel insurance a copy from the Medicare book which shows it was not a covered expense. (I thought mine would be because I was in American Samoa and it should have been covered. I did not appeal because I had the travel insurance). Right now I received my check. My dh check was made out to him care of estate!!!! We are waiting for them to send a new check.

I am new to cruising . i was unaware the travel insurance you buy from the cruise line was 3rd party insurance? I am told by the travel Ins Company to contact my Primary Care insurance to see what they will pay , then submit another claim to Medicare and then send all the paperwork to them... Does that procedure sound correct? Now I am wondering if I should even bother with the cruise ship travel insurance?? Any Suggestions would be most helpful.. Thanks itango2:rolleyes::

We do not get the cruise line travel insurance. It may be cheaper since it does not consider the passenger's age, but the coverage limit amount is too low compared to 3rd party travel insurance companies. When we get our insurance, we get an additional coverage for Optional Primary Coverage Upgrade with Travel Insured Int'l at an additional $25/person over the plan's premium. That way, if there is a medical claim, there is no need for a verified claims denial from the regular medical insurance we have before they process the claim.