Healthcare on ships

Cross fingers none is needed, but wondering about healthcare on the ships. I have an older family member accompanying us on the Vista in May. He was wondering if his VA (veterans) insurance would be valid if he needed to see the on board MD or if it would all be out of pocket. We are just trying to plan for everything and I have never had to go to the clinic on a cruise (thank goodness). I appreciate any insight :D

Some years back I needed to use medical facilities on NCL. As an RN ,I can say the care was excellent. In fact the MD was able to diagnose something that could have been quite serious if not caught

All charges were billed to my account and I had to send charges to my insurance company for reimbursement. Do not think the cruise line would take his VA benefits as they do not bill outside agencies for services .

Cruise lines do not accept any form of insurance, so all costs have to be paid by you up front. Most insurances, including Medicare (and I'm assuming VA) don't cover expenses outside the US, so they won't cover it either. The best bet is travel insurance, and I'm sure that others who have bought this routinely before will jump in here and give suggestions on which companies.

Thank you! I would really appreciate any guidance on vacation insurance, as I have never purchased it before. :o

Cross fingers none is needed, but wondering about healthcare on the ships. I have an older family member accompanying us on the Vista in May. He was wondering if his VA (veterans) insurance would be valid if he needed to see the on board MD or if it would all be out of pocket. We are just trying to plan for everything and I have never had to go to the clinic on a cruise (thank goodness). I appreciate any insight :D

The doctors/med center on the ships do not take any insurance. The fees are put on your sail and sign card. When you get home you can file with whatever insurance you have. Just make sure you get paperwork/receipts stating what was done, and the cost. We had no problem getting re-imbursed from Blue Cross/Blue Shield when dd had an appendicitis attack on CCL Dream, and we were off-loaded in Belize for 3 days. We also had Travel Insurance, which re-imbursed us for plane-fare back to Florida, hotel and food while waiting to be re-united with other family members who continued the cruise.

Cross fingers none is needed, but wondering about healthcare on the ships. I have an older family member accompanying us on the Vista in May. He was wondering if his VA (veterans) insurance would be valid if he needed to see the on board MD or if it would all be out of pocket. We are just trying to plan for everything and I have never had to go to the clinic on a cruise (thank goodness). I appreciate any insight :D

Ships are international, and carry international Doctors. World wide, there are a huge amount of health care options. The ship, does not manage insurance claims or they would need a large staff just for insurance claims.

You pay out of pocket for services performed, and would submit your claim yourself to your insurance company. They would pay for the claim, based on their rules for out of network claims.

All of the insurance policies I ever had will pay for claims out of the country for any emergency care. No, they won't pay for a routine physical exam, but they will pay for a broken arm.

Before making any decision, you must contract your insurance agent, or review your policy.

Try insure my trip dot com (CC does not allow links) and compare the companies. I always go to them. My insurance does pay outside of the US but it is considered out of network and I have a $12,000 out of network deductible.

Thank you! I would really appreciate any guidance on vacation insurance, as I have never purchased it before. :o

A lot of good information on the Cruise/Travel Insurance part of this site

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=635

Definitely buy a policy and do it well in advance. You should get good coverage for under $100.

Try insure my trip dot com (CC does not allow links) and compare the companies.

I don't know why you feel CC doesn't allow links.

http://www.insuremytrip.com

http://www.tripinsurancestore.com

To keep costs down, compare prices on policies that cover medical only, but not trip cancellation. The way you do that is, on one of the websites previously linked, enter a trip value of $0. This way, your cruise fare is *not* insured, so you lose your cruise fare if you cancel, but you'll still have medical coverage, medical evacuation, airfare & hotel reimbursement if you need them due to a covered event, etc. Depending on the specifics of the policy you get.

Good luck! I hope he gets the insurance, and then never needs it. :D

You can also get travel insurance that has the travel insurance medical coverage as primary. Then you do not have to deal with your own insurance. I tend to do that since my insurance for out of network coverage deductible is steep as well as the time investment for me to get reimbursed with my insurance would be huge.

Try insure my trip dot com (CC does not allow links) and compare the companies. I always go to them. My insurance does pay outside of the US but it is considered out of network and I have a $12,000 out of network deductible.

Have you ever had to file a claim with Insure My Trip? I read a bunch of reviews that said people had a hard time getting claims paid. I don't know the details, but there seemed to be far more negative than positive reviews.

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Have you ever had to file a claim with Insure My Trip? I read a bunch of reviews that said people had a hard time getting claims paid. I don't know the details, but there seemed to be far more negative than positive reviews.

 

 

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No one files a claim with insuremytrip. That's not what they do. You file a claim with the insurer that issues the policy you selected (or their claims processor). Insure my trip is not involved with that process

Take complaints about claim filing with a grain of salt.

Insurance companies are not in the business of paying claims >G<

If you file a receipt you will be rejected, they want records, stuff like that in the small print that people miss and then complain, in my opinion.

Take complaints about claim filing with a grain of salt.

Insurance companies are not in the business of paying claims >G<

If you file a receipt you will be rejected, they want records, stuff like that in the small print that people miss and then complain, in my opinion.

aNY TIME YOU HAVE A POSSIBLE CLAIM YOU SHOULD CONTACT THE INSURER'S 24-HOUR CUSTOMER ASSISTANCE PEOPLE TO GET A LIST OF ALL THE INFORMATION YOU WILL NEED IN ORDER TO SUCCESSFULLY FILE A CLAIM. GETTING THIS INFO AFTER YOU RETURN HOME CAN SOMETIMES BE IMPOSSIBLE

From my personal experience back in May, make sure you purchase your travel insurance.

Another thought, remember that most of the places we cruise to are 3rd world countries and don't have trauma centers.

Jet ambulances are not cheap, travel insurance is cheaper.