Travel Insurance

[SJCNEWBIE]

Hi all,

 

I am travelling from the UK, and as I always do when travelling to the US, purchase travel insurance. Am I going mad, or did I read somewhere in RC literature, that the on board doctor does not accept travel insurance as a form of payment??

 

Thanks, Stevey

[dirtgirl]

It depends on your insurer, and whether it is primary or secondary. You may very well have to fork out dough, and get reimbursed later. I know RBC insurance in Canada will strive to pay first, so you don't have to, but that is Canada.;)

Cruise line insurance, is, as a rule, not very good. See what is available in the UK, and if they will pay up front.

[rummenroman]

Hi all,

 

I am travelling from the UK, and as I always do when travelling to the US, purchase travel insurance. Am I going mad, or did I read somewhere in RC literature, that the on board doctor does not accept travel insurance as a form of payment??

 

Thanks, Stevey

 

Everything that i have heard of, you have to foot the bill, and submit the bill to the insurance company for reimbursement.

[dirtgirl]

That depends on the insurer. ;) My guess would be most policies in the States are that way, but in countries where there is public health care, I would delve into what different insurers offer.

[phoenix1181]

Payment to the ship's doctor is charged to your SeaPass at the time of service. They do not accept insurance. They do provide you with the appropriate, and properly coded (US standard, I don't know if that varies for other countries), documentation for your insurance company.

 

Whether your coverage is primary or secondary doesn't change them requiring payment. The difference between the two types is what the insurance carrier requires prior to paying out on the policy. With secondary coverage, they require a decline from your primary carrier along with all the other documentation before they'll pay anything.

[SJCNEWBIE]

Thanks for the replies. Can someone help me understand the difference between primary and secondary insurance?

 

Thanks

[JenAndDan]

Can you purchase after you have booked the cruise or can it only be done at the time of booking?

[PH8]

Payment to the ship's doctor is charged to your SeaPass at the time of service. They do not accept insurance. They do provide you with the appropriate, and properly coded (US standard, I don't know if that varies for other countries), documentation for your insurance company.

 

I often wondered what if you dont have enuf to cover it???? I know my MIL went to the ship hospital and it wasnt cheap.......they were able to pay,but what if someone cant?? What do they do??

[Tucker in Texas]

Every ship I've been on you have to pay up front no matter whether you got insurance from the cruise line or on the economy.

 

I always make sure I have a credit card with a very high limit with me in case something like that does come up. A lady was telling me her husband had heart pains in Nassau and before he would be admitted to a hospital there they wanted $25K up front. She managed to scrape it up with credit cards from people traveling with her.

 

I've never heard what would happen if you don't have the credit to pay for it. People on our cruises have talked about the charges from sick bay and they can run into the thousands very easily for something that would be less than half of that stateside. I know I paid $179 just to have my ear cleared of ear wax. They get you $70 just to walk in the door and then add the doctor's charge and any medication. Loved paying $30 for a couple of ear drops in each ear. I didn't even get to keep the bottle (lol). My insurance covered all but the $50 deductible.

 

Tucker in Texas

[cruiseco]

<<

did I read somewhere in RC literature, that the on board doctor does not accept travel insurance as a form of payment??>>

 

The ship's doctor (in independent contractor, not a cruise line employee) will not accept any third-party payment, even if the insurance you bought happens to be the plan offered by the cruise line. One big problem is that the doctor would have no way of knowing if the treatment was provided for a problem that is excluded from coverage such as a pre-existing condition and he/she doesn't want to get stiffed by the insurer with no way of collecting at a later date from you. The cost will be charged to your onboard account

 

<< Can you purchase after you have booked the cruise or can it only be done at the time of booking? >>

 

Most third-party insurers let you buy a policy up until the day prior to your departure

 

<< I often wondered what if you dont have enuf to cover it???? I know my MIL went to the ship hospital and it wasnt cheap.......they were able to pay,but what if someone cant?? What do they do?? >>

 

You will have to sign a promissory note before you leave the ship. And they will collect on it. They have lots of lawyers.

 

 

 

<< Can someone help me understand the difference between primary and secondary insurance? >>

 

Primary, secondary, tertiary, etc. establishes the order of who pays first, second, third, etc when there are more than one possible source of payment.

 

Most travel insurers are secondary for the medical coverage which means you would first have to seek reimbursement from any other source you may have such as your regular health insurance. If there is no primary source of reimbursement (for example, your regular health insurance has no out-of-country coverage) then your secondary insurance bumps up to primary.

[estoyer]

Hi all,

 

I am travelling from the UK, and as I always do when travelling to the US, purchase travel insurance. Am I going mad, or did I read somewhere in RC literature, that the on board doctor does not accept travel insurance as a form of payment??

 

Thanks, Stevey

 

On a recent 02/14 cruise we had to visit the ships doctor. My father had a piece of meat lodged in his throat. They got it out and x rayed him to make sure he was in the clear. He had to pay the bill with his Master Card and submit the bill to Medicare. Fill out RCCL's insurance companies form and resubmit what Medicare didn't pay. We were told by RCCL's insurance carrier the whole process could take up to 6 months. We will keep you posted on the time it takes and the amount they reimburse.

 

Happy Sailing and Be Sure To Chew Your Food Well!

Earl

[Zlasmcruising]

Can you purchase after you have booked the cruise or can it only be done at the time of booking?

 

I bought mine about 3 weeks after I booked. I did read that you cannot buy the insurance after you have paid in full.

 

If you go to search on RCI and put in insurance, you can get a booklet with insurance facts.

[Benita]

My Father-in-law spent a night in the infirmary on a Princess ship and then was medically evacuated to a hospital in Jamaica. He had Access America which provided secondary coverage. The infirmary charges were put on our Seapass account and we paid by credit card before getting in the ambulance. The ship's staff made all the transfer arrangements, but we had to guarantee $5000 on a credit card before the private hospital agreed to a transfer. The doctor on the ship gave us lots of paperwork to submit to our insurance company and got in touch with Access America to let them know what was happening. Access America told him to have us pay for everything and submit receipts, but if he needed air evacuation from Jamaica to call again and they would do those arrangements and pay.

Once we returned home, after three nights in the hospital for him and hotel stays nearby for my mother-in law, my husband, and me, he submitted all receipts and paperwork to Access. As the coverage was secondary, they had him submit the medical bills first to Medicare and when it was denied by Medicare and his AARP supplement (they don't cover outside the US), we sent the denial and he received a check from Access for the medical bills, hotels, ambulance, lost cruise days, and plane tickets back to NJ. It took about 6 weeks, most of it waiting for the Medicare denial. If he had primary coverage it would have been a shorter wait, as they would have paid without submitting to Medicare.

Either way, he had to pay for all the treatments and was then reimbursed.

My husband and I had HTH insurance. We kept our receipts and were reimbursed for our expenses and lost cruise. It took about ten days, as there was no wait for anything medical.

Our biggest problem was that we had not notified our credit card companies that we were on the cruise, so they denied our card at the hotel. There is no 1-800 system from Jamaica and there was no way to make a collect call to the credit card company and we could not get a cell phone signal. Luckily, my mother-in-law had an AMEX card with a high credit limit and that went through without questions. So notify the credit card company when you leave the country, even if you are not planning to leave the ship. Also, travel with a passport, not just a birth certificate, so you can get on a plane in a foreign country. Also, don't travel with people about whom you care enough to evacuate with - just kidding on that way (kinda).

[knittinggirl]

I bought mine about 3 weeks after I booked. I did read that you cannot buy the insurance after you have paid in full.

 

If you go to search on RCI and put in insurance' date=' you can get a booklet with insurance facts.[/quote']

 

One more reason not to pay in full before you have to.

 

Currently, those with insurance in the US often don't see the full cost the doctor charges. He will charge you an up front co-pay, and four to six weeks later you get the insurance statement, with all the charges. Five minutes with the doc, usually gets the doc $80-$150, depending on the specialty I guess.

 

One last thing. Be sure to check that your travel insurance includes evacuation. On our next cruise, we're also checking to make sure we get missed ship coverage too. So, many things to consider with travel insurance. But it's really important. We ended up using it on our very first cruise, because my husband broke his hip, and we had to cancel. It's one of those things where we kept putting it off, because we hoped he'd improve, which he did, but not fast enough.

[Jolimont]

We're Americans living in France. We used to have health insurance in the US, but now we're under the French system.

 

Two things happen with those of us who are under a European health system.

 

1. We can make a claim against CPAM in France or HSS in England (did I get the right name?) This has NOT worked for us. In France they claim they don't have the right paperwork or that the amounts charged are way above what is customary so they could only pay a fraction even if we got the right papers. So we always just bite the bullet. Thankfully we've only had minor issues while visiting the US, so it hasn't been an issue.

 

2. You can get travel insurance that will cover costs over there and fly you back if needed. I always think next time we visit the US we'll do that, but I never have, so I can't tell you how well that would work out. But I think it is a wise thing to do. You don't have to do it through cruise insurance, any travel insurance would work I think.

[dzcruisers]

One more reason not to pay in full before you have to.

 

Currently, those with insurance in the US often don't see the full cost the doctor charges. He will charge you an up front co-pay, and four to six weeks later you get the insurance statement, with all the charges. Five minutes with the doc, usually gets the doc $80-$150, depending on the specialty I guess.

 

One last thing. Be sure to check that your travel insurance includes evacuation. On our next cruise, we're also checking to make sure we get missed ship coverage too. So, many things to consider with travel insurance. But it's really important. We ended up using it on our very first cruise, because my husband broke his hip, and we had to cancel. It's one of those things where we kept putting it off, because we hoped he'd improve, which he did, but not fast enough.

 

And make sure you get enough evacuation coverage. I don't want to be evacuated to the nearest hospital which is about what $25000. will do. I want to be able to get back to the good ol USA and peferably home - $250000. to $500,000. is a good number to go for if you are going to Europe or such.