Does Insurance pay if you need medical care on the ship?

[BeadedGoblets]

i have both blue cross blue shield and Travel Insured

[Ken076]

BCBS - Yes, If your BCBS health Plan includes their Overseas (Out-of-Country) coverage, otherwise I believe they'd pay at the lower out-of-network rate. TravelInsured - if you have TravelInsured Trip Insurance - Yes. In both cases your infirmary charges are charged to your onboard account and you have to submit a claim. ken

[bbohbbneedacruise]

You still have to pay on board though. You have to submit your own paperwork after you return. The ship does not submit like land based services.

[lady_cruiser]

i have both blue cross blue shield and Travel Insured

Check with BC/BS just to be sure. I have BC/BS from where I use to work (Lafayette Parish School Systems) and because it (BC/BS) is self-funded, it does not cover me if I am out of the country. What my travel insurance won't pay comes out will have to come out of my pocket.

[katiel53]

Our regular insurance doesn't cover us out of the country, so we buy cruise insurance. We have only used it once and we had to pay the charges upfront and then get reimbursed by the insurance company.

 

I think it took a couple of weeks after we submitted the claim to get our money back.

[fergusonvt]

We have BCBS through DH's employer and ours covers out of country charges.

[bbohbbneedacruise]

We have BCBS through DH's employer and ours covers out of country charges.

 

We are the same. My DH's works for an international owned company and because of frequent out of country travel they have international coverage. We have Anthem BC/BS.

[jsmac3]

How about the Carnival insurance? I know it is underwritten by another company, but do you have to pay out-of-packet and then file if you are treated onboard?

[Ken076]

How about the Carnival insurance? I know it is underwritten by another company, but do you have to pay out-of-packet and then file if you are treated onboard?

 

yes. ken

[klmorg]

We have first-hand experience in this area (DH had a heart attack on board a few years ago, and the infirmary saved his life). Anyway... we had regular health insurance & had also purchased travel insurance THANKFULLY (TravelSafe).

 

We were required to pay for the medical care on board the ship (charge to your S&S account), and in Cayman Islands Hospital, up front. Then after submitting all the claims to the insurance company(s) once we were finally back home, we were quickly reimbursed.

 

Not only could I make a commercial for travel insurance:), I also highly recommend an emergency credit card with a pretty high limit, just in case of emergency.

[BeadedGoblets]

thanks to everyone for that information. hopefully we won't need it, but it is good to know upfront. i knew we would have to pay all bills out of pocket and request reimbursement but just didn't know if the ship's doctor was covered. your information helps.

[Ken076]

thanks to everyone for that information. hopefully we won't need it, but it is good to know upfront. i knew we would have to pay all bills out of pocket and request reimbursement but just didn't know if the ship's doctor was covered. your information helps.

 

The infirmary normally provides you a detailed statement of services for claim purposes - make sure you leave the ship with such a document! ken

[cruisetexas]

We just used our cruise travel insurance when I fell in Mexico and broke my arm. The ship did x-rays, emailed them to Miami to be read, immobilized the arm, and gave me some prescription meds. We paid $275 on our S&S account and were very promptly reimbursed when we returned home and submitted the bills to the travel insurance company.

 

We had no personal health insurance at that time, so although it wasn't a huge amount of money, it was nice to get it back! (Minus $50 deductible.)

 

I, too, could write a commercial for trip insurance. Worth the small cost!

[JediSkipdogg]

It's 100% up to the individual plan you have. I use to have Humana and they wouldn't cover me 100 miles outside of Cincinnati. Well, they would, but super basic care and then I had to get back to Cincinnati for advanced care. The minute I was "movable" I had to get back to the "local coverage area." Anything else was deemed out of network.

 

I now have United Health Care. They cover the full US on my plan but that's it.

 

Neither plan that I have had in the past 8 years has covered out of the country. That is one reason when I get travel insurance I make sure the medical coverage is primary. Otherwise you have to submit the bill to your normal insurance plan and wait for it to be denied then re-submit to the travel insurance. And we all know how fast insurance moves. :rolleyes: