Comments on: What to do when a Swiss collection agency demands $3,810 from your girlfriend

By: Carly

Carly — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 04:10:10 +0000

Re: The 1st Reply

The link Geoffrey Weill provides links to a page that shows he does PR and marketing for MedJetAssist.

By: Tim

Tim — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 22:51:04 +0000

I am still using Blue Cross/Blue Shield–and the policy my former employee has does cover medical costs outside of the US. However, it does not provide for transportation back to the US to recover at a hospital near my house, so I also subscribe to MedjetAssist.

Yes, I did call BC/BS to ensure what they covered before leaving the country. And that is a good idea as others have said–contact your insurance company (or HR person) to find out what is covered, then decide what to do about the uncovered parts (like medical flights home).

By: Preston McKinney

Preston McKinney — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 18:05:18 +0000

There was no mention of a travel agent in the article.who could have given valuable assistment is resolving this case by presenting the facts to Access America in a 3rd party way where there would not be any personal emotions. However, we have two many so called travel agents who are excellent order takers and have no sales ability to follow-up with the travel insurance companies to help move the claim to a satisficatory end.

I am looking at two plans from Travel Guard. The “Basic plan” has a $10,000 medical expenses with a $50.00 deductable. The Platinum Plan has a $50,000 medical expense plan with no deductable The basis plan has a $100,000 Emergency Evacution while the Platimum Plan has a $1,000,000 Emergency Evacation providion.. Given that the couple taking the vacation that would be considered riskier (ski vacation), choosing a policy that had better benefits would have been a far wiser fact considering the small difference in insurance premium cost compared to the cost of an European Ski Vacation.

By: Passing through

Passing through — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 21:07:27 +0000

Also check to see if the country you’re going to has free healthcare. Fainted from exhaustion in London and didnt pay a cent for anything. Nice folks.

By: Carrie Charney

Carrie Charney — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 18:01:23 +0000

Medicare is only valid in the U.S.

By: brian from nodebtworldtravel.com

brian from nodebtworldtravel.com — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 15:12:37 +0000

You hope you never have to use it, but travel insurance is vital for everyone. Dont depend on employer insurance. There is no guarantee that will carry abroad.

By: barbie45

barbie45 — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 15:02:02 +0000

So glad you helped her handle this dispute; Carver every BLUECROSS and BLUE SHIELDplan is different; It depends on what your emplyer selects for you. and Babel why should she pay; Also AAAis way overpriced ; I get the same coverage from my auto insurance plan at 12.00 per year; hope this did not affect her credit rating.

By: Martin Smith

Martin Smith — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 14:34:56 +0000

Every and I do mean every insurance policy is different both domestic, international, travel insurance all of them – plus there are companies that seem to be insurance companies and they are not. I think you will find that most US health insurance policies will cover your medical expenses outside the US to the same extent they would cover them in the US. What they won’t usually do is pay for the transportation costs to get home or to a provider in another company. The travel insurers generally assert that they are secondary to your primary insurer and so they subrogate their claims back to the primary. It is a lot of paperwork and as I said is very complicated because every policy is different. Throw in language and system differences and you have a prescription (no pun intended) for a mess. “Caveat Emptor”.

By: Carver

Carver — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 13:38:51 +0000

@Geoffrey

According to Medjet Assist the only service the provide is evacuation. Since the helicopter was paid for by Access, Medjet Assist would have been useless to the OP. I suspect that you had good medical insurance as well

@John

Or of course you can just call you health insurance and see whether they cover you out of county or if there are limitations. Blue cross, at least in California, generally covers you wherever you are.

By: John

John — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 12:15:28 +0000

Actually Susie appears to be lucky. A lot of US insurance policies won’t pay out of country expenses. Yet another reason why Travel Insurance is a good thing to purchase!