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| insurance when you go home on holiday; do you purchase it? | |
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| Topic Started: Jun 30 2009, 07:43 PM (289 Views) | |
| i<3sydney | Jun 30 2009, 07:43 PM Post #1 |
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True Blue Mate
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so i'm going back to the states soon and purchased my flight ages ago.. and i'm just thinking if i should quickly get some travel insurance. do you purchase it everytime you go home? if so, who do you recommend? i'm not so much worried about my flights, but more worried about if i get in a car accident or something like that or have to go to hospital. suggestions or comments? thanks in advance 
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| i<3sydney | Jun 30 2009, 10:33 PM Post #2 |
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True Blue Mate
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oops.. didn't realise i posted this here! tori can you please move this to the appropriate area? thanks |
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| SanDiablo | Jul 1 2009, 01:09 PM Post #3 |
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True Blue Mate
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Yes. Always. I buy travel insurance through Medibank. It's not that expensive and they are very good with claims. Trust me - it only takes one mis-step to break a leg... |
| "I'll try anything twice." | |
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| shylady | Jul 1 2009, 01:18 PM Post #4 |
oldYank
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no kidding!  And be sure to check what's covered, sometimes it's only hospital/accident care. When I got swine flu/bronchitis/pneumonia over there last month and went to an UrgentCare doctor and needed expensive medications (to slip past the thermal-scanners at Brisbane 2 days later so that I wouldn't be quarantined), it wasn't covered. :shrug: |
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"I could’ve turned a different corner, I could’ve gone another place... " ku,'09 | |
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| surfermomkelly | Jul 1 2009, 02:58 PM Post #5 |
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True Blue Mate
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You know, I have traveled back and forth to Australia a good 20 times or so and my husband over 50 and we have never bought insurnace (I'm going to knock on wood now LOL) |
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| shylady | Jul 1 2009, 03:26 PM Post #6 |
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oldYank
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I've made travel insurance claims twice in 10 years. The insurance was CHEAP compared to what my out-of-pocket costs would have been, averaged over the ten years. It's great if you never need it, but really nice to have, when you do. 
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"I could’ve turned a different corner, I could’ve gone another place... " ku,'09 | |
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| Judy | Jul 1 2009, 04:05 PM Post #7 |
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True Blue Mate
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Whenever I go to the US I buy medical-only cover from these people: http://www.1cover.com.au/ |
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| anater | Jul 1 2009, 05:47 PM Post #8 |
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True Blue Mate
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I've found that if you have medical insurance (with a large HMO like Pacificare of Blue Cross) in the US it will usually cover you during overseas travel. You usually just pay upfront and present your bills to your carrier when you return and they'll reimburse you minus your deductible. |
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| NurseJules | Jul 1 2009, 06:05 PM Post #9 |
True Blue Mate
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i think shes referring to those who are living in aus and traveling to the US to visit family, go on holidays, etc. but you make a good point anater...i had bluecross through my dads work (when i lived in the states) and when i read the fine print i was NOT covered for overseas travel...i only found this out after traveling back and forth for 3 years. so i guess always read the fine print no matter what country you're living in and where you're traveling to
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| i<3sydney | Jul 1 2009, 07:33 PM Post #10 |
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True Blue Mate
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yes i meant that i live in aus now and i'm traveling back to the states on holiday to visit. i have no insurance in the states nor do i have private insurance yet here (though got to get on that soon since i'm now 30!) i am so so so tempted to just skip it because i'm only going for 4 weeks.. but ever since the drama i went through the last 2 weeks before i moved here and the health stuff with no insurance.. i don't want to go through that again. so i guess i'd rather be safe than sorry. but in saying that.. i want to go through someone who's recommended. i don't want to just buy insurance and have things not be covered or have the claim process be a nightmare if i have to go through it. so hoping you guys here had some experience. thanks for the suggestions thus far.. i'll look into them. anyone bought insurance through flight centre? or nib mbf or whatever those places are in most major shopping centres? keep the recs coming! |
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| JasonP27 | Jul 1 2009, 08:57 PM Post #11 |
Yacker
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me and my Aussie girlfriend get married on November 29th 2009 and we are having a trip back to the USA for our honeymoon/family visit/Christmas visit/vacation (or holiday :P ) (we find that if you have a lot of reasons to take the trip it makes you feel a little better spending insane amounts of money to go there in the first place...) anyhow, she got insurance through Flight Centre, but I am not getting any for myself as I lived without insurance when I was there, and whenever I got sick or hurt I just took the pain (I got pink eye once, I think I may have broken my back a few years ago) and I still would (take the pain) but I got insurance for now as it looked better on the visa application. However I am stupid so I wouldn't recommend you do like me. Get insurance. Edited by JasonP27, Jul 1 2009, 08:59 PM.
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| Lisa66 | Jul 1 2009, 10:13 PM Post #12 |
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True Blue Mate
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Since my husband travels so much on business (USA, Dubai, Singapore, Japan ... ) we got an annual / multi-trip international family travel policy (it also covers me and our daughter). I bought it through AHM (it is called "Options") - but I think it is underwritten by another company. It was easy to buy online and it was reasonably priced. http://www.ahm.com.au/140/Travel-Insurance I have not had to claim anything yet so I can't speak to that. But we also have AHM for our hospital and extras private cover (found via iSelect) and they have been fine / easy to deal with on the phone, etc. RE: visitors coming to visit here - especially parents (i.e. those on US Medicare) TRY TO ENCOURAGE THEM TO GET TRAVEL INSURANCE!! (US Medicare does NOT cover overseas.) Not sure if anyone remembers my post around xmas ... but my mom came to visit for a month in December - and ended up staying nearly 12 weeks due to a heart attack. She got awesome care (triple bypass, ICU, CCU, rehab - the whole nine yeards) at Cabrini private hospital and it was all paid for (plus an upgraded flight home in business class) by her travel insurance. Visitors have to pay out of pocket for care here and that is fine if it is a quick trip to the ED for a sprained ankle or something. But even though a triple bypass is WAY less $$ here than in the US, it ain't cheap!! Sorry for the tangent / rant - I am a bit evangelical about this! |
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| TerritorianTori | Jul 2 2009, 08:07 AM Post #13 |
Caught between a rock and a crazy place.
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 My mother, who has been visiting Darwin since May, recently slipped and broke her foot. She's getting care at the hospital here and says it was far less $$ than she would've paid in the States. However, we discovered a very nasty surprise with her "travel insurance" - the fine print says it only covers trips for 30 days or less!!  Luckily, her health insurance in the States covered everything, but changing the flights and dates was an entirely different matter.Moral of the story: Get insurance. And make sure it covers what you need it to cover. |
 South Texas to the Northern Territory - since 2004 Spiritwalker | Jason | Ethan I'm a huge fan of... Angry Video Game Nerd | The Big Bang Theory | Doctor Who | Pet Shop Boys | Yanks Down Under ~ Americans living in Australia | |
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| surfermomkelly | Jul 3 2009, 07:48 AM Post #14 |
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True Blue Mate
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I should of sid too that our US insurance is good overseas anywhere in the world. We are actually keeping it forever and using it in Australia. I guess I was thinking more on the lives of travel insurance to protect the flight costs etc. My head is all voer, I didnt' even finish what I meant to say, sorry. |
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| anater | Jul 3 2009, 09:04 PM Post #15 |
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True Blue Mate
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What a timely topic. We just bought our plane tickets to the US for Christmas and I never even thought of health insurance for when we are there. Another thing to put on my list. My stepson is also coming to visit next week for a month, and after reading that some insurance may not cover foreign travel I had my husband call the carrier to double check. After reading Lisa66's story we're reconsidering purchasing travel insurance for him, we just can't afford to be out of pocket and waiting for reimbursement should a major medical expense arise. Edited by anater, Jul 3 2009, 09:17 PM.
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| elsja | Jul 4 2009, 03:30 AM Post #16 |
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aussie pilot lover
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I use the travel ins through medibank. You enter in the length of your trip and it gives you the cost based on that. I had to make a claim last time. I had to go to the doctor in the US for a random female problem and when i got home I filled out the form, sent a copy of my dr. bill and got money back for it pretty quickly! I always get travel insurance. AlWAYS. I got REALLY sick in Italy once a long time ago (before i even thought about travel ins) and was in the hospital all day getting a million tests done. I started panicking about the cost and when I asked the nurse how I take care of paying she said "oh it's free." seriously... I walked out without paying a penny! Since the US isn't like that- I tend to want the insurance, just in case! |
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Elsja's Bloggity Blog | |
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| Jebra | Jul 4 2009, 08:27 AM Post #17 |
Yacker
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My boyfriend buys travel insurance every time he visits. It's just a good 'in case' measure. You never know when you're going to get into a wreck, catch an illness from someone sitting next to you in the movie theatre, get pushed down an escalator etc. |
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Blog: http://www.jessaroo.com Flickr albums: http://flickr.com/photos/jebra/  | |
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| nomadbb | Jul 7 2009, 08:37 PM Post #18 |
True Blue Mate
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I have to echo everyone else and say get the travel insurance. We've had two claims already and both were taken care of with a minimum of fuss. The first time Mandy got sick while we were visiting her sister in Sydney a few years ago. Even though she's an Aussie citizen, she'd given up her medicare card when she came over to the US to marry me. We had to pay out of pocket just to see a doc, and then for the medicine as well.  We got all of it back once we lodged our claim. The other claim was for our hotel stay when the plane was snowed in at Vancouver airport this past December. We got all of that back too, including all our meals while we were stranded.  Just make sure you keep all the receipts and read over the requirements carefully so you can request what you need for a successful claim. In our case, we had the airline provide us a written statement that showed we were delayed due to weather and the hotel manager wrote that their room was the lowest rate available.To further cement this, we arrranged travel insurance for the first week when we took our one-way flight to Melbourne until we could apply for medicare. And just yesterday, Mandy had to go to the doctor for a sore throat. Turns out she has tonsilitis and has to take antibiotics. Luckily, our medicare cards are due to arrive in another week, and we can claim that back, but it's only a week since we set that up.Brent |
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