For US Divers on Medicare: Do You Purchase Health Insurance for Trips to Coz?

[dflaher]

Struggled whether this belongs on a diving forum, but we have lots of great threads about beer and food so here goes .

I recently turned 65 and am now among the Medicare ranks; as such I do not have health insurance outside of the US. For those of you in a similar situation, do you pick up a policy before coming down, or roll the dice, or...?

Obviously I will have DAN insurance to cover the diving stuff. I'm in good health and I limit non-diving activities to walking about town to restaurants/ATMs etc.

 

[mediumone]

Struggled whether this belongs on a diving forum, but we have lots of great threads about beer and food so here goes .

I recently turned 65 and am now among the Medicare ranks; as such I do not have health insurance outside of the US. For those of you in a similar situation, do you pick up a policy before coming down, or roll the dice, or...?

Obviously I will have DAN insurance to cover the non-diving stuff. I'm in good health and I limit non-diving activities to walking about town to restaurants/ATMs etc.

I am covered outside of the US with my medicare advantage plan.
I also purchase a trip insurance policy for several reasons for about $65.00, which covers both my wife and me. (She's younger than 65). Scuba diving is a covered activity. The policy that I purchase offers many more benefits for less money than DAN.

 

[tursiops]

The policy that I purchase offers many more benefits for less money than DAN.

What policy do you purchase?

 

[mediumone]

What policy do you purchase?

There a several comprehensive on-line brokers, but I find SquareMouth to be the most user friendly.
I've purchased a number of different policies, but for the last 1/2 dozen trips or so, I've purchased Round Trip Elite from Seven Corners.
Many policies offer their medical coverage as primary coverage. I don't want primary coverage, but rather secondary coverage. Let my Advantage Plan be the primary, and the trip insurance will cover what the pricks at Blue Cross won't.

 

[mediumone]

And..... I've always purchase a policy that will wire funds to secure your admission to a hospital if hospitalization is required.

 

[DandyDon]

I recently turned 65 and am now among the Medicare ranks; as such I do not have health insurance outside of the US. For those of you in a similar situation, do you pick up a policy before coming down, or roll the dice, or...?

I remember a few cases posted here about people surviving car wrecks and other risks but in need of intensive treatment, yet they didn't have trip insurance with good medical coverage so they were stuck in the minimum care hospital and things didn't go well at all, limbs were lost, etc.

I always purchase good trip insurance when leaving the country. It's foolish not to. I remember being in a group that flew in with H.Dean approaching. We shouldn't have, but we bet against the experts. When he didn't veer off with three days out, we all escaped home, and many cried about their losses, having to pay for expensive plane tickets, etc. while I just filed my claim and shrugged.

 

[living4experiences]

If you don't have medical coverage outside the United States, regardless of age, IMO, it's a necessary expense of traveling to have at least a basic travel insurance policy. Some credit cards offer travel protection too. If you travel often, an annual policy is available too. I use insuremytrip.com as a shopping aggregator website.

 

[dflaher]

I guess that you mean you have Dan Dive insurance to cover the diving risks?

Yes, it was a typo on my part, thanks. Now fixed in the original post.

 

[DandyDon]

I will have DAN insurance to cover the diving stuff.

And your Dan membership provides for repatriation coverage arranged thru DAN. For nonmembers, it's an essential aspect of good trip insurance. For you, it's nice to have double coverage, just in case.

 

[Altamira]

Struggled whether this belongs on a diving forum, but we have lots of great threads about beer and food so here goes .

I recently turned 65 and am now among the Medicare ranks; as such I do not have health insurance outside of the US. For those of you in a similar situation, do you pick up a policy before coming down, or roll the dice, or...?

Obviously I will have DAN insurance to cover the diving stuff. I'm in good health and I limit non-diving activities to walking about town to restaurants/ATMs etc.

I know DAN insurance covers dive accidents, but I am uncertain if they cover the myriad of non-diving medical issues that might arise. For example, if you do a two tank dive at Coz, and then have a heart attack at 2AM, who covers that? For safety sake, I always purchase trip insurance with a large medical and evacuation coverage in addition to my DAN dive insurance. I am 77 so I may be more at risk than you, but I urge you to diligently know if you can cover major medical issues, or you need the insurance. Trying to figure out that answer might be too late if you are laying in a hospital.