Hi! We will both be on Medicare January 1. What will I need for medical coverage? I bought the alliance travel insurance, but read that the Supplement G will cover things too. Is this correct?
From what I’ve read, Medicare covers little out of the country.
I usually buy travel insurance for the medical coverage, especially for any evacuation that might happen when in another country.
In my mind, it’s not just treatments that might happen overseas, but also any time lost by an accident, getting back home and any accommodation I might have to make.
I hope that wasn’t too confusing 
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Do a search on CC for this topic. It has been discussed at length.
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Hopefully your travel insurance covers medical while out of country. I am not eligible for Medicare, and have great insurance, but I will buy a small travel insurance policy to get evacuation insurance, for example.
I bought Geoblue for our last international trip. It provides primary coverage as Medicare doesn’t cover international mishaps. It was reasonable in cost.
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Buy a policy that will cover you out of country. Medicare won’t except maybe a trip to an emergency room…but you might need to pay up front and get reimbursed.
Get medivac in case you need it.
Advice I received from a very frequent traveller…if you are traveling and reserved through a cruise line…get their best medical insurance through them. Otherwise you could be on the hook for things like airfare home from some place where you didn’t plan to end up.
My supplement does cover some care out of the country. (80% up to $50k)
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Can you please share what it covers above emergency room visits, and what plan this is? And do you have to pay up front (what foreign hospitals submit to Medicare).
I second the vote for Geoblue. I know things for Medicare are state specific, but I attended a Medicare talk where they said if you will be travelling internationally when you retire you need to get coverage outside of Medicare. Geo Blue can be bought for a specific trip, or for a period of time (like a year at a time).
I haven’t used it, so I can just offer my understanding.
My Medicare Supplement is a Plan G Extra. It covers 80% emergency care up to $50k, subject to a $250 deductible. It only provides coverage for the first 60 days of any trip.
I do believe that you have to pay up front and submit the bills for reimbursement. That said, I know several folks who have been overseas in countries with Government single payor and the local health care provider didn’t want to deal with the hassle of printing bills, and providing more paperwork to to their government to show non-citizen care, so they just provided free treatment (or billed it to their government some other way). But those are one-offs and can’t be depended on.
My friend who had either Allianz or GeoBlue, ended up in a hospital in Greece earlier this year. She is sure they treated her very well because she gave them her travel medical insurance papers when she showed up. I don’t think she saw a single medical bill, it was all just covered.
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Question - why would it matter if you get the travel insurance through cruise line or elsewhere in this case? (Not arguing - just curious if I am missing something).
Keep in mind that their are two types of “travel insurance”. The first is about your trip getting cancelled or interrupted and you having to pay for stuff. This could be related to a medical incident or not (could be weather, etc.) This typically covers things like changing flights. I think in this case you may want to use what your tour recommends. If they end up having an issue on the tour they will be easier to work with.
The second type of insurance covers medical expenses if something happens on your trip. Could be ER or hospital visit, could again require cancelling or changing of transportation.
If you are going on an international trip, you really need both types.
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My friend who used this said…it mattered. She had booked her cruise and travel through the cruise company and her medical insurance. She had a medical emergency on the ship…and was disembarked at the next port where there was a hospital. The cruise line insurance company worked seamlessly with the cruise folks to get her the necessary medical care. AND she was flown home from there at no additional charge (in her case, business class with an accompanying nurse).
The insurance folks talked with her every single day.
This was a very long cruise which is why she did this.
Since she is a very seasoned traveller, I don’t doubt her.
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Emergency care only.
So if you require hospitalization abroad…who would pay for that? Not your Medicare or plan G.
sorry, I was unclear. My meant to write emergency and other care…
And Plan G will pay up to $50k.
Call your policy maker and ask. We got Geo Blue this summer traveling in Europe for 3 weeks. It covers a lot and since we rented a car I wanted to be covered etc. It actually was not expensive at all for myself and my wife and of course glad we didn’t need to use it.
I emailed the lady who is going to help with the supp g. She said that, like you all have, it will cover 80%. Then she’ll help me get a policy with GeoBlue. Unlike the travel insurance I bought for trip interruption ( which you generally have to buy a couple weeks after buying airfare), I can buy the GeoBlue anytime before our trip.
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Wouldn’t the self pay list price of medical services in most other countries be substantially lower than in the US? If so, paying up front to get reimbursed later may not be as painful as in the US.
The $50K is a lifetime limit.