Does Anyone Know the Medicare Guidelines when Traveling Outside the USA?

[Stephen]

Not great coverage because the providers in (for example) Cuba might not accept assignment of the Med Supp benefits. They may require you to pay and then you try to get reimbursed.

I stand by my recommendation to spend the $100 and get travel insurance. The plans will pay on behalf and have concierge service damn near worldwide.

If someone can afford to travel, they can afford to protect themselves with proper coverage.

Rick

Don't they have universal healthcare in Cuba?

 

[Dave020]

Don't they have universal healthcare in Cuba?

Yes, they do.

 

[Guest]

If someone can afford to travel, they can afford to protect themselves with proper coverage.

When my very expensive wife (who is on Medicare but I'm not) and I went to Germany for almost a month last summer for our 30th anniversary I wrote IMG plans for each of us.

Jane got very, very ill in Berlin... hotel doctor visits, clinic visit, expensive meds, etc. ... your typical travel nightmare.

(And the German medical system is great... I'll bet Dave020 can attest to that as he lived there for a few years while in the military. )

Having medical coverage outside of the US... when needed... lowers your stress level from a max of 100 down to about 20! If you are at a "certain age" don't leave home without it.

Anyone who has "been there" will tell you the same thing. Considering what the tour cost us plus United Air biz-class plus the extra days we stayed before the tour at a nice hotel in Weisbaden and after the tour in a nice Berlin hotel the cost of the coverage was negligible.

(If you plan to visit Germany, these hotels are terrific. You will really enjoy your stay. Jane and I like hosted tours and Tauck does them well.)

Buy travel coverage for yourself, and tell your clients to buy it too! (They will thank you if they ever go through what we did!)

 

[pcbinsurance]

I know quite a few military members in Germany currently and they have used the German medical system (for dependents) and they all tell me it's horrible.
I'm glad you had a good experience.

 

[Guest]

I know quite a few military members in Germany currently and they have used the German medical system (for dependents) and they all tell me it's horrible.
I'm glad you had a good experience.

Don't in-country military dependents use US base facilities?

If not, do your friends have ex-pat or extended-travel medical coverage like sold by IMG and Seven Corners and others? Could that be the problem... maybe they were considered (treated) the same as our hospitals consider (treat) patients without insurance?

One complaint I heard is that meds in Germany cost more than in any other Euro country. Also, I was told you can't even buy an aspirin without a prescription in Germany. Someone else will have to corroborate.

One thing that I liked is how drugs are dispensed. You know how in the US you go to the pharmacy with your prescription for three meds and wait while the pharmacist takes ten pills from a big bottle and puts them in a small bottle and then types up a label, then does it again, and again?

In Germany the most common dosages are pre-packaged. You walk into the store, show your script, the clerk pulls a tiny box off the shelf, then another, then another, etc., you pay for it, and you are out of there in three minutes... about as fast as buying six pack of Bud and a quick-pick lotto tix at the 7-11 market!