Medical Insurance

[FreedomSeekers]

Planning to set sail Fall04. After selling all and setting up finances we believe we can manage the suggested $1500. a month for liveaboard cruising. But have little knowledge as of yet on medical insurance. Husband has had cancer in past and don't feel we should go without. Feeling anxious about this. Any suggestions.

[Beth]

My husband and I are setting sail for the Bahamas and places further south this Tuesday. If you do a search on the internet under 'International Health Insurance' plenty of companies will show up. Most require you be out of the states for at least 6 months out of the year. They will ask for an out of the country address, for cruisers, your intinerary will work fine. Sorry to hear about your husbands cancer, hopefully all is well now. My husband had a double by-pass 1 1/2 years ago, because of that no insurance company would cover him, so we did not disclose that since he is in fine health now. It is costing us approximately $4500/year for the two of us. The coverage is very extensive and usually includes emergency evacuation. We went with a company called MultiNational Underwriters. For our needs they seem to offer the best coverage, the highest lifetime limits, and the lowest deductible for the best price.
Good luck to you and happy sailing!

[BC Mike]

Be carefull how you fill out the app.There may be a clause that makes the policy void if you have not disclosed the facts known to you. It does not matter the the medical problem is unrelated to the non disclosure. This is a general statement and the laws are different in different jurisdictions. A life insurance policy can be made void because a smoker did not disclose he smoked, does not matter that he died in a car accident. Read the policy regarding pre-existing conditions and non disclosure. BC Mike C

[delmarrey]

Insurace companies also share database info. Especially in pre-existing conditions. For instance, AIDS. Everyone that has been diagnosed with the HIV virus gets their name in the system. And I'm pretty confident cancers and cardiovascular failures are also in the system. If you were insured before with something all the other insurance companies will have access.

After an accident one time back in 76 I woke up on a table in the hospital and they said my Doctor (by name), who I hadn't seen since I was 10 years old, wasn't available and this other Doctor would be treating me.

Now, this was in 1976. How did they know who my Doctor was? I was single, 26 years old and working for myself without health insurance. I had even forgotten the Doctors name until they had mentioned it.

Today everything is computerized. You'd be surprised what you can find out about yourself. I found info on my father who died in 1968 back when the first battery operated electronic calculator hit the market.

Big Brother isss watching!

[delmarrey]

Here is a copy of a notice that insurance companies use while transfer info. Notice the words LEGALLY PRIVILEDGED.

Confidentiality Notice: This email and any attached files may contain confidential health information that is legally privileged in accordance with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 and 42 CFR Part 2. The information contained in this message and any attached documents is intended only for the personal and confidential use of the designated recipient(s). The authorized recipient of this information is prohibited from disclosing this information to any other party unless required to do so by law or regulation and is required to secure the received document(s). The recipient is also required to destroy the information after its stated need has been fulfilled.

If you are not the intended recipient (or an agent responsible for delivering these documents to the intended recipient), you are hereby notified that any disclosure, copying, distribution, or action taken in reliance on the contents of this email (including attachments) or the information contained therein is strictly prohibited. If you have received this communication in error, please notify the sender immediately by replying to this message and delete this email and any attachments from your computer.

[ct40]

Not disclosing a past medical condition on an application could cause serious problems down the road when a claim is filed. In the event a future claim is attributed to a previous medical condition, that was not disclosed on the application, a insurance carrier would deny the new claim! And in turn cancel your policy- You should consider all alternatives, such as COBRA, guaranteed plans offered in your state of resideny, etc.

Medical history will come up when a claim is filed and an insurance carrier obtains medical records while processing a claim.

Willful ommission of information (facts pertaining to the application) is a legitimate reason for an insurance to edeny coverage and cancel a contract.

Fair Winds,

[Harriet]

I concur with all the advice about disclosing information. For what it's worth, I had cancer 13 years ago. When I quit work last year to go crusiing, I continued my group insurance through COBRA, and am now looking for individual insurance. I thought the cancer might be a problem; however, I am finding that since I have had continuous insurance coverage with no recurrence of the cancer, most insurers are willing to cover us. It is only a question of at what cost. You are actually in a better position than we are, since you are planning to cruise mostly outside the US where health costs are less expensive. Our cruising plans are keeping us on the east coast of the US and the Bahamas over the next year. We are looking at approximately $800/mo to cover both of us (husband is 61 and I am almost 56).

[Brent Swain]

I once bought travel health insurance from Travel Underwriters Worldwide Mediclaim. When I made a claim they insisted I give them a credit card number . When I told them that I didn't have a credit card they refused to pay out the claim. I suspect that they wanted to put my bill on my credit card so I would have to hire a lawyer and go to court to make a claim.I've since heard of others dealing with the same company who found out that they would go to great lengths to try to avoid paying a claim.
When buying health insurance it's probably a good idea to find someone who has made a claim with the company you plan on dealing with and find out what their experience has been.

[irwinsailor]

From what I can tell getting affordable health insurance is hopeless. My only hope will be to get sick in another country where I can afford treatment. I better not wait to much longer to get out of here.

[Brent Swain]

I once had to visit a doctor in Mexico for a stomach ailment. His bill? $10 CDN, less than the price of insurance . A doctor friend cruising Mexico toured their hospitals and said that they have everything we have .
45% of all medical diagnosis in the US is wrong. When the doctors in LA went on strike in the 70's the death rate declined noticably.
I once broke some bones in the US . Fortunatly a general anesthetic was not needed . If it had I might have gone in with some broken bones and came out a double amputee with a sex change.
Brent Swain

[European Cruiser]

...and usually the experienced cruising community can offer up many suggestions for you, along with their own experiences.

For starters, visit the threads at www.ssca.org - Cruising Discussions. Better yet, purchase the $20 USD CD of 8 years of the SSCA's Bulletins, do a topic search (or a more powerful search using Adobe Acrobat Reader - free software) and cherry pick the info that people have been sharing for 48 issues of that newsletter. Generally very helpful info, easily accessed.

You might also dig into the wealth of cruising boat websites, which sometimes include info on offshore health insurance. A good example is www.norsiglar.com/english/spesificationf.html (look closely for the insurance info; the font is quite small). Insurance is easy to come by outside the U.S., altho' U.S. cruisers are often not thinking in those terms because their plan is to fly home for care if it is possible to do so vs. stay where they are and be treated. But treatment is better 'somewhere' than 'nowhere'.

Two general impressions I have formed is that 1) it is impossible to generalize about medical care one finds while out cruising, and 2) the best U.S. health care, for all the anecdotal info that's out there (and usually misrepresented due to ignorance and emotional involvement), is in general superior to the best of health care that's offered in most other countries. We've seen excellent and abysmal health care being practiced in the same First World cities...so how one can even summarize a description of health care in each country is beyond me and doesn't serve much purpose. Moreover, if e.g. you want your eyes 'done' (either costmetically or for vision purposes), that kind of care is provided worldwide and you have lots of choices. And regular health checks, PSA or Pap tests, eye dialations and the other things we should be doing to look after ourselves, are usually inexpensive and available from credible care facilities anywhere in the world...if you search them out thoughtfully. OTOH if facing a life-threatening disease, many U.S. folks would choose a clinic or Doc at a teaching/research hospital back in the States if we had the insurance to make it possible, which seems a savvy choice to me. It's this kind of coverage that's hard to find - and be eligible for - at an affordable premium.

Jack

[james18]

there has the newest scam going utilizing a personal medical fund or pmf account. Do not let your company choose such kinds of health or a personal medical fund plan. basically, you might as well be self-insured. this type of plan takes you and your companies money and pays bills from the account. everything is ok until you have go beyond the pmf account and try to access the benefits of the insurance plan. you will end up paying so many of your bills as being part of your deductible, out-of-network, etc. and worst of all, you will never get to your 100% insured benefits. that's crap that some companies do that. pretty sinister way to get money out of ordinary people.
anyway, you can check this: http://www.insurancepaylite.com for a reliable insurance for your health, car, business and home. you can get a free on line quote and you can compare it to other companies.

[Talbot]

Originally Posted by ct40

Not disclosing a past medical condition on an application could cause serious problems down the road when a claim is filed. Willful ommission of information (facts pertaining to the application) is a legitimate reason for an insurance to edeny coverage and cancel a contract.

Its not just wilfull ommission, but any ommission, and in some cases not even an ommission, but something that was mentioned at the time, but not recorded is enough for some of these firms to deny payment.