To travel insure or not.......Wow, this is worth a read!

[kirawn]

Whole heartedly agree, a 3 hour trip to ER for myself costed out at $1000 per hour. Got home and received the bill for 3K

P.S That's USD$'s

.

Travel insurance essential especially in the USA.
On a cruise to Alaska in June my wife had an allergic reaction to cold and flu medication.(We think)
Had a major impact on her heart rate.
She spent one and a half days in the ship's medical facility.
A further half day in the emergency ward of a local hospital when we arrived in port. Taken off by emergency responders and transported by ambulance. Extensive tests.
Got the all clear.
Excellent care on board ship and in the hospital. Bills paid up front.
The insurance company has just paid the bill of $11,500 aud.

 

[artemis]

Wow. Just, wow.

Just curious as to how far along in the pregnancy should a woman put her feet up? And can you let my husband know too?

I believe you should not he doing anything strenuous while pregnant nor travelling. Definitely not gym and more than likely not work either especially stressful work or when you're on your feet a lot.

That's what I believe. It doesn't have to agree with your thoughts nor is it wrong. It is safe. It is conservative. It involves very little risk of complications. There is nothing that needs to be proved. Not a contest.

Now all I need is for my fiancée to be pregnant but looks like God won't afford us that opportunity.

 

[Jurahn]

.
On a cruise to Alaska in June my wife had an allergic reaction to cold and flu medication.(We think)
Had a major impact on her heart rate.

Must have been scary for her, especially as it probably came out of the blue - glad everything turned out to be OK. It definitely shows the importance of having travel insurance to cover these sort of unexpected events. The cold and flu medication could certainly have been the cause - I get major heart palpitations if I take anything with pseudoephedrine in it. Don't know why, as I'd taken medications with that ingredient in my younger years without any problems, and it was quite terrifying the first time it happened - this was way back in my 30s, I don't have any cardiac problems but I haven't been able to take anything containing pseudoephedrine since without having a similar reaction.

 

[JohnK]

Wow. Just, wow.

Just curious as to how far along in the pregnancy should a woman put her feet up? And can you let my husband know too?

That is entirely up to you and your husband.

The advice we have been given is no work if pregnant and definitely nothing strenuous of any kind. My fiancee has met many women who have miscarried between 1-3 months because they did not listen to instructions from doctor. One was pregnant with twins and lost one of them after 1 month and then the second one after about 3 months.

Heartbreak from what I understand. I can understand a pregnant woman working if they are struggling to survive. I can even understand a career woman wanting to work through pregnancy. But I cannot for the life of me understand why a woman needs to work through pregnancy with neither of the factors above. Why take unnecessary risks? Is there a point that needs to be proven.

 

[SeatBackForward]

That is entirely up to you and your husband.

The advice we have been given is no work if pregnant and definitely nothing strenuous of any kind. My fiancee has met many women who have miscarried between 1-3 months because they did not listen to instructions from doctor. One was pregnant with twins and lost one of them after 1 month and then the second one after about 3 months.

Heartbreak from what I understand. I can understand a pregnant woman working if they are struggling to survive. I can even understand a career woman wanting to work through pregnancy. But I cannot for the life of me understand why a woman needs to work through pregnancy with neither of the factors above. Why take unnecessary risks? Is there a point that needs to be proven.

You do realize that some women can be that far along and not realise they're pregnant...

Miscarriage at early stages is a fact of life, and has been happening for as long as we've been human beings. I doubt work factors make any significant differences to overall %'s.

 

[Natalie_B]

That is entirely up to you and your husband.

The advice we have been given is no work if pregnant and definitely nothing strenuous of any kind. My fiancee has met many women who have miscarried between 1-3 months because they did not listen to instructions from doctor. One was pregnant with twins and lost one of them after 1 month and then the second one after about 3 months.

Heartbreak from what I understand. I can understand a pregnant woman working if they are struggling to survive. I can even understand a career woman wanting to work through pregnancy. But I cannot for the life of me understand why a woman needs to work through pregnancy with neither of the factors above. Why take unnecessary risks? Is there a point that needs to be proven.

while we are getting off topic, I have seen numerous doctors, including one the nations top fertility specialists, and no doctor has ever told me to take it easy to the extent you describe or to not work.

Also, you'll do well from not linking the activities of a woman to her miscarrying a child. Unfortunately there are reasons that babies do not make it to full term, most of the time being genetic abnormalities - not something that either the mother OR THE FATHER did.

 

[Harpoon]

I hadn't seen this thread until now and thought I'd share a comment.

My wife is 12 weeks pregnant and we are about to head to the USA. I contacted my credit card insurance provider and asked what the deal is if she's pregnant. They advised quite clearly it's a pre-existing condition and IS covered by default, however the fine print read that any complications to previous pregnancies require approval for the insurance - and my wife has previously had 2 miscarriages. So we filled in QBE insurance form, it was assessed and it came back that to insure her would be a grand total of $0 i.e. no additional cost.

No price difference, but she is now officially covered if anything happened. And it wouldn't have to be pregnancy related, for example if she fell and broke her ankle, she wouldn't have been covered because she hadn't declared the pre-existing condition.

Moral of the story, if you have ANY medical condition, now matter how common or minor, get it assessed by the insurance company so you are 100% covered in an emergency.

 

[get me outta here]

Best of luck to you both this time, and good job getting insurance cover in wrting.

So, if a totally unrelated accident happened, they may have voided the whole 'contract'? Is that common?

I hadn't seen this thread until now and thought I'd share a comment.

My wife is 12 weeks pregnant and we are about to head to the USA. I contacted my credit card insurance provider and asked what the deal is if she's pregnant. They advised quite clearly it's a pre-existing condition and IS covered by default, however the fine print read that any complications to previous pregnancies require approval for the insurance - and my wife has previously had 2 miscarriages. So we filled in QBE insurance form, it was assessed and it came back that to insure her would be a grand total of $0 i.e. no additional cost.

No price difference, but she is now officially covered if anything happened. And it wouldn't have to be pregnancy related, for example if she fell and broke her ankle, she wouldn't have been covered because she hadn't declared the pre-existing condition.

Moral of the story, if you have ANY medical condition, now matter how common or minor, get it assessed by the insurance company so you are 100% covered in an emergency.

 

[Harpoon]

I'm not 100% sure but speaking to the QBE agent on the phone the made it sound like that was the case. If you don't declare a pre-existing condition you could be in big trouble regardless of what happens. I suspect it only comes to a head if it's a serious medical payout. Things like lost baggage and minor claims, it's probably not worth their time to investigate. However if you break your back in a skiing accident and are up for 100k in medical bills, I'm sure they will investigate whether you're in fact blind in one eye and didn't declare it....

Any insurance reps care to comment and clarify?

 

[footy99]

Just generally on travel insurance - does anyone offer medical only for a decent discount?

I can't see any reason at all to pay for anything else. I imagine the insurance companies are enormous net winners out of the remainder over any decent sample.

Admittedly I don't usually take it out and every time I have has been dead money. And chances are far more likely taking it out in the future will be a net loss than a net win. But covering for those unlikely but potentially crippling medical costs is the one reason I can use to justify it.

 

[Harpoon]

Just generally on travel insurance - does anyone offer medical only for a decent discount?

I can't see any reason at all to pay for anything else. I imagine the insurance companies are enormous net winners out of the remainder over any decent sample.

Admittedly I don't usually take it out and every time I have has been dead money. And chances are far more likely taking it out in the future will be a net loss than a net win. But covering for those unlikely but potentially crippling medical costs is the one reason I can use to justify it.

Interesting comment..... I suspect most people would feel the same way about home insurance i.e not very often does one's house burn down or get hit by a tree in a storm but it does happen and you'd be bonkers not to have insurance. Cheap medical insurance..... most 2nd tier and above credit cards have it built in these days.

 

[get me outta here]

Yes, I can see the correlation between having lopsided vision and a skiing accident. What do Para Olympians etc do for insurance ...

I'm not 100% sure but speaking to the QBE agent on the phone the made it sound like that was the case. If you don't declare a pre-existing condition you could be in big trouble regardless of what happens. I suspect it only comes to a head if it's a serious medical payout. Things like lost baggage and minor claims, it's probably not worth their time to investigate. However if you break your back in a skiing accident and are up for 100k in medical bills, I'm sure they will investigate whether you're in fact blind in one eye and didn't declare it....

Any insurance reps care to comment and clarify?

 

[Pushka]

I understood a pre existing condition not declared means only that you are not covered for any incident related to that condition. Depending on the type of pre- existing as to whether or not this puts you at risk when travelling.

 

[get me outta here]

There is certainly room for ambiguity here.

 

[JohnK]

You do realize that some women can be that far along and not realise they're pregnant...

Miscarriage at early stages is a fact of life, and has been happening for as long as we've been human beings. I doubt work factors make any significant differences to overall %'s.

That's fine.

I am stating my opinion and the advice we have been given. This discussion is not going to change either. Luckily I am in a position where if my fiancee is pregnant she will not be working/travelling and she agrees.