Just another reason to always ensure you purchase travel insurance

angieandtrevor

angieandtrevor

Active Member
Original Poster
I know this isn't Disney related however I thought this was an awesome video that many would like to see. My husband and I have been cruising with a group from all over Canada & the US and many we now consider to be part of our family. One man (who we have nicknamed Duckie) and his wife were cruising on the Carnival Splendor last week (this was a re-do cruise for them.....don't ask) and on Saturday afternoon Duckie had a cardiac event and had to be air lifted off of the ship to a hospital in Norfolk. It was the quick response of the Splendor crew, medical staff and the Coast Guard for saving our friend's life. He has since had a small procedure done and is expected to be released tomorrow.

There wasn't room in the helicopter for his wife and because they had a sea day the following day she will only arrive with him tonight. I cannot even imagine what it must have been like for her to have him go on his own. He is also from Canada and has insurance so that wasn't a concern for them but what a bigger nightmare all of this would have been had that not been the case. Just another reason why I won't leave home without really, really good insurance because you just never know. There is never a good time for something like this to happen but I think being away from home would be the worst possible situation.

Please say a little prayer for a quick recovery for our buddy Duck :)

http://www.dvidshub.net/video/29104...-attack-victim-cruise-ship-150-miles-offshore
 
sweetpee_1993

sweetpee_1993

Well-Known Member
Oh my! Amen on the insurance! For me, just the peace of mind is worth the premium paid. Emergency medical outside the country is exactly the thought we had when purchasing several months back but have since discovered an even broader wisdom in travel insurance.

Sorta unrelated but my brother-in-law married a Canadian gal. I'm pretty sure they both have dual citizenship but not sure about their kiddos. I guess it was maybe 4 years ago (?) when their daughter was a toddler she fell & hit her mouth/face really hard splitting her cheek open in Niagara before they were due to come back down to the states (Beau was working in Texas at the time). They didn't do much other than xray and say she was fine. They flew on back to Texas. Within a day or so she was running a high fever and had a strange red streak running up her face and her eye was getting really red. They took her to a local hospital here and she was admitted. A bunch of tests were done, seems like they said she had an infection or something. Staph, I think? Can't remember. Long story short, my little niece was in the hospital for several days. Had a huge hospital bill, something in the range of like $20k+. My BiL thought her Canadian insurance would pick up but it didn't exactly happen that way. I know he had to front a LOT of that money via payments then somehow get reimbursed but then I don't think they reimbursed him 100% either. I forget. My Canadian sis-in-law used to marvel at how much we paid for health insurance &/or medical costs but then she didn't gripe one bit after Clara's emergency (surprised me, she doesn't seem to like the US too much). I think she was happy with the care regardless of the cost. I guess my point in all that is if you have travel insurance even any delay such as having to front some costs then wait for reimbursement can be thwarted. That was definitely something we considered when we purchased travel insurance. ;)
 
Master Yoda

Master Yoda

Pro Star Wars geek.
Premium Member
Things like this are the reason I will never set foot on a cruise ship without insurance. That little helicopter ride costs 5 figures and it is not covered by most, if any medical insurance. Even people in perfect health can have an issue like this. You just never know when something like this is going to happen.
 
sweetpee_1993

sweetpee_1993

Well-Known Member
Master Yoda said:
Things like this are the reason I will never set foot on a cruise ship without insurance. That little helicopter ride costs 5 figures and it is not covered by most, if any medical insurance. Even people in perfect health can have an issue like this. You just never know when something like this is going to happen.
Click to expand...

So true! Even if you're all super healthy, What if you trip on those crazy high heels you aren't used to wearing o_O and fall down some steps??? Yikes!
 
Master Yoda

Master Yoda

Pro Star Wars geek.
Premium Member
sweetpee_1993 said:
So true! Even if you're all super healthy, What if you trip on those crazy high heels you aren't used to wearing o_O and fall down some steps??? Yikes!
Click to expand...
So true. Even baring an accident, even the most health person can have a cardiac event. I had a good friend who was an active firefighter, he did not drink or smoke, had a 100/60 BP, 120 cholesterol and a resting heart rate of about 50, drop dead right in front of me at the ripe old age of 42 from an undetected heart defect.
 
sweetpee_1993

sweetpee_1993

Well-Known Member
Master Yoda said:
So true. Even baring an accident, even the most health person can have a cardiac event. I had a good friend who was an active firefighter, he did not drink or smoke, had a 100/60 BP, 120 cholesterol and a resting heart rate of about 50, drop dead right in front of me at the ripe old age of 42 from an undetected heart defect.
Click to expand...

Sorry to hear that, Richard. But, yeah, prime example. You just never know.
 
Z

Zman-ks

Well-Known Member
sweetpee_1993 said:
Sorry to hear that, Richard. But, yeah, prime example. You just never know.
75.gif
Click to expand...

Agreed...we had an issue without travel insurance, never again. If nothing more than peice of mind.
 
Disneyfalcon

Disneyfalcon

Well-Known Member
I'm so glad he's okay, Angie! How awful to be separated during that!

Master Yoda said:
So true. Even baring an accident, even the most health person can have a cardiac event. I had a good friend who was an active firefighter, he did not drink or smoke, had a 100/60 BP, 120 cholesterol and a resting heart rate of about 50, drop dead right in front of me at the ripe old age of 42 from an undetected heart defect.
Click to expand...

You don't ever know! My daughter is and was a very healthy active girl who had a heart defect that wasn't found until she was 8. Even then it was a fluke they found it. She's wonderful now, but if no one had found it she probably wouldn't have made it to 40.

Get the insurance!! It's worth it!! I can only imagine how much Duckie's airlift would have cost!
 
angieandtrevor

angieandtrevor

Active Member
Original Poster
sweetpee_1993 said:
Oh my! Amen on the insurance! For me, just the peace of mind is worth the premium paid. Emergency medical outside the country is exactly the thought we had when purchasing several months back but have since discovered an even broader wisdom in travel insurance.

Sorta unrelated but my brother-in-law married a Canadian gal. I'm pretty sure they both have dual citizenship but not sure about their kiddos. I guess it was maybe 4 years ago (?) when their daughter was a toddler she fell & hit her mouth/face really hard splitting her cheek open in Niagara before they were due to come back down to the states (Beau was working in Texas at the time). They didn't do much other than xray and say she was fine. They flew on back to Texas. Within a day or so she was running a high fever and had a strange red streak running up her face and her eye was getting really red. They took her to a local hospital here and she was admitted. A bunch of tests were done, seems like they said she had an infection or something. Staph, I think? Can't remember. Long story short, my little niece was in the hospital for several days. Had a huge hospital bill, something in the range of like $20k+. My BiL thought her Canadian insurance would pick up but it didn't exactly happen that way. I know he had to front a LOT of that money via payments then somehow get reimbursed but then I don't think they reimbursed him 100% either. I forget. My Canadian sis-in-law used to marvel at how much we paid for health insurance &/or medical costs but then she didn't gripe one bit after Clara's emergency (surprised me, she doesn't seem to like the US too much). I think she was happy with the care regardless of the cost. I guess my point in all that is if you have travel insurance even any delay such as having to front some costs then wait for reimbursement can be thwarted. That was definitely something we considered when we purchased travel insurance. ;)
Click to expand...

That is something that always worries me. I always make sure we have great coverage but you really don't know how great they are until you need to use them. I've spoken with my insurance company before and explained our travel plans and asked if there would be any unexpected costs they wouldn't fully cover and I was always assured that everything would be covered even if we were outside of the country. I've actually considered getting a second one just in case but then my hubby told me I was being a bit too crazy ;)
 
D

DisneyJoe

Well-Known Member
angieandtrevor said:
That is something that always worries me. I always make sure we have great coverage but you really don't know how great they are until you need to use them. I've spoken with my insurance company before and explained our travel plans and asked if there would be any unexpected costs they wouldn't fully cover and I was always assured that everything would be covered even if we were outside of the country. I've actually considered getting a second one just in case but then my hubby told me I was being a bit too crazy ;)
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I would specifically ask about emergency medical transport via helicopter from a cruise ship to either a foreign port or a US destination.
 
Master Yoda

Master Yoda

Pro Star Wars geek.
Premium Member
DisneyJoe said:
I would specifically ask about emergency medical transport via helicopter from a cruise ship to either a foreign port or a US destination.
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This^^^^

Some insurance will cover costs abroad, but I have yet to see a typical policy that covers emergency transportation.
 
Monty

Monty

Brilliant...and Canadian
In the Parks
No
I guess I'm a lucky Canadian... ;)

As a Government employee I automatically have emergency medical coverage while travelling for up to $500,000 over and above whatever is normally covered by my Provincial Health Care Plan and the insurance will pay everything up-front and claim from the Provincial Plan on my behalf. If, after all is said and done, the Provincial and insurance plans don't cover everything, I would be responsible for any overages. To date I've never heard of any of my colleagues having to pay anything out of pocket.
 
angieandtrevor

angieandtrevor

Active Member
Original Poster
Monty said:
I guess I'm a lucky Canadian... ;)

As a Government employee I automatically have emergency medical coverage while travelling for up to $500,000 over and above whatever is normally covered by my Provincial Health Care Plan and the insurance will pay everything up-front and claim from the Provincial Plan on my behalf. If, after all is said and done, the Provincial and insurance plans don't cover everything, I would be responsible for any overages. To date I've never heard of any of my colleagues having to pay anything out of pocket.
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I work for the Province of Nova Scotia so I was pretty certain our group plan was a good one but it definitely doesn't hurt to double check. I just got off of the phone with Blue Cross and we are fully covered up to $2,000,000 so I think I can rest easy that everything will be covered. All of this has definitely made me think that you just never know when things can happen. Hopefully we will never have to test any of this out.
 
angieandtrevor

angieandtrevor

Active Member
Original Poster
Master Yoda said:
I was referring to medical insurance policies (eg Blue Cross, Av Med, etc) not travel insurance policies. Nearly every travel policy has coverage for emergency transportation.
Click to expand...

I actually asked specifically about this just to be sure and it is written directly in our plan that it is included. I've heard others say their plan didn't so it is definitely worth asking about.
 

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