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Medical insurance vs. Travel Insurance Medical insurance vs. Travel Insurance
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Staying Healthy on the Road Medical info, e.g. malaria, vaccinations, travel medical tips, medical insurance, where to find a doctor.
Photo by Andy Miller, UK, Taking a rest, Jokulsarlon, Iceland

I haven't been everywhere...
but it's on my list!


Photo by Andy Miller, UK,
Taking a rest,
Jokulsarlon, Iceland



Ripcord Rescue Travel Insurance.

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  #1  
Old 14 Jan 2008
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Medical insurance vs. Travel Insurance
I have BUPA International medical insurance already that covers me for medical treatment the world over, except for in the USA (an expensive option I declined).

Do I need to get another "Travel insurance" policy to supplement this too, or could I just get a MedJet policy to get me to a hospital, where the treatment would then be paid for by BUPA.

I've only briefly looked at the MedJet site, but would they repatriate me to the UK from North America to get treatment, since I'm not covered by BUPA there...?

I think I can live without the theft, hijacking cover etc etc...

Anybody else done this? How did it work out?

Nick
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  #2  
Old 15 Jan 2008
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Think you'll find that MediJet (and other medical evac policies) have to have some medical treatment in the country where the injory/whatever occured .. so they have a medical person to say you need medical evacuatiuon .. rather than a trip home at their expense. If reasonable treatment is avalible where you are then I dought any insurance is going to fly you to get treatment eleswhere .. just adds too much risk and $$$$$

Travel insurance is for baggage, passports .. cancled flights .. lost things ..
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  #3  
Old 15 Jan 2008
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You may find Bupa cover does not include high risk activities, its becoming increasingly difficult to get cover for motorcycle touring especially from UK companies.

Depending on where you are going you may not need it except in case of death or real serious injuries.

In India I paid £10 to have an infected mosquito bite surgically removed from my head. For £5 in Guatemala I had a consultation and treatment for a serious viral infection. I lived in Thailand for a while and regularly visited the Doctor and Dentist and rarely paid more than £5.

I would be happy with a policy which ships home my remains unless going to the US where cover is a neccesity.
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  #4  
Old 16 Jan 2008
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Travel insurance make sure it covers everything that you want to do, and get it in writing and file it with someone that will watch your back and doesn't mind pushing people to get things done.

Mine left me high and dry when I informed them that I need an operation abroad, I even had to fly myself home to get an operation on the NHS I now have a limp and loss of movement because it took so long to get an operation.
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  #5  
Old 16 Jan 2008
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Check out this option
I don't usually jump into these threads, but US and Canadian residents may want to check out another medical evacuation option... some of these services have fewer of restrictions mentioned by Frank Warner. A company I work with, Air Ambulance Card, flies sick or injured members home to the US or Canadian hospital of their choice when they are hospitalized 150 miles or more from home. It is the member's choice, as long as the doctors say it is safe for the member to be transported. Check out the website and compare to other standard travel insurance. There's no fine print,
no conditions and restrictions.
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  #6  
Old 8 Feb 2008
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Medjet not enough, get other cover
I had a bike crash in Peru and got flown back to the UK by Medjet with a nurse they supplied. No problems with Medjet, I recommend the company.

However, I wasn't in a condition to fly for two weeks, having surgeries and recovery in a private Cuzco hospital.
None of those costs (£6000) were covered by Medjet. I paid them myself as I had exceeded the trip length limit of my normal travel insurance.

If you need Medjet's services then you are going to be in bad shape, and if you're in bad shape you're likely to need some immediate local treatment. Given that USA treatment would be of high quality then you should take it, as opposed to perhaps insisting on being repatriated from a country with bad health care.

If you don't need any local treatment then you really don't need Medjet.
If your BUPA doesn't cover USA you will need some other travel insurance.
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  #7  
Old 19 Jun 2008
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Hello!
we were looking into the subject of travel insurance and got some interesting results from American Express and Footman James, to name but two.
They both cover bike's over 125cc if you are licenced to ride them and as long as you were wearing the cover required by English law, and they offer repatreation, which was a surprise. The detail is something you would need to address personally but I / we thought Footman James whilst costly offered the better deal for us.

I hope we never need it, but hey, we do ride bike's, mmmmmm!
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  #8  
Old 21 Jun 2008
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Has anyone ever used the medical insurance provided by a credit card?

My credit card (VISA, French Bank) claims to pay for medical care when travelling, if the card is used on the trip.
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  #9  
Old 23 Jun 2008
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Originally Posted by Scavenger07 View Post
and as long as you were wearing the cover required by English law
I presume you mean wearing a crash helmet.
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  #10  
Old 8 Jul 2008
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Red face Hello,
I am Prashant from India now to tackle such problems it is compulsoryto get some extra riders for any such type of uncertainty in the sector of insurance in medical and travelling is the better option
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  #11  
Old 12 Jul 2008
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Health Ins.
Me and the Mrs are starting a round the world trip in Jan '09. We've been trying to get medical cover, we've tried BUPA, Footman James and Medjet amongst others, but because of the length of the trip and the countries we are visiting, we are finding it hard to get any cover, looks like we are going without any!
Anybody managed to get cover from the UK for longer than 12 months???
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  #12  
Old 22 Aug 2013
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GLOBAL + Rescue insurance
Anyone had any experience with GLOBAL + Rescue. I will be travelling through South and Central America for 5 months. I am looking at their Medical insurance. Anyone made any claims?
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  #13  
Old 22 Aug 2013
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Originally Posted by richted View Post
Anyone had any experience with GLOBAL + Rescue. I will be travelling through South and Central America for 5 months. I am looking at their Medical insurance. Anyone made any claims?
I had a look at their Terms & Conditions. It seems to me (I could be wrong) that they don't provide any medical insurance or cover for treatment. What they do provide is emergency evacuation from place (possibly to a hospital) but all medical bills and treatment costs are excluded.
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  #14  
Old 22 Aug 2013
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Originally Posted by panhandle1300 View Post
Anybody managed to get cover from the UK for longer than 12 months???
We've been looking into the same thing. One of the most comprehensive we've come up with is World Nomads (through Lonely Planet). Covers most activities for 12 months continuous travel and can be renewed while you are on the road.
Check carefully the terms regarding size of bikes that can be ridden if you're on motorbikes though (we're travelling by car so not relevant to us).
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  #15  
Old 28 Sep 2013
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note that world nomads have different rules depending on where you say you are a permanent resident of, and that there is some potential to change this info. we're currently travelling as australian PR's - which would mean that we would be evacuated to australia if we were in a bad way

we did look at cover as residents of the UK (my partner is british), but with british cover we would not have been covered on the bike

they have also just changed their paperwork, to include different levels of cover for on and off road riding - i'm currently renewing our cover, so am waiting to hear back from them at the moment as to what their definition of 'road' is (mine tends to be a bit different from most peoples'). i'll try to remember to post something here if WN now requires a higher level of cover for countries that have bad roads
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