Medical Insurance - Mexico
I was leaving Cozumel several years back. Middle aged couple were next to me all banged up. They were on scooters and a local took them out; almost. They had to come up with $4500.00 for the emergency room costs and Scooter damage or would be put in jail ( they were told). Obviously weren't leaving the island until the bill was paid. My takeaway from that... ALWAYS take the vehicle insurance when you rent down in that area. I always take out trip insurance for the medical as well. And.... I always have a couple of credit cards tucked away with lots of room on them. Well, few days ago I saw this post on a FB group that got me to thinking about it all over again
"We are in the middle of our vacation staying at the Palace (we love it there- have been several times), but right now I am in the hospital in Playa Del Carmen because my husband had an emergency appendectomy last night. We are scheduled to go home Sunday. The reason for my post is that we were told by our insurance carrier that we had international coverage- and we do. HOWEVER, they would not touch my husband until we came up with $28,000 payment up front-$5,000 just to have him evaluated, the rest before the surgeon would even come to the hospital. We will be reimbursed for most of it, but for HOURS I was scrambling with family members trying to charge credit cards- while my husband was suffering. Some cards would go through, some would not. We could not get the money from our bank accounts - they did not know how to do wire transfers and it was veterans day so banks were closed. And yes, we told our bank/credit card that we were in Mexico. They were very nice and competent here at the hospital. They did a great job medically, I liked the surgeon, and the hospital is clean- however, if we could not have gotten the money transferred (and the issue was not having the money- it was access with their system and ours), my husbands appendix would have ruptured. All because they don’t do direct business with Blue Cross Blue shield insurance (BCBS was unaware of that, so they say). Here at the hospital I met a woman from the US whose family member had a grand mal seizure on the beach- no prior history)- last I talked to her she had to come up with $5,000 before he was admitted. I am only sharing this because if your insurance says you are covered internationally, I would investigate travel insurance. If my extended family could not have helped us to pay $28,000, scrambling to figure out which credit cards were working with their system, I don’t know what would have happened to him. If it was a heart attack, he would have died. They would not have treated him. Next time we come, I will investigate which trip insurance they accept direct payment from and purchase it before coming. I strongly recommend all families pursue this. Hope no one has to go through what we just did."
Last year I'd looked at the option of "annual" travel insurance so now... this has got me thinking about it all over again Several companies give us various options
The Competition
| Allianz | John Hancock | Travelex Insurance Services | |
| Available plans | 5 | 3 | 4 |
| AM Best financial strength rating | A+ | A+ | A++ |
| Annual plans | ✓ | X | ✓ |
| 24-hour travel assistance service | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Allianz. Funny ... few hours ago I bought some NFL tickets.. and guess who did the insurance for them? Allianz. Coincidence right there.
John Hancock: Found this one via a comparison. Looks really good overall
Found this one to be interesting every time of insurance you can imagine!
choice Net and IKE : Brokers
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