Travel Health Emergency: What I Learned When My Wife Went To The Hospital

Have you ever found yourself with a travel health emergency?

I remember when I was a teenager my parents took us to Virginia to visit my uncle’s family who lived there.  We had done this trip many times over the years, but this time was special because I managed to break my ankle playing basketball in the driveway!

Being Canadian, we’re used to having hospital visits such as this covered from the taxes we pay, but that doesn’t help us when we’re travelling internationally.  Luckily my dad had great benefits from his job and everything was covered!

Well, this past weekend I had my first experience with my own travel health package when I received a call from my wife saying she needed to go to the hospital while away at a conference…

How Does This Work?

My wife, Julia, was away in Las Vegas for the amazing Go Pro Recruiting Mastery Event.  If you’ve never been, I highly recommend you check it out and plan to attend next year (either in person or streaming online).

She called me that Saturday morning saying that what we thought was a cold had become something much worse.  Fever, congestion, extreme pain, and her voice and hearing were almost gone!

Clearly she needed to see a doctor.

We had heard horror stories about Americans without medical insurance who are ruined financially by hospital visits.  We had no idea what to expect since we hadn’t really had travel health problems before.

I immediately consulted our medical insurance plan to see what travel health benefits were included.  Turns out, we’re associated with a global healthcare alliance that takes care of whatever we need while away as though we were at home.

So with one phone-call we got Julia to a nearby hospital where she immediately saw the doctor on-call. She was given a prescription for a severe ear infection in both ears, and laryngitis before being released.

Total out-of-pocket cost to us …. $35!  And we can submit that under our medical plan for reimbursement.

What If …

What if our travel health wasn’t covered under our plan?

For starters the hospital bill would have cost $1100 USD.  I specify that it was US dollars because at the time of this writing that costs us 35% more after the exchange rate in Canada.  I don’t know about you, but I don’t generally budget for that kind of extra expense when I’m planning a vacation.

Insurance is one of those things nobody wants to talk about until they need it, but please make sure you have at lease basic coverage when you travel.  Most work plans have something for your travel health included, and many travel agents, credit cards and travel clubs offer some form of protection.

Make sure you understand what you get, and what you don’t.  Not only will it give you peace of mind, but it also helps make quick decisions that affect you and your pocketbook.  For example, if you aren’t covered for an ambulance, but the hospital is around the corner a minor health problem can be solved with a quick taxi or Uber ride instead of having to pay the ambulance fee.

Then there’s the big stuff …

Ever been somewhere when there was a natural disaster like a hurricane or earthquake?  Maybe a loved one suffered a huge health concern and needed immediate transportation home?

Most of that is not covered under basic travel health plans.  I had a friend who was an a lovely cruise that turned into a big storm almost causing the ship to sink.  She got a travel voucher and “how was your trip” survey from them … but what if she had been badly hurt like some others were?

I have another friend who was on a great family trip with his mother who suffered a heart attack and needed emergency evacuation back to America.  Luckily they were covered for that sort of liability and she’s now stronger than ever!

Do you have that sort of coverage?

If you’d like some info on what I managed to find out I’d be happy to share.  Let’s Connect and discuss what makes sense for you and your family.  Please know that I’m not affiliated with any insurance companies, and that any recommendations I might make are based purely on my research and opinion.  I’d just like to give you a starting point to make your own decisions as I know what it’s like to look that mountain of data in the face and not know where to begin.

What Did I Learn?

So what did I learn about travel health when I received that phone-call from Julia?

I learned that having built-in piece of mind is amazing.

I learned that being able to take care of my wife, who is 3 time-zones and a 5 hour flight away is worth it’s weight in gold.

I learned that travel health questions don’t need to be scary.

I hope this story has helped you in some way.

A medical emergency doesn’t need to be scary, even in another country.

If you got some value from this, please share it with a friend and comment below.  I’d love to hear that your next travel health experience is a positive one because of this message.

Was this helpful for you?  If so, please share it with a friend who you think would get value!

Be sure to comment below and let me know if you’ve ever been caught in a travel emergency!

P.S. If you’d LOVE to start Your Own Blog with “Just 3 Clicks”, check THIS out!

Was this valuable for you?  If so I’d really appreciate your comments below and shares on social media.

 

Resources

Here is a list of the resources mentioned in this post:

Go Pro Recruiting Mastery Event – A generic training event for home business owners, specifically in network marketing, where you have the opportunity to learn from industry trainers and top income-earners.

Luxury Travel

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