We'd love to hear your medical insurance stories. Go... And, remember, we are streaming live daily on YT at 12 noon Bangkok time during our Indian ocean passage to the Maldives. Thank you very much for supporting our channel. If you'd like to help with the production of these videos, you can do so here: - Patreon www.patreon.com/CruisingKiwis - Paymate www.kerryhamilltrust.com/donate/ - PayPal using our email thecruisingkiwis@gmail.com
Create a "return ticket"... Or a cruising itinerary that basically states that you are returning home on a certain date. List yourself as the passenger on the ticket. This would be the same as you booking an around the world cruise on an oceanliner.
This is a valuable lesson. You take out health insurance in good faith, pay your monthly fees and in your hour of need they pull the carpet out from under you.
thats quite uncommon though, not saying it does not happen but read the policy. my own police would cover me in singapore but only within leaving my home country for 3 months... sailing took at least 7 months...small print, make sure you read it
Insurance is generally useless. The companies will always try to not pay out They make a fortune out of us all. I benefit from the N.H.S in the U.K. Companies in the U.K are always trying to convince you buy policies for everything and Payment Protection Insurance for everything you buy. including out of warranty extra insurance for future protection. Keep well and safe. James.
I understand how you feel. I have recently had a Basal Cell Carcinoma (BCC) removed from my nose. Before the operation I contacted my insurer (IMG) and got authorisation for my op - a requirement in the wording of the contract - however, they stated that pre authorisation did not mean they would pay. And that’s exactly what happened - when I presented the $4000 bill they said I wasn’t covered! We paid about $4000 for our peace of mind but when it came to it I got nothing! These policies are not worth the paper they aren’t written on! I won’t be making the same mistake again. John & Sandra , SV Knot So Bad
RACQ Come On ! They new they were on a boat, I am traveling the world and self insure, but we planned for it, I had health insurance for many years and needed a major back operation to be told 30min before the operation they were not covering it after it was already pre approved, unbelievable really.
My mother pays private health insurance at top level. Suppose to cover everything. Recently she has had to visit a couple od specialists which both presented her with bills and wouldn't send them to the insurer so she paid. Then she is told by the insurer that they don't cover said visits. Another couple of visits to a private hospital and she had to pay a large gap the difference between the bill and what her insurer did pay which still emptied her purse by quite a bit. We went back in time and calculated that had she not paid the insurance for years, today she would be around 10,000 bucks in front. It's criminal really. Needless to say she is now self insuring. The insurance company can go and get fuggawaggad.
Hello Cruising Kiwi's! per your content here, in short I have had what I call typical/common insurance Co. experiences, where they just do not do what their public advertising propaganda espouse. I have also taken them to court over their refusal to pay on claims and had their legal minion's concede the cases in 'court mediation rooms' within minutes of fronting judges! Disgusting behaviour and very well understood practices within the 'legal' environment! Sorry to hear of Finn's accident and Sarah & Brendon's experiences, thankfully Finn is fine now and that Sarah had a good surgical result and outcome! Thanks for your efforts and all the best to all of you ahead!
We have just paid $7400 USD to cover the 2 of us for the next year with health insurance. It’s pretty crazy ! I dealt with health insurance a lot before Covid and the rates were about $1200 per person so the price increase seems ridiculous!!
Mike, I'm surprised with your medical background and given the costs in Asia, that you did get it. I'd be interested to understand why you did this. Are you comfortable to explain here? Or, if not, dm me?
Insurance in the US is a must. I had to have a blood draw ordered by my doctor while I was in another state during the summer. $4,758 USD was the bill for a routine blood draw. Even though I have very good health insurance, the portion I have to pay is $1,024.
If you were Americans , you could sign up for Crowd Health or any of the Christian Medishare health share coverage plans. That would take care of you world wide, as long as the bill is reasonable, which you will find in most sailing destinations. Our free-market health share care is just the best option in the world.
Thank you for the suggestion. I don't understand though why would an American need to get health insurance if, for example, sailing in Asia as we've experienced? And given there's no guarantee of pay out anyway?
We had a tag heuer watch stolen in a home burglary and it was covered by insurance. We purchased a new one and the insurance company paid the jeweller. The new watch was stolen from a hotel and when we went to make a claim on the insurance they said that we had never advised them to re-insure it (as it was valued over $1000 it wasn’t automatically covered). But the insurance company paid for the new watch… the natural assumption would be that they would relist the item. No, that’s not how it works so goodbye to a 10k watch 😔
The next time I buy a tag huer I'll know now not to bother with insurance for it. 😂 Hope all is going well in nz. It must have been nice to catch up with Jay.
@@TheCruisingKiwis ha ha yes it sounds very flash of us doesn’t it 😂 never again, no more nice things for Dean! It certainly has been lovely to see Jay ❤
Similar experience here. Needed to have my wisdoms removed recently, followed all the instructions from the medical aid company, approached a different private hospital group to the one I would normally use (as the medical insurance had agreements with them) and a day before the surgery I received a call from the hospital to notify me that medical aid decided only to pay for the first hour of the surgery (and not the full 4 hours the surgeon asked for). Ended up having to pay for 80% of the surgery out of pocket - even though we spend close to a $1000 a month on medical aid for myself and my husband.
Health Insurance is a complete scam. Crowd Health and health share is the only way to go, even when at home in the US, or especially then. I have a feeling you unfortunately don t have that in NZ or AU. Great that you talk about that topic. I wonder how reliable sail boat insurance is.
Bloody Insurance Companies. My Ex is an Insurance Claims Assessor. Read your contracts. ALL OF IT. EVERY LINE. That's my advise. You do know they are all owned by the same group. She deals with about 10 Insurance Brands. Another Tip, don't believe Solicitors who convince you that they can get your money out of them. If there is something in your contract that you didn't understand, or thought it's no way that will happen, believe it, it will. Good Episode Guys.
What a nightmare story for the young Aussie couple, the level of stress must've been off the charts. I live in Vietnam and whenever there's a doctor's or hospital visit, there's always a hold your breath moment when they go to confirm that you're covered by insurance 😅
Insurance and reinsurance are the largest businesses on Earth. Think Lloyds & Axa Re. I am in California. Curiously California law is the template for Federal Law. Sorry for the side notes. Asd to the couple and thier story, a lawyer I worked with told me this: Insurance companies do both, pay claims and deny claims. A big part of any Insurers profit is based in how much as a percentage were claims denied.
But despite all of that... keep in mind that you have chosen a lifestyle that in all aspects has a significant higher risk level than 'normal' living. In the days - a hundred or more years ago - when what you're doing was the norm (closer to nature/remoteness/nomadic and so on...) average life expectancy was much lower. You voluntarily made the decision to abandon the safety umbrella modern society provides. Incidentally a system that causes humans to outlive their design life. And no matter how great your medical coverage, in the middle of the Indian Ocean it matters none. But gawd it's worth living like that. 'Short and exciting' beats 'long and boring' any day. "A ship in the harbor is safe but that is not what ships are built for."
My experience is that you contact your medical insurer as soon as you get sick. They will often take on the coordination of services and organise care. This has been with Covermore which I think is more of a specialist travel insurance company cf RACQ.
I seen documentaries on these insurance companies. The claims adjusters get bonuses to find any excuse to not pay a claim. It is rarely worth the money to buy insurance. All the money that you spent on insurance is usually way more then any claims you might have had in your lifetime. Insurance only pays off in rare instances when your house burns to the ground or you are in the USA and have some medical emergency. I think I read somewhere that that is the number one cause of bankruptcy in the USA. One family member without insurance have some serious illness and it will wipe out the finances of the entire family.
Medical Insurance is a scam, as an Aussie living in the USA for 20 years, I have always had insurance, the cost is crazy, $400 a week, and $50 a month for dental, ($600 a year) dental covered 2 teeth cleanings a year and a small % off fillings, the rest is not covered. I now have No insurance, I went to my same dentist last week and said I now have no insurance, it cost me $100 for my teeth cleaning. So I saved $400 there. When I see my doctor, my out of pocket with insurance is $280 a visit. A few weeks ago I went to see my Dr, I told them I no longer have insurance, the payment is now $120 a visit with a cap of $480 a year! People need to do whatever makes them sleep well at night, but I will go with no insurance, thank you!
That's rather illuminating. If every US citizen read this, the industry would collapse. Fear is a great motivator, something marketers are aware of and leverage very effectively.
Most tourists longstayers here have special prvate health insurance. I only have european health card. Cheap but only public hospital/doctors. Acute things mostly
Great video and isn't it the truth Insurance companies medically, house, airline it goes on and on are a rip off. Important to read the small print. And yes Medically SE Asia is inexpensive medically. 7,000 NZ dollars for appendix would have most likely cost 20 to 30 thousand US or Canadian dollars. I know once you go live streaming tonight I'll be sleeping, but will watch when I wake up. I think day 4
A possible work-around solution might be to purchase an open return (i.e. no specified date of travel) ticket, which is generally valid for up to one (1) year.......and is refundable (or just apply it to the next open return ticket) to basically continually extend your travel dates but still meet the criteria for the world wide (??) health care coverage, proof of return travel. A hassle, sure i agree......but maybe a work around solution for others considering this type of health care insurance. 😮😮😢
Sheesh health insurance is damned expensive and then to be told you can collect anything 😖. An open return ticket might be an idea to combat that clause... unnecessary hassle and cost hough
Insurance= be it for your health, vehicle, boat, house, rental, pet, life, jewelry, ANY kind of insurance: you have to read the fine print. Then you can make an informed decision if it's right for your needs, then you sign a contract to agree to the terms.
I have U.S. Health care which I find is pretty dang good. When I travel outside of the U.S. I have travel Insurance they flew me back to the United States when I had a major heart attack and they cover all my medical needs plus they paid for the medical flight which was $150,000 to get back to the U.S. I have had several major health problems. When I got back to the U.S. with my major heart attack and was in the hospital for 25 days the cost was $250,000 USD. I had a terrible accent and had to have a deep brain spinal cord stimulator to help my legs move that cost was $150,000. All I had to pay is deductibles which were $2,500 combined. Medicine is now about $20,000 USD a year. I have a Co-Pay I only pay about $500 in Co Pays a year. I had no problems with my travel insurance they paid every nickel they said they would pay.
Try World Nomads insurance. We used that for cruising the Med and traveling Europe. Didnt have a claim. But dont need return tickets. May have changed but worth a look. We found mainstream insurers did not understand the cruising life.
Barefoot doctors had a very bad time with boat insurance... In the US and a couple of other places where medical insurance don't even think of going near them. Have a mate he was on an overflying flight that took him from UK to western Canada but over the US . He developed a DVT in the air and they landed him in NY.. it started with an Ambulance... In the end he literally had to escape with a hint from a sympathetic member of staff. But he still ended up with a bill of over £10'000.
@@TheCruisingKiwis It's a big scam. Then they trll you if you have a problem about go to #$@%. So you go there snd you always lose because they are part of it. The investigation that was done ww no where. No drs interviewed. So many people with the same story
Wow, that's a hectic story, and thank you for sharing their story because it shines a light on a very crooked approach to insurance. I'd like to think that they aren't all crooks. But, for sure, those who handled that claim were certainly white-collar criminals. I successfully claimed a laptop that was stolen in a house break in on New Year's Eve a few years ago. I was overseas, visiting my brother, and his house was broken into that night. We slept right through it. I'd bought my flights with my ANZ credit card and remembered that they bundled insurance. I contacted them, provided simple details, and they paid out almost the full replacement cost (almost AUD2k) in about a week. The complete opposite of what happened here.
Interesting. We also had a great experience when we were hit by lightning. A shame they didn't inspire us again as they could have got a good bunch of funds back by now.
Mine wasn't medical insurance it was general contents insurance for my possessions. I dropped and broke my laptop and when I claimed despite it being a named item on the policy they wouldn't pay out because I could pick it up and move it so it was my own fault. When Barged that's what you do with a laptop they kept quoting that's our policy and we won't pay out the £500 it would cost to replace it. needless to say I cancelled all insurances with that company and happily told them why I was doing it. I think they were right in the story where insurance companies employ people to find some loop hole in claims so they don't have to pay out. I wouldn't be surprised to learn these people are paid a bonus based on how much money they save the company.
Okay I have a bone to pick on semantics and purely semantics. Y'all hopefully know I love your videos :) But my bone is as follows, universal health care isn't free. It is paid for by taxes. At least in Canada the amount paid in taxes is not wisely used and arguably costs Canadian tax-payers more then it is worth.. due to the fact it is administration heavy and allows front line workers see less and we get to watch canadians die due to lack of medical care. I'm a huge advocate of taking care of yourself.. also not all insurers are created equal. Sorry for my ramble. I love your guys' content and a massive ramble over one word. *hugs* guys and feel free to ignore my ramble
Thank you! I'm not convinced Canadians are dying because the taxpayer pays the bill and is potentially overcharged. That's actually touching on a whole other subject, that of medical misadventure. In the US, it's the third biggest killer, and I dare say Canada may not be too different, not sure.
@@TheCruisingKiwis yeah, this is a massive conversation to have online. So first off, if you are ever in the west coast of Canada look me up, I'll take you guys out to dinner to discuss this or you can swing by my house ^^ Now, secondedly, comparing Canada to the USA makes on first blush Canada look better. There has been a lot of documentary's out that show how our hospital funding (by number of people in the hospitals catchment area) actually directly affects how many and how quickly people get medical care (personal story took me over a year to get checked for throat cancer and my dad is living in a hospital because there are no homes available for him to move into. Then once that topic gets covered off, we can discuss the brain drain for canadian healthcare workers for greener pastures elsewhere and the rise of canadians using medical tourism (even more documentaries on this topic)... and my last point is MAID and how that is expanding. I feel that a hybrid model would be best for healthcare.. even though I would favour a more for profit system.. the USA is messed up but us Canucks are too and well looking at what you guys have paid out of pocket... i think a better option still exists. Then again when we set sail.. ill still have my boat insured and likely carry catastrophic health insurance too. Any rate this is a better talk for in person over coffee or a meal :) with down time to look up eachothers views :)
You only have to look at the US to see how Insurance companies affect the economy. I've seen it over the last 50 years. Everyone that caters to the insurance system feeds it. Look at Veterinarian fees since they introduced Pet insurance. We just paid $7000 for a cat to be in hospital for a week. No one can afford to get sick anymore. When they know that insurance is covering it, the price goes crazy. It feeds its own need and gets out of control. Of course there are those that take advantage of insurance companies and make false claims, raising the price of cover for everyone. I have never had health insurance and will never be able to afford it now. Best to spend the money on your health. Unfortunately Health insurance gives people a false sense of safety so they don't bother looking after themselves. Those people cost the health system a fortune and if insurance is covering them then the price is going up and up.
I can't say what insurance costs here in America for cruisers that are out of country but the hospital is not allowed to refuse you service PERIOD and they can only charge you what you are able to pay( you'll have to prove you're broke or just getting by so to speak) People say we don't have national health insurance here but technically we do because the people who can afford to pay health insurance pay a lot more for it because it's against the law to refuse service and that cost gets pushed onto others but it all works out in the end usually. I'll give you an example. I got ran into at a stop light and went to the emergency room to just get checked out. The hospital billed the guys insurance who ran into me 1500.00 dollars for the two Ibuprofen tablets they gave me and 1000.00 for the consultation by the doctor who I think was just a nurse. I know this much, when I walked in and said I just got hit from behind and want to get checked out, they whisked me in past everybody waiting in line like I was a super star. They saw dollar signs and it's a sad state this insurance business. I have insurance here in the states and when I had to get stitches from when I fell through the hatch on my steel sailboat a gashed my shin, they billed my insurance company 800 dollars for 3 stitches that took 5 minutes. When I was in Trinidad and got 9 stitches on back of my head and some x-rays, it only cost 125 dollars. I had 4 wisdom teeth removed in San Juan Puerto Rico for 400. 100 bucks a tooth 😁
@@TheCruisingKiwis It might be worth looking into if you plan on being stateside for an extended period of time. There's an Australian family called sailing Catalpa and they did some refitting of their boat that they bought in California who might have a better answer for you. Mexico is much cheaper I know that for sure. A quick google search here on the east coast came up with a bunch of companies and various plans.
@@TheCruisingKiwis absolutely it is....Matt Damon is the young lawyer and Danny DeVeto is his assistant and they take on the medical insurance company who refuse to cover the cost of a bone marrow transplant to save the young boys life who subsequently dies...I always say movies predict life....
As a military veteran, I do most all my medical stuff thru the VA, I do have Medicare which covers everything else, for the most part, I don't want to go to any hospital and so far, I have not really had too much, I did have to go into the ER recently for pneumonia in both lungs, I live 19 miles from the hospital, and the ambulance ride alone was 1500.00 dollars. And I have not received a bill from anybody yet.
Yes, the VA is the Veterans Administration that takes care of all the honorably discharged vets, they run a lot of hospitals and clinics across the country. @@TheCruisingKiwis
A bit scary eh? I just take out travel insurance, when traveling to UK. You won't get me to America, for all the tea in China. Not a snowballs chance in hell. A few years ago in the early stages of breakfast tv, a very wise, well known NZr made a comment about travel/health insurance...."When did you last break a bone in your body. Why will it happen, as soon as you leave Nz.?" Disclaimer....he was/is not a health insurance expert. But he is a great believer in the use of commonsense. Anyway, that's my 10c worth. Thank you for sharing. Take care CKs. Until next time, atb.
I know nothing about Australian law but is it possible for the couple to take the Insurance company to court? Or is there an Insurance Commission of some sort they can take this to?
Should have been one way travel insurance atleast. With the no return ticket excuse sailing they were sold useless insurance. So they just refund what they paid. Very slimy .
i stopped the video before Rachel answers why you do not have medical insurance for Asia. In many parts of the World, like Cuba, Mexico, most Asian Countries and many African countries, the costs of Doctors, procedures and dental are far lower than a monthly insurance premium payment (am i right?)
Speaking from experience related to an MVA that was not my fault in any way - ALL insurance is a massive scam 😡. They are absolute crooks who beat you to the ground when you’re desperate and in tremendous need. I have ZERO respect or regard for anything related to that industry - they’re ALL disgusting and pray on people when they’re vulnerable.
@@100beachbum until my lawyer stated she would sue both the company AND the agent personally for her ILLEGAL behavior and threats to terminate paying out on the Section 7 - did they then pay it out. And this was MY Insurance company that I'd had multiple policies with for over 25 years with ZERO claims. THEN I had to navigate the insane and brutal practices of the other insurance company as I had a claim against their client. UNTIL you're on the receiving end of the garbage this industry does - best to not comment 100beachbum. This brutal game insurance companies, across the board, play with peoples lives is at BEST utterly inhumane - period. I lost 9 years of my life to their nonsense - and I've come to know MANY MANY more people in the same boat.
do any of you know that to travel in your car, motorcycle, etc., does not require insurance? As a private individual, you do not need to listen to the rhetoric of CORPORATE blood sucking leeches.
They didn’t go to them out of self preservation it was a really stressful time for them and they didn’t need the bs while trying to recover and move forward, besides it’s pretty rare you win against insurance companies !
@@TheCruisingKiwis They should a least make it known to the ombudsman, "www.ombudsman.qld.gov.au/how-to-complain/make-a-complaint/out-of-jurisdiction-categories/banking-finance-insurance-or-superannuation"
