It’s winter, 2014, or spring, summer, or fall of 2015. Time for that long-planned vacation of a lifetime. You’ve paid. You’ve rested. You’ve studied the guidebooks.

What could possibly go wrong?

Your dream vacation may mean cruising the Caribbean. Or joining one of those European river tours. Maybe you plan to eat your way through Italy and France. Or stay in a B&B in Peru. Everything goes great, and then …

You get sick. Very sick. Maybe you are bitten by a yak near Nepal. Maybe it seems like food poisoning. But in this age of Ebola, who knows?

So your vacation is interrupted. Maybe ruined. What next? You are sick or injured. In a foreign country. What do you do? Who pays? Good question.

A retired fed in Florida puts it like this:

“Mike, as retired government workers here in Florida, the question has come up while taking cruises to the Caribbean islands how well does our Blue Cross cover us if we get sick, or injured, abroad? We have been told the Medicare part, which is our primary, does not cover any expenses. Once again thanks for your help. You have a big following in the Sunshine State.” —The other Mike C

Thanks Other Mike! Good question. Which I immediately punted to David Snell. He’s director of retirement benefits for the National Active and Retired Federal Employees. His response:

“Most of the nationwide Fee for Service plans provide benefits when the enrollee is traveling overseas. None of the HMOs do. Enrollees in the Blue Cross Service Benefits Plan will be covered for benefits as provided in the brochure. As the “other Mike” pointed out, Medicare does not cover bills incurred overseas so as the secondary health insurance provider Blue Cross should cover the bills in accordance with their brochure. The enrollee will probably need to pay the overseas provider up front, and then send the claim (in English) along with the bill (in English and in U.S. dollars) to Blue Cross for reimbursement. There are instructions in the Blue Cross brochure Sections 5 and 7.”

Do you have health plan questions? Your in luck today.

Dave Snell is our guest on Your Turn (10 a.m. EDT) today. You can e-mail questions to me at mcausey@federalnewsradio.com or call in during the show, (202) 465-3080. Immediately after the show, we’ll go online for a Web Chat. You, David and me. You can sign up for it here and fire away with questions either during the radio show or online during the Web Chat. Click here to sign up.

NEARLY USELESS FACTOID:

By Michael O’Connell

In the Tibetan language, “yak” refers to the male of the long-haired bovid, while the female yak is called a “dri” or “nak”. In English, though, “yak” refers to both the male and female.

Source: Wikipedia

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