It’s been a bad cold & flu season. Add RSV, Covid and a plethora of other viruses in there, and you see a whole lot of people getting sick this year.
Typically, when you get sick, your health insurance pays for at least part, if not all of your medical care and prescriptions. But if you’re on a cruise, most private health insurance policies don’t kick in because they only cover you while you’re within the U.S. That’s why it’s so important to get travel insurance that will cover your medical expenses while you’re on your cruise and out of the country.
Minnesota resident Mike Cameron discovered that the hard way.
Cameron and his girlfriend, Tamra Masterman, considered themselves lucky when they won a free week-long Caribbean cruise on the Norwegian Encore.
Their cruise departed out of Miami on January 5th with an itinerary that included the Dominican Republic, the US Virgin Islands, the UK Virgin Islands, and NCL’s private island.
Unfortunately, their “lucky” cruise turned rather unlucky when Cameron became ill while onboard. According to KMSP-TV, his symptoms became bad enough that he was admitted to the ship’s medical ICU, where, according to Cameron’s daughter, he had X-rays taken, had a catheter placed, and received oxygen and IV medications. He was diagnosed with Influenza A and “possible pneumonia.”
All told, Cameron spent 4 days in the ship’s medical unit. He told KMSP that he wasn’t too worried about the bill because he and his girlfriend had purchased travel insurance from Norwegian that would cover them up to $20k.
“Everybody in the medical ward kept saying ‘Don’t worry, you have $20,000 coverage, you’ll be just fine,’” said Cameron. “… Turn around the day we’re leaving, and get handed a $47,000 bill,” he continued. “I didn’t even know what to do.”
The couple told KMSP that Norwegian Cruise Line maxed out both of the credit cards they had on file, to the tune of about $26,000.
The big problem is that the couple has had a heck of a time trying to recoup any costs via their insurance plans.
“The traveler’s insurance doesn’t want to pay it until we run it by our health insurance. The health insurance doesn’t want to pay it because it’s abroad,” Masterman explained.
In a letter obtained by KMSP, the cruise line told the couple that the pricing for the medical treatments was “closely comparable to other cruise lines and is what we believe to be fair and reasonable…”
In a separate statement to KMSP, Norwegian said it was looking into whether their pricing was typical for flu treatment. For what it’s worth, flu hospitalization costs averaged between $11,000-$13,000 during the 2022/2023 flu season, according to a 2024 NIH study. And here’s a rough idea of what cruise lines charge for medical care.
Technically, Cameron’s regular health insurance wouldn’t cover anything because, as he said, they were abroad and most U.S. health insurance only covers people while they’re in the U.S. But once he got a denial of coverage from them, that’s when his traveler’s insurance should start working. Well, $20,000 worth, anyway (which really isn’t very much, all things considered). But I guess he would be on the hook for the other $27k?
Meanwhile, Cameron’s daughter set up a GoFundMe to help with her dad’s medical bill. Cameron and his girlfriend are also looking at legal action.
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3 comments
I remember repeatedly asking my insurance agent if my health coverage extended to trips abroad. He said yes due to requirements by the ACA but I called anyway and both companies (over some years) confirmed foreign coverage. Sometimes such as currently I have an annual policy with primary coverage so that I’m not stuck in a third world hospital until my bill is settled while my two parties fight to hand the costs to each other because that’s what insurance companies do.
This is an awful situation. If the couple who had this happen have a good insurance agent then they should reach that person to help wade through the slog of paperwork and rules. Otherwise perhaps reach out to a nonprofit that helps people in cases like this.
This is why I always get a separate travel insurance policy from a highly rated third party (I use the Squaremouth website to compare) whenever I travel internationally. In fact one of the questions they ask is if you are on a cruise and, if so, they recommend higher coverage. I don’t buy travel insurance in the US as I am OK handling extra cost, cancelled flights, lost luggage, etc through either my credit card coverage or just paying for it. I buy the insurance solely for medical coverage, evacuation coverage and repatriation if I die overseas. Don’t believe anyone that says medical coverage extends outside the US unless you buy a very expensive addendum from you insurance provider and, even then, it may not be accepted overseas. Free healthcare in many countries is almost always only for their citizens.
Sad story but I just found out first hand how valuable this can be. My wife passed away on our SE Asia cruise in Vietnam 2 weeks ago. I paid the NCL medical cost ($7000 for the emergency treatment which was unsuccessful in reviving her) and additional hotel, airfare, etc since I had to remain in Vietnam for 6 days until we could get her authorized to return to the US. I’ll file for those expenses but the one where my travel insurance was critical was issuing a payment guarantee for the cost of returning her to the US ($18,610 in this case). They didn’t take credit cards and I would have to have funds wired to me if I needed to cover it. BTW I’ve heard of $50,000-$100,000 to return someone to the US which is why the policy had a $500,000 limit on this coverage.
Sorry to include this and wanted to let you know why it is always, IMHO, practical to get such a policy when traveling internationally (which includes cruise ships departing the US). The policy for both of us was only $450 so it was money well spent.
Wow. I’m so very sorry about the loss of your wife. My condolences.