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#21
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Dialysis Cruises
In article , Marsha wrote:
If you are covered by Medicare and are visiting another country and had a heart attack, would Medicare pay for it? If so, then their rule about dialysis is stupid. If not, then at least they are consistent, although wrong IMO. What is it about being in another country that changes coverage? Medicare A or B won't cover you out of the country. However you may and many do because it is prudent to do so, purchase supplemental Medigap policies from a private insurance company. Some of them will cover emergencies out of the country. I would say they would consider a heart attack is an emergency but dialysis is not. -- Charles |
#22
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Dialysis Cruises
"Marsha" wrote in message ... Kent Billeau wrote: That seems silly. Just because you're on dialysis, you can't go out of the country if you want Medicare to pay for it? Marsha Its precisely this logic that dooms O'bamas socialist plans for medicine. Yup, just keep running up the bill on the taxpayers, after all, it's only fair. Kent Please don't mistake me for an Obama fan - gag. I just don't understand how an established dialysis patient is costing you more in tax dollars if he goes on cruise, if that ship has the capability for dialysis. Would you explain that to me? Marsha It probably wouldn't cost more to do treatments elsewhere but consider that most private insurance companies normally don't pay the cost of a shipboard doctor visit either. If I visit the ship's doctor I have to take the paid receipt and fill out the paperwork for my insurance at home and hope that they pay the bill. Most ships would not have the machinery or supplies to do a dialysis. Peritoneal dialysis is more popular and less restricting for people that do not have "advanced" kidney disease. As the article I have posted the link to: http://kidney.niddk.nih.gov/kudiseases/pubs/peritoneal/ says there are two types of peritoneal dialysis. One generally can be performed by the patient themselves and requires no machine to perform. The issue with this is getting the fluids and tubing, etc. on the ship. Each bag of dialysis solution comes in 1.5-, 2-, 2.5-, or 3-liter bags. The patient will generally need 3 to 4 bags per day and some method of warming the bags to body temperature prior to use. Disposing of the biohazard material (the used equipment) may also be an issue. It can't just be put in the trash. However for those that do have advanced renal failure hemodialysis is the only alternative. http://kidney.niddk.nih.gov/Kudiseas.../hemodialysis/. Expensive, fairly large machinery and quite a lot of training to operate it. A dialysis patient is pretty much tied to their location in most instances, depending on the type of dialysis that needs to be performed, because of the need to warm and change bags or the machinery involved. I have been inside the ship's hospitals on a number of ships while doing ship inspections and in a lot of instances they just aren't equipped to handle this type of person or emergency if the patient does not comply with their doctor's orders for the dialysis. The ship's hospital could not possibly store the supplies for dialysis needed for a continuous stream of patients if they relaxed their standards about pre-existing medical problems. Princess cruises (and most other lines have similar wording) contract of carriage states: "in the sole opinion of Carrier, the Captain or any Doctor, You or any minor or other person in Your care during the Cruise are unfit for any reason for the Cruise, or Your presence might be detrimental to Your health, comfort or safety or that of any other person, or in the judgment of the Captain is advisable for any reason. Carrier reserves the right to request a letter from Your physician attesting to Your fitness to travel, but by requesting such letter does not waive its right to disembark or refuse to embark You as set forth in this Section." It further states later "You agree that You or Your travel agent must, at the time You book Your Cruise, inform Carrier in writing of any special need or other condition for which You or any other person in Your care may require medical attention or accommodation during the Cruise." What happens here is that the passenger notifies the line, the line talks to their doctors and the line then says, no, you can't come due to the pre-existing condition that we can't handle if something happens to you. |
#23
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Dialysis Cruises
: All this conversation means nothing. The insurance which you buy for
the cruise w9would cover hospitalization, etc. Not Dialysis though ).i'm not sure about this) Marsha wrote: Jack Hamilton wrote: On Sun, 13 Sep 2009 11:34:48 -0700, MelB wrote: My wife and I would like to take a cruisb. The problem is that I need dialysis 3 times per week. Where can I get info on cruises that provide dialysis services? Also, does Medicare pay for part or all of the dialysis? What about additional medications, such as Epogen? According to http://emerginghorizons.com/expert/index.php?id=125: "Furthermore, Medicare will not pay for on-board dialysis treatments on any cruise ship. Some private insurance policies will pay for up to 80% of the dialysis treatments though, so you might want to shop around for additional coverage. Additionally, if you can arrange for treatments in US ports in Medicare-approved facilities, Medicare will cover that. Medicare will not cover routine dialysis treatments in foreign ports." That seems silly. Just because you're on dialysis, you can't go out of the country if you want Medicare to pay for it? Medicare is a US based insurance company. I had medical coverage through the State of Maryland (my employer) and they wouldn't cover me if I even went out of the state. That's the rule. Medicare's rule is that they only cover you in the US. If you go retire in Belize, you are not covered. My husband had a heart attack in the Bahamas and Medicare paid for his hospitalization in the US, but not the ER visit or the ICU or the doctors in the Bahamas and they didn't pay for the transportation back to the US. If you are covered by Medicare and are visiting another country and had a heart attack, would Medicare pay for it? If so, then their rule about dialysis is stupid. If not, then at least they are consistent, although wrong IMO. What is it about being in another country that changes coverage? Marsha |
#24
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Dialysis Cruises
In article , Rosaly Z. Greenberger
wrote: All this conversation means nothing. The insurance which you buy for the cruise w9would cover hospitalization, etc. Not Dialysis though (i'm not sure about this) I don't think anyone has thought that insurance bought for the cruise would cover Dialysis. The question was about Medicare. But as I understand Dialysis I don't think any US private insurance policy that anyone has would cover it on a cruise or in a foreign country. Even the policies that have coverage when out of the US......I doubt they would cover that if it is pre-existing and you go on a trip. -- Charles |
#25
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Dialysis Cruises
Marsha wrote:
My husband had a heart attack in the Bahamas and Medicare paid for his hospitalization in the US, but not the ER visit or the ICU or the doctors in the Bahamas and they didn't pay for the transportation back to the US. If you are covered by Medicare and are visiting another country and had a heart attack, would Medicare pay for it? If so, then their rule about dialysis is stupid. If not, then at least they are consistent, although wrong IMO. What is it about being in another country that changes coverage? I just said that Medicare would NOT cover a heart attack if you had a heart attack outside of the USA. If you can get back to the US from the foreign country (which the Bahamas is), you will be treated under Medicare after you get back, but the doctors, and hospital in the foreign country are not covered, nor is transportation back to the US. Fortunately, we had supplemental insurance which paid 80% of the costs in the Bahamas, but we had to pay up front and then get reimbursed. .. |
#26
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Dialysis Cruises
On 9/13/2009 10:24 PM, Kent Billeau wrote:
Its precisely this logic that dooms O'bamas socialist plans for medicine. Yup, just keep running up the bill on the taxpayers, after all, it's only fair. All this socialist talk is such BS. By definition stuff like Medicare and Medicaid is taxpayers paying for the needs of others. Why hasn't anyone been yelling about them all this time? Sorry for continuing this off-topic portion of the thread. Bill |
#27
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Dialysis Cruises
In article , Bill
wrote: All this socialist talk is such BS. By definition stuff like Medicare and Medicaid is taxpayers paying for the needs of others. Why hasn't anyone been yelling about them all this time? They don't want to get those seniors upset and against them do they........so they BS the seniors and the public. McGovern had an op ed in the Times the other day on a simple way to provide universal health care to all US citizens. Extend Medicare to everyone. Why should it only cover those over 65? -- Charles |
#28
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Dialysis Cruises
In article , Marsha wrote:
Why do you call it excess medical expenses? Dialysis is dialysis. He would need it no matter where he was. If a dialysis center is available on board a ship, why should someone be denied travel out of the country because of an already established need for dialysis? Dialysis centers are specialized entities that treat hundreds, if not thousands, of patients daily. Thus, they have all sorts of economies of scale that kick in that you wouldn't get in a one-on-one situation. Besides MCare pays for NOTHING outside the US, it isn't limited to just dialysis. -- "Politics should be limited in its scope to war, protection of property, and the occasional precautionary beheading of a member of the ruling class." -P.J. O'Rourke |
#29
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Dialysis Cruises
On Sep 13, 10:53*pm, "Rosaly Z. Greenberger" wrote:
: *All this conversation means nothing. The insurance which you buy for the * cruise w9would cover hospitalization, etc. Not Dialysis though ).i'm not sure about this) Rosaly, I'm sure you know this, but to clarify your remarks for folks new to cruising and/or travel insurance, if you or your traveling companion (or a none-traveling loved one) has a pre-existing condition, then you need to examine closely and ask whether "the insurance which you buy for the cruise" would cover hospitalization, other medical care or trip cancellation/interruption for pre-existing conditions. Generally, the insurance sold by the cruise line does NOT cover pre- existing conditions. And generally, the cruise line's definition of pre-existing condition is going to be far more expansive than yours, i.e., if you look at the policy definition of pre-existing and begin reciting reasons why it won't apply to one or more health situations, understand that the insurance company will have its own list of reasons why the basis for any claim is a pre-existing condition--you should simply follow the advice to buy a policy that covers pre- existing conditions. An experienced cruise travel agent will be able to assist on this point. A terrific site for comparing policy provisions, and specifically how an insurer handles pre-existing conditions, is www.insuremytrip.com. The only trick to getting pre-existing conditions covered is timing your purchase of insurance to your first trip deposit (usually must buy insurance within 7-14 days of initial deposit) or your final trip payment (usually must buy insurance within 24 hours of final payment). Diana Ball Austin, TX |
#30
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Dialysis Cruises
Diana: Thanks for ypur reply. I know only too well the pitfalls of
buying the insurance from a travel agent. I lost thousands of dollars when I canceled a cruise right after 9/ll as I didn't want to upset my husband with the fuss at the airports at that time. Unfortunately, he had Dementia and had it for l0 years and we sailed every year (with insurance) but the bottom line was that they called that a pre=exsting condition and wouldn't refund my money. I was furious as we had sailed many times before and the thing that made me most angry was that my cousin who was going with us had insured through Celebrity and they gave her a credit for a future cruise of 75% which I would gladly accepted. At any rate, I don't think people should travel without insurance. rosaly Rosaly, I'm sure you know this, but to clarify your remarks for folks new to cruising and/or travel insurance, if you or your traveling companion (or a none-traveling loved one) has a pre-existing condition, then you need to examine closely and ask whether "the insurance which you buy for the cruise" would cover hospitalization, other medical care or trip cancellation/interruption for pre-existing conditions. Generally, the insurance sold by the cruise line does NOT cover pre- existing conditions. And generally, the cruise line's definition of pre-existing condition is going to be far more expansive than yours, i.e., if you look at the policy definition of pre-existing and begin reciting reasons why it won't apply to one or more health situations, understand that the insurance company will have its own list of reasons why the basis for any claim is a pre-existing condition--you should simply follow the advice to buy a policy that covers pre- existing conditions. An experienced cruise travel agent will be able to assist on this point. A terrific site for comparing policy provisions, and specifically how an insurer handles pre-existing conditions, is www.insuremytrip.com. The only trick to getting pre-existing conditions covered is timing your purchase of insurance to your first trip deposit (usually must buy insurance within 7-14 days of initial deposit) or your final trip payment (usually must buy insurance within 24 hours of final payment). Diana Ball Austin, TX |
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