So I've just finished my first race school at Bertil Roos and my wife is a bit concerned about the possibility of me intersecting a wall at high speeds. We're Canadian and are not familiar with the American medical system.
I've got good health insurance through work (Kaiser Permanente) but it looks like if we're out of state, emergency stuff comes out of pocket first and then they reimburse us.
Do any of you carry extra medical in case the worst happens? If so, who'd you go with?
When my parents come to visit in Michigan they get Blue Cross from their bank. They live in British Columbia. I have no idea if it will deal directly with US hospitals , or if they would have to pay and get reimbursed though.
You're expected to either die like a good drone or expend your remaining capital to the medico-industrial complex like a good worker bee.
I buy TD travel insurance. Good for 14 day stretches.
I buy online from the Royal Bank. Cheap like dirt, and I'm old. Anything more serious than a hangnail, they will pay enough to keep you alive, then fly you back to Canada.
Just do like we do down here. The hospital is obligated to treat you in an emergency, no matter the financial situation. "Forget" your I.D. and give false residential address. Then don't pay the bill.
If you have Kaiser coverage, you are going to be expected to go to one of their facilities. They have them all over the country.
When I was in Texas, I saw a kid in the ER who had stepped on a broken bottle in the lake, and had developed a pretty severe infection that had the infectious disease guy wondering where I had found this patient with the exotic bugs in his foot. Opened it up, flushed it out and sent him home to California with a PICC line and a few doses of IV ABx. Kaiser refused to pay, because they said I did an unnecessary procedure, should have packed his septic ass up and shipped him back to Cali for the I&D. Never saw a penny out of that deal.
Talk to Kaiser and see if they have any facilities near where you are going.
Consider a medical expense insurance policy or rider to an existing life insurance policy. Some can be structured as a daily amount of coverage or as a reimbursement coverage. Works in addition to, or beyond any existing coverage.
In reply to Toebra:
Well that sucked. Even our insurance will pay 50% if it's out of network.
Not if they declare the treatment "not medically necessary"
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