Should I purchase special medical insurance when I travel abroad?

Ralph
00:00:00

Have you ever found yourself in a foreign country, and suddenly facing a medical emergency? Imagine the panic, imagine the confusion, and imagine the potential financial devastation. Today, we'll explore whether you should purchase special medical insurance when you're planning any traveling abroad, and I'm going to share my personal experience from a recent trip to Germany and a harrowing tale of my mother-in-law's misadventure in France that could have cost her tens of thousands of dollars. So stay tuned to discover how you can protect yourself and your finances while exploring God's beautiful world.

Narrator
00:00:35

Welcome to the Ask Ralph podcast, where listening to an experienced financial professional with over 30 years of experience can help you make sense of confusing questions, current headlines and industry trends about taxes, small business, financial decision making, investment strategies, and even the art of proper budgeting. Ask Ralph makes the complex simple by sharing his real world knowledge from a Christian perspective with all things financial.

Now here's your host, Ralph Estep Jr.

Ralph
00:01:05

Welcome to the show. I am so glad you chose to join me today. If you missed yesterday's show, we talked about some of the best online deals that banks, other credit unions, and financial institutions are offering for opening a new account. So, if you missed it, I want you to go back and check it out because you'll learn how to maximize your benefits and potentially earn some extra cash just by choosing the right bank account.

Before I get into the meat of today's episode, I want to remind you that we're doing a walk this Saturday. It's for my mother-in-law, Dianne Bethard, and she's currently battling the late stages of Alzheimer's disease. I've assembled a team representing the Ask Ralph show to participate in what they call the Alzheimer's walk. They're doing them all over the country, but this particular one is going to be in Wilmington, Delaware.

This Saturday, for those of you who were in the area, we'd be honored if you join us. You can join, become a member of our team. It's going to be on Saturday, October 19th. Maybe you're unable to attend. Maybe you're in some country, you're in another place, far away from here, but if you still want to support the cause, we set up a donation page, and I'm going to put a link in the show notes and listen, every contribution, I don't care no matter the size. It brings us one step closer to defeating this devastating illness. And it clearly is devastating. If you've ever had a family or know somebody that's gone through this, it's brutal. And I just want to remind you that your support means the world to us and to the millions, I'm talking about millions affected by this Alzheimer's disease. It's a terrible thing. And I know working together, we can make a difference.

Well you know I always like to start this show with a question from one of our listeners, and I got a doozy on this one. It says this: "Dear Ralph, I'm planning a trip to Europe next summer, and I'm worried about what might happen if I get sick or get injured while I'm there. My regular health insurance doesn't cover international travel, and I've heard horror stories about people coming home with massive medical bills. I'm not sure if I should buy additional insurance or just hope for the best. Can you help me understand my options?" And they didn't give me their name, but they're signed as sincerely, Concerned Traveler.

And remember, if you've got a question you'd like to have answered on the show, just head over to justaskralph.com. That's what this show is all about. Submit your question and I can help you master your finances from that Christian perspective. Well as we're talking about the Christian perspective, let's talk about how we can merge our Christian faith and our finances. So as we consider the importance of being prepared for unexpected events while traveling, I'm reminded of a verse from the book of Proverbs.

And this verse speaks directly to the wisdom of planning ahead. And it says this. This is from Proverbs 22:3. It says, "The prudent see danger and take refuge, but the simple keep going and pay the penalty." Now, this verse reminds us of the importance of foresight and preparation, just like you asked in your question, especially when it comes to potential risks in our lives, which would clearly include travel. So let's apply this wisdom to the question of travel medical insurance.

Let me tell you about my wife and I, and my oldest son. Last year, we are planning a trip to Germany. In fact, right now, last year, we were just coming back from Germany. But before we left, we thoroughly reviewed all our travel plans. And one of the things that kept on coming up was, Ralph, are you going to be covered? My wife asked me this, and she said, Ralph, are we going to be covered for this if something were to happen?

If we supposedly had a fall, we got sick or something like that.
And we studied the additional medical insurance coverages that were available for international travel. And at first, I thought, eh, you know what? I'm not worried about it. We don't need to; it's going to cost extra money. We're both healthy, so what are the chances of something going wrong on a two-week trip? But then I remembered what my wife reminded me to think about.

And she says, remember when my mother got hurt when traveling. So let me tell you this story. So, my son was between his junior and senior year in high school. The school planned a trip to Europe, and they were going to go all over Europe. I don't remember exactly where they went, but his grandmother said I'd really like to be able to go with you.

So the two of them got on the plane. It was one of those group tours with his school, the headmaster and his wife, and a bunch of other people from his school. I don't remember how many were on the trip, but they traveled overseas. And they went here, and they went there. They studied a bunch of World War II things.

My son had a great time. I can still remember my wife and I, we stayed here. We were coming out of a restaurant one night, and we got a phone call and I couldn't, I didn't recognize the number that came up. So I answered the call, and it was the headmaster of the school. And he started off with he said, Ralph, let me just tell you right now, your son, Ryan is fine. Which was really reassuring because as soon as I heard his voice, I thought he was going to tell me something was wrong.

And like I said, they had gone all over Europe, everything was going great. We had heard some, we got some texts from them and that sort of thing. Well, he comes to tell me, he says your mother-in-law had an unfortunate accident. So on the last day of their travel, they were at the Louvre Museum in France. Somehow her leg gave way, she fell, and she broke her leg. I mean a bad break.

My son said it was brutal to look at. So imagine, being in a foreign country, not speaking the language fluently and suddenly facing a medical emergency. It was scary. My son said he wasn't sure what to do. Fortunately, there were a lot of adults there. They were able to get her to the hospital, and thank them my mother-in-law had purchased her travel insurance. It was part of the trip. When they booked the trip, it was one of the things they offered, and that decision turned out to be a lifesaver for her both medically and financially because here's the interesting thing, the insurance covered almost all of her medical costs, including emergency treatment.

She had to ride to the ambulance, in the ambulance to the hospital. She actually needed surgery. So she had to have surgery on her leg. She had a hospital stay, which I want to say was about a week. And it even covered arrangements for her to return home. And here's the best part. The headmaster didn't want to leave my mother-in-law in France all by herself. So his wife actually stayed there with her, and this insurance actually paid for part of his wife's stay and part of her return trip home. And see here's the thing. Without that coverage, my mother-in-law would have been looking at tens of thousands. I don't know exactly how much to tens of thousands of dollars in medical bills. And my wife reminded me.

She said, Ralph, think about that. And it's true. This experience taught us a valuable lesson when it comes to international travel. And that's it's always better to be over-prepared than under-prepared. I mean, it's kind of like traveling overseas without your passport. Would you do that? I certainly took my passport with me when I went to Germany. Well, now let's break down why purchasing special medical insurance for international travel is so important. I want to give you some real concrete reasons. The first thing you need to understand is Limited coverage. Most domestic health insurance plans, including Medicare, offered limited or no coverage outside the United States. That means if you need medical care abroad, like my mother-in-law needed, you're going to be responsible for the full cost out of pocket.

A lot of people don't know that, but especially Medicare generally does not cover that. Second thing. High costs. Medical care in foreign countries can be extremely expensive, especially for tourists, because many of these foreign countries have this socialized medicine. If you're a member of their population or a citizen there, your things are generally covered, but if you're a tourist, you're not covered by that.

So a simple doctor's visit could cost hundreds of dollars, while even more serious treatments or hospitalizations like my mother-in-law had could run in the tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars. So let's jump to the discussion about Medicare. I mentioned that a moment ago. For those of you on Medicare, this is particularly important to understand. Medicare does not provide coverage outside the U.S. except in very limited circumstances.

I'm not going to talk about that today. I'm not a Medicare expert but think about this. This leaves a significant gap in your coverage when you travel abroad. My mother-in-law would have had zero coverage if that's all she had, she would have had zero coverage when she traveled abroad using her Medicare. Let's look at the number four thing I mentioned here, which is emergency evacuation. People don't consider this. In case of a severe medical emergency, you might need to be evacuated to a different city or even back to the United States.

And these evacuations, I was shocked when I read this. It could cost upwards of $100,000, which is the cost of travel medical insurance that is often covered. I remember I had a client who fell ill on a cruise. She was on a remote island, and she had to be evacuated back to Miami for emergency surgery. She shared with me, said Ralph, that the cost of that flight alone, they put her on a small G6 or something, was over $120,000. But she didn't have to pay for it because her travel insurance covered it all. And last but not least thing I want you to consider is peace of mind.

And this is perhaps the most valuable benefit of travel medical insurance, which is the peace of mind it provides. Knowing that you're covered allows you to relax and enjoy your trip without constantly worrying about what might happen if you get sick or you get injured. So you might ask, Ralph, what should I look for when I'm looking for travel medical insurance?

Here are the things I want you to consider. Number one thing. Make sure they have high coverage limits, and that needs to be at least $100,000. That way, it can cover emergency evacuations, surgeries, or other things like that. Maybe a long hospital stay. You want to make sure, like I said, that it covers emergency medical evacuation because not all these policies are exactly the same. Another thing you want to look for. You want to make sure that they have 24/7 assistance services.

You want to be able to call somebody. Get on the phone with somebody and figure out what you need to do. Another thing you want to look at is that I'm not an expert in this area, but I look for preexisting conditions. Make sure they're covered if they're applicable. And here's a thing I thought about. Somebody mentioned this. I did some research, and that is you got to make sure it has coverage for what they call adventure activities. So make sure it covers some of the truly crazy things you might do on the trip.

Keep in mind that some insurance companies won't cover simple things you may consider doing on your trip, like maybe you've got to rent a scooter or are you going to take our remote excursion? Just make sure you know the details and that those things are covered because, a lot of times, they're going to exclude those. You might do that zip line and find out you get hurt, but your insurance won't cover it even if you went and bought that emergency medical insurance. Remember, the cost of these policies is often quite reasonable. I mean, think about it. It's going to be a policy. That's going to be for a very small, limited amount of time. Usually, it comes down to a small fraction of the overall trip cost. So when you weigh this against the potential risk of traveling uninsured, it's clear that travel medical insurance is a wise investment. Now I went and did some research for this show, and I'm going to put a link to a great website from Forbes, which explores some of the carriers where these travel policies are.

And I encourage you to go check it out. I'm not endorsing any particular one, but in general, if you want my honest-to-good idea, I had a client send me an email this morning, and she asked what Jesus would do. And she changed it to “What would Ralph do?” So what would Ralph do? Ralph would buy that travel insurance.

I did it when my wife and I and my son traveled overseas. I didn't have to buy a very big policy because our actual regular policy, when we talked to the carrier covered most of what we were being concerned about doing anything. I was concerned about some sort of medical evacuation, so we bought a policy, though, to handle that.

Well, I know we've covered a lot. So let's revisit our main question. And that was, should you purchase medical insurance when you travel abroad? And I think, you know, my answer is yes. And I think you also have to look at your personal experience and careful consideration of the risk involved.

My answer is, like I said, it's yes. Because of the peace of mind it offers, the financial protection it offers, far outweighs the relatively small cost. When I looked at doing it, I want to say it was a couple of hundred dollars, and you figured I was paying thousands of dollars for this trip. Now tomorrow, I'm going to be diving into another exciting topic.

And it's one that somebody sent me, and I had no idea what they were talking about, but it's called the rule of 55. And this rule of 55 can be used to reduce your taxes. And it's a strategy that could potentially save you thousands in taxes if you're getting close to retirement. So you don't want to miss tomorrow's show. Now, I know navigating the world of insurance and financial planning can feel overwhelming.

It might be like Ralph, I'm never going to travel overseas. But you need to understand this. You might be feeling stressed about making the right choices for your upcoming travels, or you can be wrestled with broader questions about how to secure your financial future while honoring your faith. If you're tired of feeling like you're just getting by financially, or if you're frustrated with trying to balance your financial goals with your Christian faith, I want you to know, first of all, you're not alone.

Many of my listeners have felt the same way. They've told me this when they've contacted me. But they found hope, and they found practical solutions to our one-on-one consultations. Well, let me tell you about my process and how I can help you find financial security. The first thing I do is sit down with you. We do a call, and I assess where you are right now because you can't change anything until you get a real assessment of where you are right now. The second thing we're going to do, what I call step two, we're going to identify your dreams. What are those big, hairy, audacious goals that you want to reach?

What are your dreams? What are those things that are going to make your life full? Once we figure that out, we're going to align your goals with your faith. Because again, this isn't some secular show about how to get rich quickly and how to be the miser of everything and have a huge bank account.

I want to show you how you can align those goals with your faith. And step four, and this is probably the most important part. This is that financial roadmap. We're going to build a personalized plan just for you, taking into consideration where you are, looking at your dreams, and aligning those goals with those dreams to build a personalized plan, not some cookie-cutter approach that's the same for everybody, or read these five things and do these things. And the fifth thing we're going to do, I'm going to help you seek accountability because the truth is, if you don't have accountability, you're probably not going to be successful in what you do.

And the final step is to measure the results because once we're able to measure the results, then we can make tweaks to that plan. We can look at how we are doing. So I'm going to invite you to take the next step towards financial freedom and peace of mind. Just go to askralph.com and click on the banner that reads "Book a call with Ralph" and for a $150 consultation fee, we can work together to improve your personal finances.

Maybe you want to grow your business. Maybe you're saying Ralph, my personal finances are fine, but my business is a wreck. And maybe you need help with your overall financial goals, tying all those things together. All while staying true to your faith. Those are the things I can help you. And here's my promise to you. If we can't develop a personalized plan to move you forward, I'm going to refund your consultation fee.

That's how confident I am that we can make a positive difference in your financial life. So don't let another day go by feeling uncertain about your finances. There's no reason to feel anxiety. There's no reason to feel that uncertainty. Schedule your consultation today and let's create that personalized plan that will set you on the path to financial success and at the same time, spiritual growth.

Remember. My passion is to help you achieve financial success. That's why I do what I do. This is my mission field. This is what drives me. This is why I turn that microphone on. I turn that camera on. I plan these episodes because I want to see you live out your dreams and at the same time, grow in your faith, and I know working together, we can master your finances from a Christian perspective. So as I always close the show, stay financially savvy, and God bless you.

Narrator
00:16:06

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