I was wondering if anyone has experience with travel/medical insurance for traveling to Switzerland. Mostly, I'm concerned with the medical coverage aspect. Most of the plans I've been looking at have a cap of $100,000 for "Emergency Medical Evacuation," but I'm wondering if this is enough, given the cost of helicopter rescues. (Not that we plan on using it!)

We're going to be heading over the "Aletsche Glacier," and Switzerland has privatized medical care, so we are looking for medical coverage during our 11 days there. I know some providers have "Extreme Sports Coverage," and provide this as a supplement.

Any information on providers, coverages, etc. would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Gusto

Hello,

REGA is the organisation that provides search and rescue services in Switzerland. You can become a patron for a relatively small contribution. You can find their website here. Of course, this only covers the costs of search and rescue.

Apart from that, in my country (and most European countries I think), medical insurance (= covering medical + sar costs) for mountaineering is covered through membership of an alpine club. Next to that, there's social welfare that also covers travel insurance.

Of course, in the States, medical insurance is somewhat different compared to most European countries...

Hopefully this helps a little, have fun,

Koen

BTW: I've little personal experience, but I would say $100.000 for emergency medical evacuation is (most often) more than enough!

You should check with your US insurance company. When we have had relatively minor care in Switzerland, we have paid cash and submitted the bill to our US insurance company for reimbursement.

I don't know how they would handle a major bill that would be too large for the average person to pay up front. Ask.

We also have REGA coverage for in Switzerland.

Another type of coverage that you should consider is insurance to cover the cost of bringing you home in the event that you suffer injuries that don't allow travel on commercial aircraft.

We have "Medjet Assist". There are other companies also.

http://www.medjetassist.com/default.asp?partner=google

Thanks for the link. I checked with my insurance company (Kaiser), and they said they would only cover a major accident, and that if we sought medical care (for being sick, food poisoning, whatever) we'd have to pay out-of-pocket.

I ended up going with AIG. They had $1,000,000 medical coverage, including a sports rider that covers mountaineering, with a $0 deductable for $65 (total) for my wife and me for 12 days.

https://www.travelguard.com/products/wo ... netime=off

Gusto

Does that include travel home? Sometimes, if it's not medically necessary, but still a major hassle to get home if hurt, the insurance will not pay that piece. (That's why we took Medjet.) Otherwise that sounds very reasonable for what you want.

Negative. I just read over the policy exclusions and, as you said, unless "medically necessary," it is not covered. Great. Now I'll get some super-great treatment, then spend a fortune getting home!

Thanks for the tip,

Gusto

Ok, here is what I found out by calling the insurance company.

1. If I need "medical assistance" to get home, then it is paid for. So that is good. Something like a broken leg or whatever wouldn't deem this, but a medical evacuation would be covered.

For those of you interested in reading this post, here are some other things I learned over the past couple of weeks:

1. Check the country where you plan on mountaineering (or whatever) and see if they have a National Rescue Service and/or Mountaineering Club you can join that will have coverage in the event of an accident.

2. If you decide to get Medical Insurance (NOT TRAVEL INSURANCE - Travel insurance covers your TRIP, NOT YOUR MEDICAL - unless it's a package type plan) be sure of a couple of things:
a - Read over the policy, especially the exclusions
b - Read over the ambulance and/or helicopter coverage - for instance, my policy only covers ambulance fees if I am admitted into the hospital
c - Read over the pre-notification penalty - this can reduce the amount of coverage you get by A LOT (my policy by 50%) - I called and verified that if I am being air-lifted somewhere, I would not be able to "pre-notify," and the insurance company said there is an exception, and that you have to notify them "as soon as you're able" That's just my policy, however, so you'll have to check.
d - You might read about how you will be responsible for paying your deductible, PLUS CO-INSURANCE, in the event of an injury - in my policy, co-insurance is only needed if you file a claim IN YOUR OWN COUNTRY (where hopefully you have health insurance anyway) - Check with your policy
e - Check for sneeky "added deductibles" - I found one policy had a "base" $250 deductible, and then had an "Added deductible" of $250 if you went to the emergency room!
f - Check and see if the policy covers the activity you want to do. Most "regular medical" policy I looked at did not cover mountaineering. Look for something called a "Sports, Extreme Sports, or Hazardous Activity" rider, AND read it over carefully. Some of these are very specific in what they cover, and what they do not. Look for language like, "The following XXXX covers ONLY the following activities: XXXXX" If you're activity isn't in there, I wouldn't plan on being covered!
g - Be sure to print the contact numbers for notfying your insurer and bring them with you. My policy provided us with printable cards.
h- Lastly, most of the online "compare policy" internet websites can be pretty helpful, but quite generic. I would recommend going to a company website and getting a quote directly from them.

Ultimately, you have to do A LOT of reading to double and triple-check everything your policy covers and/or does not cover. Remember, all examples provided here were from my personal policy ONLY. Each medical and/or travel plan is different, so I recommend going over all the literature PRIOR to purchasing. Good luck, and I hope that helps!

Gusto

Another good reason to join the American Alpine Club.

AAC Insurance info:

http://www.americanalpineclub.org/pages/page/100