Medical Travel Insurance

[Joyce Wheldrake]

How many Jet Set Skateboard Racers use medical insurance for when they attend races?
Do you already have Insurance for everyday life?
Do you hope for the best?
Do you never crash at a race?
Do you use the insurance offerered at the airline?
Do you use Blue Cross?
What does it include?
How Much?
Do you lose the form after you get home?
Remember, I am Canadian. I have at home hospital coverage but after I leave here I have not much.

[Joe Iacovelli]

Joyce,

Hopefully, we americans carry our own insurance and I always call when traveling outside the US to see what I need to do in case of emergency.

BUT

What I do have to add is, NEVER walk into a hospital and tell then you were skateboarding. Tell them you fell down the stairs. Skateboarding can negate coverage.

Joe

[Pat Chewning]

Joyce,

BUT

What I do have to add is, NEVER walk into a hospital and tell then you were skateboarding. Tell them you fell down the stairs. Skateboarding can negate coverage.

Joe

I have NEVER seen a medical policy that disallows coverage based on how you got injured or ill. The policies usually have restrictions on WHERE you can get treated (doctors, hospitals, plans, etc).

Joe, can you give me an example of any US-based group medical plan that will deny coverage for skateboarding-related injuries?

PS: My experience with health insurance is limited to USA, group health insurance, provided through employers.

PPS: I'm still going to physical therapy for my shoulder and my insurance is still paying for it -- and I reported it as a skateboarding accident when asked. The physical therapy room is full of people on crutches and in casts and braces --- many soccer players and skiers and snowboarders. Why on earth would skateboarders be treated differently?

-- Pat

[Joe Iacovelli]

I got this rule of thumb from Rick Stanziale who actually waloked into an emergency room in CT wearing knee pads and told them he fell down the stairs.

I can tell you that certain high risk activities like rock climbing and sky diving negate my life insurance policy.

So I figure Pat, why not say "I fell down the stairs" and be safe, just in case. Have you seen "Sicko"?

[Pat Chewning]

I got this rule of thumb from Rick Stanziale who actually waloked into an emergency room in CT wearing knee pads and told them he fell down the stairs.

I can tell you that certain high risk activities like rock climbing and sky diving negate my life insurance policy.

So I figure Pat, why not say "I fell down the stairs" and be safe, just in case. Have you seen "Sicko"?

Yes, life insurance is very different than medical insurance. Nearly every term life policy does not cover general/sport aviation without an added rider.

But if the crash merely maims you, but does not kill you --- then every medical policy I'm aware of will pay for your treatment.

I've heard these urban legends before about "skateboarding" or "paragliding" not being covered for medical insurance. I'm still looking to find one single instance where it occured.

[Pat Chewning]

How many Jet Set Skateboard Racers use medical insurance for when they attend races?
Do you already have Insurance for everyday life?
Do you hope for the best?
Do you never crash at a race?
Do you use the insurance offerered at the airline?
Do you use Blue Cross?
What does it include?
How Much?
Do you lose the form after you get home?
Remember, I am Canadian. I have at home hospital coverage but after I leave here I have not much.

Joyce:

1) I have only attended races in the USA
2) I have group health insurance through my employer (currently United Healthcare insurance)
3) I try NOT to use my medical insurance (by trying not to get injured).
4) Yes, I crashed last year at Hood River. Yes, it cost my medical insurance $20K so far. Yes, it cost me the full deductible of $1500 so far.
5) I have never purchased any supplemental medical insurance for travel. I believe that my regular insurance covers me when I travel. (I would surely hope so, as Hewlett-Packard has sent me to China, Malaysia, Singapore and the travel dpt did not ask me to take out additional insurance).
6) I always hope for the best and try to plan for the worst.

[Guillaume Saint-Criq]

we (french riders) are covered everywhere in the world when we skate, if we are part of the National Federation (FFRS).

It is the advantage to be part of a REAL organisation (what ISSA should be!).
We can also benefit of "sportmen structures" in case of injury

[Karl Floitgraf]

we (french riders) are covered everywhere in the world when we skate, if we are part of the National Federation (FFRS).

It is the advantage to be part of a REAL organisation (what ISSA should be!).
We can also benefit of "sportmen structures" in case of injury

You want that to happen, it sounds great. We need to levy high annual dues from members in order to pay for such programs, do you think everyone will pay $200(or more maybe) a year to the ISSA to provide such services?

[Wesley Tucker]

I've applied to the Department Of Hapless Endeavors for the ISSA to get $22.5 Million of the stimulus bill to pay for our insurance and keg parties.

[Robert Gaisek]

Can you please buy a plane to do a pickup-flight for the comps worldwide?

[Wesley Tucker]

Right.

Kegger parties and flying a plane.

There's a sure way to bankrupt the insurance fund.

[Miguel Marco]

do you think everyone will pay $200(or more maybe) a year to the ISSA to provide such services?

I would if the insurance covered all injuries while riding a skateboard in any circumstances (racing, jam session, practice, skatepark, ditches, whatever...) while I'm out of Canada.

[Karl Floitgraf]

200 dollars is a completely made up figure. To get that kind of medical insurance it would probably a couple thousand dollars, I don't know.


Also a skateboarding organization will probably end up paying higher rates. Does anyone here work in or with the health care industry?



I have said before that if the ISSA is to have any real power it needs to provide services like timing systems and insurance to races. This will all cost money. If we all pay in we can do some cool stuff- but it's going to be very tricky.

[Guillaume Saint-Criq]

we only pay less than 40 euros for that.

My english is not good enough to explain... Jean Sebastien is the man who deal with it here... i will talk to him to know much more details

What I can tell is FFRS is not a private organisation, it s a "sport federation" which work close to French Sports Ministry...
It groups all skateboard and roller activities

Karl : i also agree ISSA should be a real organisation where members pay yearly to be in. I also think we need local SSA (like our FFRS here in France) and ISSA should only be group of local organisations

[Mike Cividino]

socialism has its benfits.

[Louis Selby]

I always buy travel insurance before i go abroad, skateboarding or not.There are plenty of companies that will insure you if you're going abroad to take part in "adventure sports", sometimes this is covered in their standard policy, other times you have to pay a bit extra but its almost insignificantly more. Just took a look at my insruance quotes from last summer when I took eurorail around europe, my insurance for a month including skateboarding was 35 quid, so only around a pound a day. Worldwide would've approximately double for a month. The insurance covered all the usual stuff (baggage, travel cancellation, legal, personal liability....hijack!.... etc, but most importantly medical up to £15m and repatriation for medical reasons up to £15m).

The same company also offered me the same cover annually worldwide for £90, which is something like $130.... and that would cover me "while riding a skateboard in any circumstances"....

[Maria Carrasco]

When traveling within the US -- we rely on our normal health coverage BUT when traveling abroad -- we always take out travel insurance.

Check out http://worldnomads.com/

Thankfully, we've never had to put the injury coverage to the test, but I've found this one to offer one of the most "adventure" travel friendly coverage. Be sure to read through the coverage limitations, etc. and adjust your approach accordingly.

[Pat Chewning]

When traveling within the US -- we rely on our normal health coverage BUT when traveling abroad -- we always take out travel insurance.

Check out http://worldnomads.com/

Thankfully, we've never had to put the injury coverage to the test, but I've found this one to offer one of the most "adventure" travel friendly coverage. Be sure to read through the coverage limitations, etc. and adjust your approach accordingly.

Maria: Better check your policy. The following is listed as one of the activities EXCLUDED from coverage:

participating in or training for any professional or amateur sporting competition

[Joe Iacovelli]

Yeah, so tell them you fell down the stairs! Gosh!