Australian searching for USA skydive medical insurance

[jezlevett 0]

Hi there
I am an Aussie going to travel to the USA for a year,

I want to jump there but I would like the comfort of medical insurance. Does anyone have any experience in this area?

I'm currently looking at diplomat medical insurance. Does anyone know about that provider?

Thanks

[JeffCa 0]

jezlevett

Hi there
I am an Aussie going to travel to the USA for a year,

I want to jump there but I would like the comfort of medical insurance. Does anyone have any experience in this area?

World Nomad's travel insurance explicitly covers skydiving and many other "high-risk" activities.

https://www.worldnomads.com

"So many fatalities and injuries are caused by decisions jumpers make before even getting into the aircraft. Skydiving can be safe AND fun at the same time...Honest." - Bill Booth

[jezlevett 0]

Thanks for your comment JeffCa.

I just read through world nomads policy. They only cover tandem skydiving. Maybe its been changed recently? That's a shame if it is. they look very legit and my friend recommended them as well.

I'm hoping to work towards getting my b license then hopefully my c license while there so ill be jumping quite a bit. If it was a one off i wouldn't bother with insurance.

[JeffCa 0]

jezlevett

Thanks for your comment JeffCa.

I just read through world nomads policy. They only cover tandem skydiving. Maybe its been changed recently? That's a shame if it is. they look very legit and my friend recommended them as well.

I'm hoping to work towards getting my b license then hopefully my c license while there so ill be jumping quite a bit. If it was a one off i wouldn't bother with insurance.

Dang, their restrictions are different for every country of residence (no idea why). Living in Japan, I can get unlimited skydives on my policies. For you from Australia, one jump only.

"So many fatalities and injuries are caused by decisions jumpers make before even getting into the aircraft. Skydiving can be safe AND fun at the same time...Honest." - Bill Booth

[jezlevett 0]

That is a shame.
I see that.
I guess Australians are higher risk?

[JeffCa 0]

jezlevett

That is a shame.
I see that.
I guess Australians are higher risk?

It's because some many of you Aussies go overseas and get into drunken accidents, they got sick of paying your claims.

This one covers pretty much anything you can do to yourself, but it's more expensive:

https://global.ihi.com/Travel+Insurance/Single+trip/Buy+Single+trip.aspx

"So many fatalities and injuries are caused by decisions jumpers make before even getting into the aircraft. Skydiving can be safe AND fun at the same time...Honest." - Bill Booth

[Krip 2]

Medical costs in the US are extreme.

Regardless of which insurance company you choose the big unknown is will they pay if they get a significant bill and what will it cover.

Or will the premium collector resort to the very fine print at the bottom of the last page.

We had some recent dealings with the medical system, its in a flux, with the new federal insurance program.

Please be very careful with what ever company you decide to go with. Charging different rates by counrty of origion sounds like the company's are profiling and would rather not accept certain customers they consider high risk.

Found out just last week that some hospitals are doing the same thing with which patients they will accept based on what insurance we have.

My insurace company passed and I only needed a chest xray.

One Jump Wonder

[JeffCa 0]

Krip

Charging different rates by country of origin sounds like the companies are profiling and would rather not accept certain customers they consider high risk.

I doubt it's that. They still accept numerous adventure activities from every country of residence. I'll bet it has something to do with them using different partner companies in different countries or legal restrictions..... Anybody know differently?

"So many fatalities and injuries are caused by decisions jumpers make before even getting into the aircraft. Skydiving can be safe AND fun at the same time...Honest." - Bill Booth

[Keithor 0]

Krip

Medical costs in the US are extreme.

Regardless of which insurance company you choose the big unknown is will they pay if they get a significant bill and what will it cover.

Or will the premium collector resort to the very fine print at the bottom of the last page.

We had some recent dealings with the medical system, its in a flux, with the new federal insurance program.

Please be very careful with what ever company you decide to go with. Charging different rates by counrty of origion sounds like the company's are profiling and would rather not accept certain customers they consider high risk.

Found out just last week that some hospitals are doing the same thing with which patients they will accept based on what insurance we have.

My insurace company passed and I only needed a chest xray.

I just really needed to quote the first line.

On April 27 I femur'd in NY. I was on a 1 week trip with my wife. She took a class for photography and I took the opportunity to jump at a larger dz.

After getting caught upwind, I landed in a parking lot behind the hanger. I had a $1091 ambulance ride, and then a 3 day stay in thr hospital that included titanium in my leg to put it back together. $40043 (which included food).


Get the insurance! I had some, we kept our house.

[bob.dino 1]

Check Flightcentre and QBE. Both used to cover skydiving on travel insurance, unless you were getting paid to jump (eg as a tandem master). Don't live in AU anymore, so don't know.

Skysurfer.com.au would have more up to date info.

[Krip 2]

Hi

$40K including surgery, titanium, 3 days room and board, IMO you got a deal.

My wife fell off the roof on the 29 March 2014 her bday, 9 foot fall.

The ambulance ride cost about the same. Dear do you want me to cost you a ambulance Your a ambulance That almost worth the cost of the ride from the house 6 miles.

We were in the ER for 6 hrs numerous xrays and good pain meds for the pain. Broken fib and L1 and L2, a temp splint. We went home after midnight by car with the wife in a lot of pain.

Since then 4 trips to the leg and back dr. Finally got a walking cast after the first visit to the leg dude,

WE have good insurance but their is a thing called annual deductible, copay, and maximum allowable.

The hospital is a preferred provider with the insurance company so they got a major discount on the bills but we still had to pay our part, and the ambulance is not a preferred provider so we have to pay the excess.

The final bills are still coming in and the wife is on the mend. I'm guessing bottom line out of pocket maybe $1 to $3k. My wife still had her old walker and cane

Yep definitely meed insurance but you also need some cash or CCs to pay whatever the insurance company doesn't. If the wife didn't have someone at home to take care of her she would have stayed in the hospital.

On a happy note we did get to call her a ambulance but calling the ambulance is $$ can't imagine what a helicopter ride, and a broken pelvis would cost.

I talked with one dude that dropped his toggle just before landing, chopper, broken pelvis rehab etc total cost exceeded $1,000,000 and a lot of pain, his insurance company paid for most of cost. Not the pain.

If your coming from outside the country get lots of insurance, that pays. IMO $1,000,000 is not excessive.

One Jump Wonder

[pnuwin 0]

Covermore covers skydiving

[AdD 1]

http://global.ihi.com/

Life is ez
On the dz
Every jumper's dream
3 rigs and an airstream

[luminouslumi 0]

Sky Diving can be undertaken at a wide variety of different levels, from a one off tandem sky dive with an instructor to a sky diver who takes part in the sport as their main hobby.so you need to buy travel insurance as soon as possible.

[Squeak 17]

I travel a lot and use COVERMORE, they include skydiving.

You are not now, nor will you ever be, good enough to not die in this sport (Sparky)
My Life ROCKS!
How's yours doing?

[jezlevett 0]

ive decided to go with diplmat medical insurance.
They also have covered me for rockclimbing and snowboarding which is pretty cool.

cheers.

[vision 0]

IHI Bupa will cover anything except motor racing and Antarctica expeditions.

they are an excellent service.

[fergs 0]

I'm sure you've checked the policy wording with respect of cover for parachuting / sport parachuting / skydiving. Regardless, it's always good to call their help line and ask specific questions. Take the name of the person you spoke to and take notes, including date and time of the call.

Be sure to check maximum duration of any single trip. Although you may have bought a 12 month policy, there is likely to be a limit on any one trip. It's often 60 days. Occasionally 90 days.

I had an uninsured skydiving accident in the 70's in the US. Broke my femur and various other injuries. First Hospital the ambulance took me to refused to accept me due no insurance.

Next 10 days was surgery and minimum recuperation time and cost equivalent of 7 months salary. Then flew home and had next 3 months in an aussie hospital at a total cost of around a hundred dollars. Yahoo for Medicare.

DO NOT skydive in the US unless you are 110% certain that you have medical cover that will cover you.

[fergs 0]

Jez, take care, following is a cut and paste from the Diplomat Internatiomal Travel policy wording:

The Diplomat International provides Accident and Sickness Medical Coverage, Travel Assistance, and Accidental Death and Dismemberment benefits to Individuals while traveling outside their Home Country, but not to the United States. Coverage is available for you, a second adult, unmarried dependent Children, or Children traveling alone.

[jezlevett 0]

Hi there,

Thanks for pointing that out.

I was freaking out for a sec . So i triple checked the policy they sent me. That paragraph is not in there. A similar one is but it includes the USA.

You can purchase USA coverage or rest of world coverage exl USA. So it depends which policy you purchase.

I spoke to a rep at global underwriters and as special consideration they will cover me in the USA and Canada and add rock climbing (Sweet!).

Direct from my policy ....
"
$ 1,000,000.00 – Accident and Sickness Medical Life Time Maximum
$ 100.00 - Deductible

Co Insurance -
100% up to the policy maximum outside USA or
80% of the first $5,000 in the USA then 100% up to the policy Life Time maximum
.............
"
Cheers

[GLIDEANGLE 1]

Quote

$ 1,000,000.00 – Accident and Sickness Medical Life Time Maximum

The truly sad part is that there are a lot of skydiving incidents which could blow through that million dollars pretty quickly in the USA. Yes, a million dollars is WAY better than nothing.... but it is remarkably easy to exceed that.

The US costs of an isolated spinal cord injury (no other injuries) are described here: http://www.christopherreeve.org/site/c.mtKZKgMWKwG/b.5193227/k.AFB/Costs_of_Living_with_Spinal_Cord_Injury.htm

The monetary cost of brain injuries varies significantly — it’s estimated that a mild head injury costs $85,000, a moderate injury costs $941,000, and a severe injury costs $3 million. http://www.brainandspinalcord.org/recovery-traumatic-brain-injury/cost-traumatic-brain-injury/index.html

Stir in an open fractured femur requiring multiple surgeries, or an internal injury to chest or abdomen.... the $$$$ add up in a hurry.

The choices we make have consequences, for us & for others!