It’s been a busy week of trip planning, as a group we’ve finally started digging into what extra insurance policies might be needed for journey. In particular what about health insurance, what do we need in case we get sick, fall off the cliffs of Machu Picchu or crash on the Bolivian Road of Death? My preliminary research gave me results that ranged from nothing extra to a full blown Travel Insurance policy that cost $2,000. I have a pretty good “Blue Cross” affiliated health insurance policy through my job so I decided to see what they cover. It took a phone call and long wait but the answer was that I was covered so long as I could pay first and then seek reimbursement and they would only pay for Emergency or Urgent care. Okay, I suppose I won’t be scheduling my annual physical in Panama or checking into a hospital for a runny nose so I figured this was good enough for me. I am going to sign up for a Medical Evacuation policy like MedJetAssist that will jet me home if I need serious medical care. Motorcycle liability insurance is easier since it’s usually purchased for each country at the border.
Malaria
There was a flurry of e-mails between members of the MotoRaid II group this week about Malaria medicine. Depending on who you talk to we should all be taking anti-malaria drugs every day or we shouldn’t worry about it at all. The drugs are expensive and would cost over $2,000 for the duration of our trip. My doctor wasn’t concerned but others in the group had differing recommendations from their medical professionals. I’m inclined to take my chances.
Other stuff: Thanks to all the subscribers that have been signing up, once we get on the road I hope there will be more interesting things to post. I’ve been busy updating the other tabs of this site including the GEAR, GPS and MOTORAID sections. I try to do a little updating everyday.
Thanks for reading, Donn and Deby
Our medical coverage is Kaiser, which will reimburse us for medical expenses outside of US. Seems to be pretty much no hassle as long as you have receipts. For anything serious (non-emergency), we need to contact Kaiser first, but that also appears to be reasonably easy. So, I will not buy foreign medical coverage.
I will buy medical evacuation insurance. The regular Medjet Assist annual program looked great to me but covers only 90 continuous days out of the US. For periods longer, you need “Expatriate” coverage, which shows up on website for $430. However, that is competitive with other medevac quotes I got for single trip coverage. And the Medjet program looks good to me for benefits and coverage. I could not see that there is anything special or “hazardous” for riding a motorcycle.
Does anyone else have information about Medjet coverage and rates?