There may be a hole in your bucket list
What your Medicare card doesn’t cover when you travel abroad
A client emailed me recently with a question.
“We’d like to hear your knowledge about overseas travel health insurance.”
Smart question.
And one I’d guess a lot of you have wondered about too — especially if there’s an trip outside the U.S. on your calendar (or one you’ve been dreaming about for years).
With summer travel season upon us, let’s talk about it.
The trip you’ve been waiting for
Maybe it’s Italy. Maybe Portugal. A safari. The Greek islands.
Or somewhere else around the globe.
You’ve planned the flights, the hotels, the rental car. You’ve made room in the budget. You’ve earned this.
And then — somewhere over the Atlantic — most retirement plans stop working.
I’ve written before about keeping healthcare costs down when you travel within the U.S.
Consider this the international version of that conversation.
Your Medicare card doesn’t have a passport
Here’s the part most people don’t realize until they need to.
Original Medicare: Covers next to nothing outside the U.S.
Medicare Supplement (most plans): Include a foreign travel emergency benefit — but it’s capped at a $50,000 lifetime maximum, and only covers 80% after a deductible. A serious hospital stay can chew through that in a few days.
Medicare Part D: Doesn’t cover prescriptions you buy abroad.
Medical evacuation: A flight home with medical staff onboard can run from $25,000 to well over $250,000. Out of pocket.
That’s the hole.
Why this matters
There’s an old folk song some of you will remember.
There’s a hole in my bucket, dear Liza, dear Liza...
Your bucket list might have a hole too.
Not because you didn’t plan. You did.
You saved, you invested, you got the portfolio right.
But planning isn’t only about portfolios.
I’ve written before about why a real plan goes beyond the portfolio — this is why.
It’s about all the parts of the life you’re actually trying to live.
The trip is part of your plan. Which means the healthcare on the trip is part of your plan too.
And here’s the asymmetry that matters: a quality travel medical policy for a typical international trip might cost a few hundred dollars.
The bill if something goes wrong can run into six figures.
That’s a trade most people would make without thinking — if they realized it was a trade at all.
Next steps
Four steps that handle most of it:
Ask the question. Before your next international trip, ask your advisor (or me): “Does my plan account for healthcare outside the U.S.?” If the answer is fuzzy, that’s your first clue.
Check what you already have. Pull up your Medicare Supplement and look for the foreign travel emergency benefit. Know the cap. Know what it covers and what it doesn’t.
Make sure any travel policy you consider includes medical evacuation. This is the line item that turns a bad day into a six-figure problem. It’s also the one most people overlook.
Get a quote. I work with Move Health on health insurance for many of my clients. They recently added travel insurance options through Blue Cross Blue Shield Global Solutions (formerly GeoBlue). If you’d like an introduction to Move Health, let me know.
A note on scope: this piece is about medical coverage on international trips.
Trip cancellation insurance — for the flight you can’t take, the deposit you can’t get back — is a separate conversation worth having on its own.
There are other considerations depending on the trip, your health, and how often you travel.
That’s a conversation, not a checklist.
But these four cover most of the ground for most people.
However, another client pointed out that some tour groups like Tauck offer Travel Protection which includes:
Medical Expenses – reimburses covered medical expenses incurred in the event you become injured or sick during your trip.
The point
You don’t buy travel insurance because you expect something to go wrong.
You buy it so a small problem stays a small problem — and so a big one doesn’t follow you home in the form of a bill.
Patch the hole. Then go enjoy the trip.
That’s what the plan is for.
If you’ve got a trip on the horizon and want to talk it through, hit reply.
Happy to help.
Thank you for reading!
Have a question? Reply to this email — I read every one and I’ll respond personally.
Until next Wednesday,
Russ