Did you have Medical Insurance/Coverage when you hiked?

[Trail Dog]

I am planning to do the AT in two streches, Georgia to New York then Maine to New York. Now i need to skip a semester of college when i do the South to north part and i will have graduated when i do the North South section. I will not have coverage since i wont be enroled in school when i head north and i will be out of school and unemployed when i go North to south.

So medical insurance will be an issue. I am hoping to get two things out of this post. 1- How many long range hikers had the medical insurance problems and how they solved them. and 2 how many accually hiked without any coverage?

well i hope this is the place to go.

thanks
Dog

[chris]

You can buy short term "travel" insurance policies for reasonable rates. I got a 50 day policy for a trip to Nepal last winter, which cost around $60. I don't remember the provider. However, you have to read the fine print. Many of the policies do not cover injuries from what they term "hazardous activities". Trekking is frequently listed as such an activity. If you look around, you should be able to find one that will cover you. However, the coverage is usually pretty thin. I got it mainly so that if I took a bad fall or got gored by a yak or whatever, I could be flown out of the hills and then to a country which had more modern health care facilities. This, though, is less of an issue on the AT.

When I hiked this past May, Springer to Damascus, I had really crappy student health insurance. It meant that if I wanted to be fixed up and not pay for it, I had to get on a bus and go home to the student doctors. But, I didn't get hurt, so it wasn't an issue.

[Hammock Hanger]

My husband was working and had family insurance. Thank God because my stay in the NH hospital was just under $10,000. Luckily all I had to pay was @ $500.00

When we were road gypsies we use to get seasonal or temp insurance.

Hammock Hanger

[chief]

i think insurance should be a big concern with hikers, especially thru-hikers. in 2000 i was covered by my retirement plan and my partner was covered by his wife's insurance. unfortunately, a lot of trail related injuries don't exceed typical deductibles or co-payments. my partner had 2 experiences with doctor visits and x-rays, neither of which exceeded his deductible. of course he had to shell out! one thing i will say, the doctors he saw were incredible. one even offered the loan of a car to get around in.

[Trail Dog]

so i should look into temporary travel insurance?

i know the AT isnt exaclty like hiking in the Cashmere Mountians or visiting Beautiful Downtown Grozny but it does have its dangers. With my rusty ankles i might take a nasty fall on some damn ridge line.

If anyone knows where i should start to look please let me know.

Dog

[gravityman]

A lot of people see medical insurance as something you pay a fee for and then it should cover almost all your bills. This isn't the point of insurance (insurance being the key word). It's just to mitigate the cost if you end up with something major happening. Anyway, thats more of a financial lesson...
My wife and I both got major medical from, uh, what was the name of that insurer...Golden something... Golden Rule! That's it... $250 for 6 months or so... 1k deductible... My wife went to the doc a few times, but never meet the deductible. But it does cover your butt in case of anything major.
Just make sure your insurer will cover you in different states...

Enjoy,

Gravity man

[gravityman]

I was just surfing around on my lunch break when I found trailplace was back online (it was off for a while...) Anyway, it answers this specific question. Check it out...

http://www.trailplace.com/resources/...insurance.html

[Trail Dog]

sweet! i am running a quote now....

i also plan to talk to a 'friend' who sells insurance. can you ever really call an insurance saleman a friend?

upadate

crap i tried to run the quote but as expected no one wants to insure a New Yorker. NY state is not listed, only about 35 states are. Thanks anyway.

[Mini-Mosey]

Log on to trailforums.com; this subject was addressed there. I'm not sure under which forum title it is, very possibly under "General" or "Appalachian Trail". This is an open forum website. I remember quite a few suggestions concerning this issue were given.

[Mini-Mosey]

Woops--I messed up! The insurance issue is discussed in THIS forum website under "General', then under the thread concerning "How do you do it.." Some of the entries under there address the insurance issue.

[Mini-Mosey]

Clarification on the above post--it's under "General", then under the thread started by Stickat04 entitled "What do you do.."
Thanks for your patience with my middle-aged short-term memory!! (Or long-term, whatever)

[fwassner]

www.trailpace.com is a defunct url as of 8/8/03

[fwassner]

Well, my brother's an MD here in Jersey, so maybe I can get "professional courtesy" if I need it.
Won't bank on that though. I'll be looking into some sort of insurance.

[jlb2012]

fwasser - I've never heard of www.trailpace.com but www.trailplace.com appears to still be a going concern - not that I would ever go there but for those that can put up with Wingfoot I suppose it is a resource of some value

[Mini-Mosey]

Fwasser(hope I got that right): If you quit your job, you can keep your health insurance through the company's group plan for 18 months. I'm doing that now myself. You will have to pay the full premium, but as I learned this year(another story)it's worth it!!

[fwassner]

I've heard about Cobra. I thought it was very expensive though, about $400 per month?

[Don]

There is another discussion under General on Insurance. I recently posted the following there:

I recenty purchased a short term plan through FORTIS. My local insurance agent hooked me up. THe plan was for my son who was no longer eligible for my health plan. I believe it cost 260 bucks for 6 months coverage with 1,000 deductible. You can choose the size of your deductible but the premiums begin to mount up. My son was in good health and I was insuring against a bad accident as he is an avid rock climber. I did file a claim with Fortis and they have been very responsive. Fortis insurance is renewable once for total coverage of one year. It is designed to be transitional coverage. You can find them on the web and design your own coverage..... I am not aware if they cover prescription drugs or not.... I agree with the posters above that it would be a very risky proposition to hike without any coverage. THe chances of injury or sickness seems pretty high....Good luck.

[illininagel]

COBRA premiums can be very expensive. My company quoted me a COBRA rate of $310 per month for a single, healthy adult male. Comparable coverage (same deductible, same PPO, same maximum out of pocket) runs $160 through Blue Cross Blue Shield.

It's tough to justify COBRA unless it is really a very temporary coverage situation between jobs.

But, if you can't get coverage outside of COBRA (maybe due to a preexiting condition), COBRA is certainly better than no coverage at all!

[fwassner]

Yes, I agree that doing a thru-hike without insurance would be a very risky venture. If there is any time when I might need it, this would be it.
Compared to having to pay all costs myself, even Cobra at $400 per month would be a bargain.
Only problem I can see with Cobra is that since I would be continuing coverage with my present plan, which is a PPO, or HMO, I may have trouble finding a doctor who accepts that plan.
I'll have to check the listings of member physicians and hospitals before I make a choice.
I'll certainly look into the alternatives, and choose the one that best fits my needs.

[kt_lyn]

I apologize for not knowing the details, but there is also emergency medical insurance available to anyone for a maximum of 6 months out of any calendar year. My old roomate used it when she was out of work- and I think it only ran like $30 a month. You could probably find it by searching "emergency insurance" on-line.