Cost of travel to hospital

A financial query.

We know that (among other aspects) being treated for Cancer costs money and that others such as insurance companies may pick up some of the tabs, most of the tabs or all of the tabs, but that is for the medical stuff. How about other expenses such as travel costs?

This question arose for me when I realized that for radiation therapy I would be traveling back and forth to the hospital in Amsterdam by train thirty-three times at about 20 Euros a day, which would add up. Then, wow, when I saw the doc last week he said that everyone standard insurance cover would pay their travel expenses for radiation therapy as it is a special case (as are chemo and dialysis.)
I find this weird seeing as they didn’t pay for my travel costs to go to and from the hospital for my operation when the surgeon said I was not allowed to drive myself, whereas for RT I could probably drive myself – I prefer the train option, as then I have a WC; the highway between home and the hospital is one of the busiest in the country and can get gridlocked and is not the place to be with a full bladder.

It works like this: I have to get a formal okay from the insurer beforehand (I just spoke to them on the phone to arrange it), but then, after the RT finishes, I just fill in a form and send them that plus all my train tickets and the list of my RT appointments and they will refund the cost, which looks like being about 660 Euros in total (Though I do have to pay the first 91 Euros myself.)

If I were to go by cab and arrange the cabs via the insurance company then the cab company would send their bills direct to the insurer to be paid. (The cab fares would be about 200 Euros per day making a total of about 6600 Euros).
For cabs that you arrange yourself you have to pay the driver yourself and send off the bills and then they will only refund you 75ct per kilometer rather than the actual fare. As it’s 108km per day that would only cover 80 Euros and leave me to pay the other 120 Euros.

If I were to drive myself they’d give me 25ct per kilometer (108km each day = 27 Euros per day and 890 Euros in total)

If I had the equivalent of the five-star insurance package, then I wouldn’t have to pay the 91 Euros either. And all my travelling expenses up to 1000 Euros per year would be paid for all treatments. And it would also be possible to have a 35 Euro daily allowance to stay somewhere near the hospital.

As my wife put it: it makes up for all the premiums we’ve been paying for all these years.

I was really surprised, and obviously pleased.
Has anyone else encountered anything like this?

Alfred

I think travel expenses and their reimbursement differ from plan to plan here. My coverage has a travel expenses clause that covers $10,000.00 in lifetime travel expenses.

My trip from Orlando to Detroit had all travel expenses covered as well as $100.00 per day in lodging and food expenses. My trips for radiation covered about 25 miles per day round trip. I could turn in my expenses based upon a standard mileage rate out about $.55 per mile plus tolls and would be reimbursed. I elected not to ask for coverage on these expenses so as to save them for more expensive trips should I need them in the future.

My wife's expenses for the last four years have been reimbursed for about $6000.00 so far. The $10,000.00 lifetime clause applies to each person individually.

Sonny

Not sure if my insurance covers travel expenses are not, but they did not add up to much. I was told that you could apply thru the local American cancer Society for travle expenses related to my radiation. But it was only 25 minutes from home and sometimes I would be going that way for work after tx so felt like someone else could use those funds more than myself.

Michael

My Insurance plan covers hotel (part), and airline tickets to one of the recognized cancer centers, not sure about fuel charges, they pay a percentage of tickets and hotel but not all, but when I went to Boston they paid most of it.