Reimbursement Claim Form - California Department Of Boating And: Fill & Download for Free

When I got into a nearly deadly boating accident earlier this year, I had to use travel insurance for the very first time when I was taken to the ER, and then a second ER after that. If you want to skip over the lengthy part of the discussion and the story about what happened and just get to what my key takeaways were, scroll to the bottom as those takeaways will be summarized in short form.For clarity, I didn’t actually buy the travel insurance. Rather, it was included as part of the suite of benefits on my WestJet RBC World Elite MasterCard - which, even for reasons unrelated to the insurance, I think is the best credit card available in Canada. Non-affiliate link pasted below, for information purposes.Save on Travel and Earn Rewards with the WestJet RBC World Elite MastercardBasically, as part of your annual fee for this card, as of this writing, if you’re under 65 you get out-of-province/out-of-country emergency medical insurance for up to 15 days, with unlimited coverage. Yes, you read that correctly. Some policies top out at $1 million, and I’ve even seen one at $5 million… this one has no limit at all. That coverage period automatically starts from the moment you leave the province. You don’t have to set anything up in advance. You don’t even need to pay for the trip with the card. As long as your credit card account is in good standing, you have this unlimited coverage for up to 15 days when you’re out of province, it’s that simple.I am more than glad that I made the arrangements to have this coverage through my credit card, because not only did it save me the cost of some hefty hospital bills… it also paid the cost of my meals and hotel nights for up to $150 CAD per day for each additional day up to ten days that I couldn’t travel home due to the medical emergency. This was the case for me, because I had to stay for a full week, for reasons you’ll see below.So, that mostly answers the easy part of question. Yes, I have had to use travel insurance, and yes I was glad I purchased it.Now… what happened? I’d encourage reading this, because you’ll understand what the mechanics of it all were, how using the coverage worked, and what slip-ups could have prevented me from being covered.Obligatory trigger warning: the fifth and sixth pictures down show my injuries. They’re only bruises on the surface, but this may frighten some people… so either stop reading here, or look away as you scroll past those images. You will see the bolded text “Injury pictures to follow”, followed by ten line breaks as a forewarning, and “Injury pictures finished” with ten line breaks before it, in case you want to look away and scroll to the bottom and then scroll back up, but not run the risk of scrolling up too far and seeing the injury pictures.So, here’s what happened…It was a Friday afternoon in August, and I was on the last full day of my trip to Laughlin, Nevada, before heading up to Las Vegas on a Greyhound bus. Part of what attracted me to this city was its location on the Colorado River, which is a popular place for boating and jet-skiing. Moreover, jet-skiing is extraordinarily inexpensive there, most rentals coming to about $100 USD per hour all-in. I had been jet-skiing exactly once before, about seven years prior, in the Cayman Islands. Like most novice jet-skiers, I thought there wasn’t that much to it. The river was also pretty quiet, and so it never really occurred to me that it could be a dangerous thing to do.I had gone out jet-skiing the day before for two full hours. I was already in love with the Colorado River, having kayaked on it further north on the river the year before (around Black Canyon). But there was something other-worldly about this stretch of it by way of jet-ski. So serene, so scenic, such great views of the mountains, just mesmerizing. One two-hour ride the day before just wasn’t enough for me, so that day I decided to get a two-and-a-half hour ride to take it all in before I said goodbye to Laughlin for the year. I wasn’t able to take any photos from the first ride because I only took my room key with me that day (you’ll understand why that’s important shortly). But to give you an idea of the scenery, here is a photo that I took on the second day, about 45 minutes before the accident happened:Loving the power of the jet-ski, and the mist that I generated with every turn, I was doing a lot of moving on this thing. It didn’t get old at all, I absolutely loved it. Remember how I mentioned that there was almost no one on the river? That gave me the courage to be bold with my moves, making wide zig-zagging turns from one side of the river to the other. I was having a jolly good time, until I looked at my watch and noticed that I had just under an hour left on my rental, so I had to go the other direction, back to Laughlin. I was about 15 miles (about 24 kilometres) south of there, around Needles, California.So I turned around and started to head back. Still did some zig-zagging, to get the maximum enjoyment out of this last stretch of my experience. Everything seemed normal during every turn that I made. Until suddenly, I felt an impact, and the next thing I knew I was horizontal, in the air, flying into the water. Luckily I was wearing a life vest, so I came up to the surface pretty quickly.I had absolutely no idea what happened. I didn’t even know I had been injured because I didn’t feel any pain yet (because of the adrenaline). All I knew was I was in the water, off my jet-ski, and only once I turned around after hearing two men hollering out asking if I’m okay, did I realize that I’d gotten hit by a boat. Below is the depiction of the accident from the police report. Since the boat was coming up behind me, I wasn’t able to see it coming. Further, since the motor on a jet-ski is very loud, I wasn’t able to hear his motor as he came up on me… so I was essentially blindsided.Now, to put this into a visual perspective, this is the jet-ski I was riding, a 2016 Yamaha Waverunner:The boat that hit me was a twenty-foot 1984 Eliminator (which I’m sure glad did not live up to its name!). So I’m sure that you can see how this could have turned deadly, especially with how pointy the bow of the boat is.After getting my bearings, I was able to swim towards the boat, which was occupied by a father and son. The son was able to extend his arm to pull me in, which took a bit of maneuvering, because only then did I realize where my injury was, on my left flank, which got aggravated from the downward pull of gravity as I attempted to pull myself up onto the boat. Once I was on board, he laid me down on the bench at the back of the boat.At this point, my head was still spinning from what had happened, and I didn’t fully realize what was going on. All I remember was overhearing a woman in the distance asking if she needs to call 911, and the father said “Yes, call 911”. Their boat got damaged as well in the accident, and we had to very slowly bring the boat to shore. Once we got there, there was an ambulance and a police car waiting, and I knew this was where we were about to find out how this would go down.The short version of what happened is the two paramedics on the scene did a brief assessment to see what the damage to me was. They were quickly able to establish that I probably had broken ribs, and it definitely needed scans to see if the impact injured me elsewhere.My greatest fear at this point wasn’t even the health complications that I might suffer from this injury. Rather, my greatest fear was whether I’d have insurance coverage. This isn’t Canada, where they take you to the hospital and your government health plan covers everything. This is the United States, where people go bankrupt from medical bills - and often decline medical attention even in emergency situations like these because they can’t afford it.This is the most important part of the anecdote, with respect to knowing your travel insurance policy…Since I’m the type of person to at least attempt to understand things like terms and conditions, I’d luckily been able to review this credit card’s insurance policy shortly after I got the card. It, like most travel insurance policies, requires you to contact the insurer at the earliest possible moment after something happens that requires emergency medical attention, in order to qualify you for coverage. Your failure to do so may leave you on the hook for some or all of the expenses relating to your emergency.On this credit card in particular, the policy’s text says the following:WHAT SHOULD YOU DO IN A MEDICAL EMERGENCY?If you have a medical emergency, you must call Assured Assistance Inc. (“Assured Assistance”) before you receive emergency treatment. Of course, if your medical condition prevents you from calling, we understand – you must call as soon as medically possible or, as an alternative, someone else may call on your behalf (relative, friend, nurse or doctor).If you do not call Assured Assistance or if you choose to seek care from a nonapproved medical service provider, you will be responsible for a portion of your medical expenses as outlined under “Limitations of coverage”.Remember how I said that it was important that the day before this, I only took my room key with me? That’s important because if the accident happened that day, I would not have had this credit card with me. Meaning that not only would I not have had my credit card number to identify myself when calling them, I also would not even have had the phone number to call!I’ve edited this answer to add this suggestion… be sure that aside from having this information for yourself, ensure those travelling with you and/or your loved ones have it too. Not only will this let them arrange coverage on your behalf if you’re incapacitated, it’s an easy way for you to recover that information if you lose it as a result of the emergency. Say you’re injured in a hotel fire and the piece of paper you wrote this down on gets burned up. You’ll likely at least remember your best friend’s phone number, so you can call them and get the information from them.In a similar vein, most smartphones have a “medical ID” type option in which one can list their name, their allergies, their medications, and other information about them in case of an emergency. Generally, you’ll be able to input information such as your health insurance data in there as well. This is a very easy precaution to take.Key takeaway #1… at all points in your trip, have your travel insurance’s phone number (both local and toll-free) written down, along with your policy or client number.Because I knew about this requirement, I told the paramedics that I do not consent to transport until I can speak to my insurer to confirm that they will cover me for this. They said that’s okay (though if I was in critical condition, they were legally required to transport me immediately, regardless of insurance), and one of the paramedics made the call for me putting his phone on speaker so I could talk to them.The whole call, end-to-end took less than ten minutes. The representative from the insurance company spoke to the paramedics to confirm which hospital they were taking me to, and they spoke with me to ask about the circumstances of the accident. This was important for qualifying my eligibility for coverage, because there are a number of circumstances that could disqualify my claim. This exclusion is the most notable:Your participation as a professional in sports, participation as a professional in underwater activities, scuba diving as an amateur unless you hold a basic scuba designation from a certified school or other licensing body, participation in a motorized race or motorized speed contest, bungee jumping, parachuting, rock climbing, mountain climbing, hang-gliding or skydiving.Now, I know way better than to get into a jet-skiing race as a novice jet-skier. But let’s say I had, even for fun… that would almost certainly have nullified my insurance coverage.Key takeaway #2… know what your travel insurance policy’s exclusions are, and do your absolute best to stay within those boundaries.The coverage was confirmed, and I then had to make the most difficult phone call I’ve ever made… calling my mom to tell her I was in an accident, I’m in the back of an ambulance, I’m fortunately in stable condition, and I’m being taken to the hospital.I got hauled off to a hospital in Arizona, and I was there for about an hour and a half. They concluded that I had broken ribs, and I had to be taken up to a bigger hospital up in Las Vegas for further treatment. That was a two-hour ambulance ride. I ended up being there for a little over two hours, and the results were the following…I was in stable condition, and I did not need to be admitted to the main hospital as an inpatientThis injury will heal on its own in up to ten weeks, but I must adhere to a strict regime of breathing exercises and applying ice to the injured areaBecause there may be damage to my lung, I cannot fly for at least a week, because I would be risking a pneumothorax (collapsed lung) from plane’s altitudeFurther, I would need medical clearance to fly, which I can seek a week from that day, after x-rays are taken of my lungAt this point, they gave me my discharge papers, and pretty much told me that now I’m on my own. Here I was wearing nothing but a bathing suit, a t-shirt, and flip flops, with a backpack that has my phone, my credit card, and a towel. I didn’t have my ID with me, because the rental place still had it. I was also a solid 1.5 hour drive away from Laughlin, where all my things were. I was also in some pretty serious pain, having just been hit by a boat that afternoon.To put my injuries into a visual perspective, the first photo is the surface damage to my left flank, and the second photo is the bruise to my thigh from the handlebar of the jet-ski. Amazingly, as brutal as that bruise on my thigh looks, it didn’t hurt at all.Injury pictures to follow--------------------Injury pictures finishedLuckily, because I had my phone with me, I was able to call my insurer and ask them what my options were from here. They told me that if I was to take a taxi or a Lyft back to Laughlin, it would be covered under my policy, because my displacement (being moved from Laughlin to Las Vegas) was involuntary. That was a big deal, because the 94-mile (150-kilometre), 93-minute drive down cost me $143.98 USD on Lyft… and with a taxi it would have been a minimum of $300 USD.They also explained to me how the coverage worked, for me to have my hotels and meals paid for. Basically, I would be responsible for all costs of the trip up to the time I had originally planned to be there. Anything beyond that, is covered at $150 CAD per day for hotels and meals. This is the text from the insurance policy:ADDITIONAL HOTEL AND MEAL EXPENSESCovers the cost of up to $150 per day, to a maximum of $1,500, for meal and commercial accommodation expenses you have incurred after the date you are scheduled to return to the departure point, when your return is delayed due to your medical emergency or when you are relocated to receive emergency treatment.Key takeaway #3… know everything that your policy covers, and ask lots of questions. Personally, I didn’t even know about the hotel and meal expenses coverage. I’m glad it came up in conversation, because I was able to recover about $500 CAD in my out-of-pocket expenses once I got home.So, this is pretty much the end of the story here. On the bright side of the situation, since I went to Las Vegas the next day (which was my original plan from the beginning) and had to stay there until I got clearance to fly, I’m perhaps the only person in human history ever to be given doctor’s orders to stay in Vegas for another week. Sadly, I couldn’t enjoy it too much being in pain. I also couldn’t drink any alcohol at all in case I had to take the narcotic painkillers that they prescribed to me (but I never had to use them, because Tylenol and Aleve did the job just fine).Anyway, what I have to add here is that it was very important for me to have kept meticulous records of all of my expenses, so that I could claim them once I got back home. Usually I don’t even bother getting my bill when I check out of a hotel… I just check the room charges on the TV, take a picture with my phone for my records, and leave. But since I need to be able to substantiate everything, I have to get formally documented proof of every charge that I want reimbursement for.Keeping meticulous records isn’t just important for the sake of having the actual receipts, it’s also important for the sake of keeping it organized. It took me a solid two hours to compile the receipts, run the numbers, and assemble everything into a comprehensive breakdown to clearly spell out when each expense was incurred (giving regard to the $150 CAD daily limit), to ensure that they understand the claim and paid it out correctly.Key takeaway #4… once you know what your policy covers, follow it to a T, and keep every single record that you can keep.Finally, since US hospitals love to bully their patients, I ended up receiving two bills in the mail from different departments, claiming some parts of the services were unpaid. I sent both of those bills to the insurance company, and they took care of both of them. Apparently, I should never have received them in the first place.Personally, I think that this is a scam that the hospitals try to pull, sending a bill to both the insurer and the patient, and putting scary wording on the patient’s copy (e.g. “DUE NOW: $893.00 This amount is your responsibility”). I’m sure there are enough poor schmucks out there who simply assume their insurance didn’t cover what’s in that bill, and they just pay the bill out of fear that a collections agency might be sent after them.Key takeaway #5… do not pay ANY bill that is sent to you by a medical service provider until you run it by your travel insurance.So, that was my story with dealing with travel insurance. This is an experience that I wouldn’t wish upon my worst enemy. Not just because of the actual injury and how much worse it could have been… but also because even though many of my non-medical expenses were covered, I still had to have the money to pay for them out of pocket. Say I was dead broke and had no credit… my insurance coverage would have meant nothing when it comes to having a safe place to stay. It’s very possible that I’d have been out on the street for that entire week if I didn’t have access to the money to pay those costs up-front.Now, the big question… how much did my medical bills come to?The short version is, over $40,000 USD. The bulk of that was from the first ER that I went to in Arizona, which came to $33,325.94 USD. Picture of the bill below for that eye-popping effect.Want your mind blown even further? That figure doesn’t even include the cost of the doctor! The doctor’s bill was separate, at $1,465 USD. The second hospital up in Las Vegas came in at $3,532 USD. Also, the two ambulance rides were about $1,000 USD each.In total, I received all of about five hours of total treatment, between the two initial ER visits and follow-ups to get travel clearance.It cost forty thousand dollars for five hours of treatment... That averages out to just under $67 USD per minute.So, if you’ve skipped all the way to the end of this writeup just to see the key takeaways, I don’t blame you. Honestly, my primary reason for writing out everything above was a lot more for myself to re-live the incident and the process so that I can appreciate how lucky I was. But I think it does provide some necessary context for using travel insurance if you want to go back and read it anyway.Here are the key takeaways…Key takeaway #1… at all points in your trip, have your travel insurance’s phone number (both local and toll-free) written down, along with your policy or client number.In the story, I mention that the insurance policy’s terms require me to contact them as soon as I can, before receiving emergency medical treatment. If I don’t, I could be liable for the costs. I also talked about how when I went jet-skiing the day before, I didn’t have my credit card with me. If the accident had happened that day, it would not have been possible for me to call my insurance company in advance, and I’d have likely been on the hook for a good amount of the hospital bills. Thus, you at all times need to have your travel insurance’s phone number available, along with your policy/client number, so that if you’re on a stretcher in the back of an ambulance like I was, you can call them and confirm your coverage. This isn’t just important for the sake of not having to pay the hospital bills, it’s also important to make sure that they send you to a hospital that accepts your insurance. If they take you to an “out of network” hospital, there’s a good chance that you’ll be out of luck for insurance coverage.Further, give the health insurance information to your travel companions or people close to you, so that you can call them and get it from them if you lose or don’t have your copy of that information. You may also want to consider adding it to your smartphone’s “medical ID” function, especially since this is the place most care providers will look anyway if you’re unconscious.Key takeaway #2… know what your travel insurance policy’s exclusions are, and do your absolute best to stay within those boundaries.My insurance policy has several exclusions, including injuries resulting from activities such as motorized racing. Let’s say I had gotten into a casual race with someone on my jet-ski and the accident happened as a result of that… it would have nullified my coverage. Some of the exclusions are also things that you wouldn’t necessarily expect… such as parachuting and rock climbing. This is why you need to READ your travel insurance policy to understand what it does not cover.Key takeaway #3… know everything that your policy covers, and ask lots of questions. Personally, I didn’t even know about the hotel and meal expenses coverage. I’m glad it came up in conversation, because I was able to recover about $500 CAD in my out-of-pocket expenses once I got home.Even though I read my travel insurance policy, I didn’t know (or had forgotten) that it covered me for hotel and meal expenses for any unplanned time I can’t go home. I was grounded for a full week, because the doctor ordered me not to fly (as the damage to my ribs could have punctured my lung, and the altitude of the plane could have made my lung collapse). If this never came up, I simply would have expected that I’d have to pay my hotel and meal expenses myself.Key takeaway #4… once you know what your policy covers, follow it to a T, and keep every single record that you can keep.Like I said before, ask lots of questions, including questions about what your obligations are in the process of making a claim. I made sure to keep records of everything, from itemized receipts, to credit card receipts, to both the scripts and the receipts from my prescriptions. It’s also important to keep them organized, because making the claim is a complicated process that you have to do correctly, in order for you to get your money.Key takeaway #5… do not pay ANY bill that is sent to you by a medical service provider until you run it by your insurance.This is only a theory of mine… but even though all bills from the hospitals were made out to my insurer, I still somehow got two bills in the mail that I never should have gotten. The insurance took care of it, though I can’t help suspecting that the hospitals do this on purpose, hoping that people will just assume the insurance didn’t pay it, and this is the patient’s responsibility. US healthcare is all about making money, so I would not put this past any hospital in that country.As a final key takeaway that adds onto everything in the answer, here is one point that I need to preface with a bunch of non-bold text in order to appropriately make the words I’m about to say stand out more than the bold-face, italicized, capitalized text with ten exclamation points could by themselves… Ready? GET. TRAVEL. INSURANCE!!!!!!!!!! If you are under 65 and have no pre-existing conditions, it is a negligible expense compared to the cost of travel… and it is very possible that you can get it on a credit card like I did. There is absolutely no excuse to travel without travel insurance. None. Zero. Zip. I do not want to hear it. You are recklessly endangering yourself if you travel without travel insurance. You might think that you are at a relatively low risk of anything happening. But that can change in a split second, just like it did for me… and it can happen to you just as easily. Whether that’s getting into a car accident, slipping and falling, or having a roof collapse on you, you cannot predict what will happen… and if you’re away from home, it is very possible that your lack of insurance could leave you broke, or left for dead… especially in the United States, where they may not be willing to treat you without coverage.Long answer, I know. This is word number 4,634.Thank you very much for reading, and thank you very much to Archie D’Cruz for the A2A. Luckily, three months later, I’m much better now… and I have a very different perspective on things knowing how much worse things could have turned out for me that day.Even scarier, THE VERY NEXT DAY, there was a massive boat crash about 27 miles (43 kilometres) south of where my accident was, on the same river: Likely death toll rises to 4 in Colorado River boat crash; 9 injuredI’m a lucky person for surviving, and even luckier for having travel insurance.