Travel Health Insurance while in France

Guys...I am traveling abroad, is it worth it purchasing health insurance aside from what is given by the ISIC card?

https://www.myisic.com/MyISIC/Travel/Main.aspx?MenuID=5004#subhead2

I know in France it's basically universal health care but the citizens do have private insurance. Should I get extra health insurance protection? Plus I do have a pre-existing condition that needs medicine. I have a plan offered for about $400 or so...not sure if it's worth it.

i just do w/out and look both ways before crossing the street and step v. carefully whilst hiking alone as i can't afford private care in western europe and as a usa citizen i'm not entitled to free care

the $400 insurance sounds WAY too high to me but perhaps you are staying for an extended period

all things being equal i generally prefer to travel in 3rd/4th world countries where i can pay for any care i need out of pocket if the unexpected happens, but let's face, we are not going to completely give up on experiencing western europe

pre-existing conditions are not covered by the travel guard insurance plan you linked, hence it seems useless to purchase it for a condition/medicine you already know you have

those are my thoughts

paris is beautiful and i'm not saying skip france, i'm just saying if the insurance coverage doesn't do what you think it will, just be careful or if you truly can't afford to go without coverage (assuming you're a usa citizen) you may have to choose to travel elsewhere

good luck

also i think it would be hard to get a claim honored, you can forget getting the baggage claim honored for any real amount as if your bags are lost, you don't have original receipts for the stuff you filed and often it's impossible to get a copy of the incident report filed by the airline

"pertinent medical records" can't even get em most of the time easily from my own doctor in america, good luck getting em in a foreign country in a form the insurer will decide is acceptable -- i love that word "pertinent," seems like you can get home, they can decide you're missing one piece of paper you can't get from here, and you're screwed

so yah i just do without it

I lived in London for 5 years so I know the NHS system and I wouldn't even bother with insurance if it's England. But since I'm not sure about France I have to ask and yeah...I do have a pre-existing that is not covered.

I know about the travel, hence the reason I won't spend the extra money one plan is asking for adding that expense---almost 100+ for the extra protection. I was thinking of sports rider but I don't trust that other.

so i will just give you another kick in hopes another traveler will see your post

some info that might help you a little:

http://travel.state.gov/search.php?metaname=swishdefault&sort=swishrank&query=health+insurance&image.x=0&image.y=0&action=0

And for France specifically: http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/cis/cis_1116.html