How I Successfully Filed an Emergency Medical Claim With Chase Sapphire Reserve

No one expects to have a medical emergency while they are traveling. While most casual travelers probably won’t ever have medical issues during a vacation, if you travel as much as I do, it’s bound to happen. And it finally did.

My husband ended up in the emergency room during our trip to Amsterdam in May. Even though it wasn’t a fun experience, it all turned out just fine. Not only is he OK, I was reimbursed for the hospital expenses through the emergency medical coverage on the Chase Sapphire Reserve^®.

I’ve you’ve ever wondered if credit card travel insurance actually works in real life, I’m happy to report it absolutely can.

Here’s a quick recap of our experience getting emergency medical care in Europe and the process I went through to file a claim with my credit card’s insurance.

A Visit to the Emergency Room in Amsterdam

My husband and I spent a week in Europe in May for our anniversary. It was a fantastic trip — we flew Air France business class and KLM premium economy and stayed at the Park Hyatt Paris-Vendôme and Andaz Amsterdam Prinsengracht.

It was fantastic, that is, until we spent an entire day in the emergency room in Amsterdam.

On our first full day in Amsterdam, my husband woke up and said his back hurt. He thought he slept on it weird, so we just took our time getting ready that morning, assuming the pain would subside. It didn’t. Within a few minutes, he was in serious discomfort. A few minutes after that, he said he needed a doctor (he is not the dramatic type, so when he said this, I knew it was serious).

I rushed downstairs to talk to the front desk. There was some back and forth about what to do (it was a holiday, which complicated things). In the end, I got the name of the nearest emergency room and quickly called an Uber.

By the time we made it to the hospital, my husband was in a state that I had never seen him in (and I’ve known him for 25 years). While he was doubled over in pain in front of the hospital, I ran in to get a doctor. It turned out that we were at the hospital’s front entrance and not the emergency room. The woman at the front desk showed me where the wheelchairs were and how to find the emergency room.

I got my husband in the wheelchair and into the emergency room as quickly as I could.

We were quickly admitted and sent back to an examination room. After numerous tests and lots of pain medication, my husband felt better, but we had no diagnosis (all the tests came back normal). We were discharged and left the hospital to go get lunch.

By the end of lunch, the pain had returned, so we went right back to the hospital. Of course, this time, the person at the front desk was a bit skeptical of us, so we ended up waiting over an hour to see a doctor.

After more tests and even more pain medication, they determined that he had a kidney stone that had passed to his bladder. The doctor said it was small and would probably dissolve on its own. We were sent home with a morphine pill and the hope that this was all over.

Thankfully, my husband didn’t have any more issues, and we were able to enjoy the rest of our trip.

Filing an Emergency Medical Claim With Chase Sapphire Reserve

In the hospital, I paid our bill using my Chase Sapphire Reserve card to take advantage of the excellent trip protections it offers. This card has had a secure spot in my wallet since it debuted in 2016.

I love that it earns 3 Chase Ultimate Rewards points per dollar on all travel purchases, gives me access to lounges (including Chase Sapphire and Priority Pass lounges), and has top-notch travel protections. Plus, the $300 yearly travel credit puts a huge dent in the $550 annual fee.

Once I was home, I double-checked that our claim would be eligible for emergency medical coverage and started the process of filing a claim. To be eligible, you need to have paid for all or part of the trip on a common carrier with the Chase Sapphire Reserve card. This includes paying taxes and fees on an award ticket, which is what I did. This is the reason I always pay for flights using this card.

With the Chase Sapphire Reserve card’s emergency medical coverage, if you or an immediate family member becomes sick or injured at least 100 miles from home on a covered trip, you can claim a maximum of $2,500 for medical expenses, with a $50 deductible.

Chase’s Guide to Benefits doesn’t state that the emergency costs don’t have to be paid for with the covered card. However, I used my Chase Sapphire Reserve card to pay for all of our medical expenses, since I wasn’t 100% sure of this at the time and wanted to be safe rather than sorry. You never know when rules could change or be applied differently than you expect.

How To File a Claim

First, I had to submit a claim to our regular medical insurance because you must prove that another policy isn’t covering the claim. We have a high deductible policy, so the amount of this claim went against our deductible. But we didn’t get any out-of-pocket reimbursement, so we were eligible for Chase’s coverage.

Then I called the Chase benefits administrator at 888-675-1461 to start my claim. You can start a claim online, too. The claim needs to be submitted within 90 days of receiving medical care.

I had to provide the following documentation:

• My monthly billing statement (showing the last 4 digits of my card) to show that the trip was paid for with the card. (The form I received said this needed to be round-trip, but this isn’t mentioned in Chase’s benefits guide. My flights were purchased as one-way tickets, and my claim was approved.)
• Copy of the travel itinerary or common carrier tickets that included the amount charged to my card
• A statement from my primary insurance stating the claim wasn’t being covered
• Receipts for all expenses. This included the emergency room charge and a charge for a prescription painkiller.
• The completed claim form. (It included a section that was supposed to be filled out by the attending physician, but I left it blank.)

There was some back and forth via email after I initially submitted my paperwork, with Chase requesting additional documents.

The additional documents ended up being fresh copies of what I had already sent. I was able to submit everything via email at eclaimsline@eclaimsline.com.

It can take up to 10 business days to get a decision, but my claim was approved the day after all of my paperwork was successfully submitted. I was awarded $1,135.79, which covered all of my medical bills minus a $50 deductible.

I got a separate email with instructions on how to submit payment information (I opted for direct deposit). The money was deposited into my checking account the next day. (You can choose to receive a check in lieu of direct deposit).

Final Thoughts

Having a medical emergency is never fun, and it’s especially stressful when it happens a long way from home in a country where you don’t speak the language. Thankfully, our situation turned out OK. My husband was fine after that day, and I was able to successfully submit a claim through the emergency medical coverage on the Chase Sapphire Reserve card.