Medical Insurance

Travel and Lodging Expenses

The Claims Administrator will assist the patient and family with travel and lodging arrangements related to:

• Congenital Heart Disease (CHD).
• Obesity surgery services.
• Transplantation services.
• Cancer-related treatments.

For travel and lodging services to be covered, the patient must be receiving services at a Blue Distinction Facility that is located more than 50 miles from the patient’s home.

The Plan covers expenses for travel and lodging for the patient, provided he or she is not covered by Medicare, and a companion as follows:Transportation of the patient and one companion who is traveling on the same day(s) to and/or from the site of the cancer-related treatment, the obesity surgery service, the Congenital Heart Disease service, or the transplant for the purposes of an evaluation, the procedure or necessary post-discharge follow-up.  BCBSTX must receive valid itemized original receipts submitted with a completed claim form for such charges before you will be reimbursed.  

Examples of travel expenses may include

• Airfare at coach rate
• Taxi or ground transportation
• Mileage reimbursement at the IRS rate for the most direct route between the patient’s home and the Designated Facility
• Eligible Expenses for lodging for the patient (while not a Hospital inpatient) and one companion. Benefits are paid at a per diem (per day) rate of up to $50 per day for the patient or up to $100 per day for the patient plus one companion.
• If the patient is an enrolled Dependent minor child, the transportation expenses of two companions will be covered, and lodging expenses will be reimbursed at a per diem rate up to $100 per day.

A combined overall lifetime maximum Benefit of $10,000 per Covered Person applies for all travel and lodging expenses reimbursed under this Plan in connection with all cancer treatments, transplant procedures, Congenital Heart Disease treatments and obesity surgery services during the entire period that person is covered under this Plan.  

To file a request for reimbursement, complete the medical claim form and submit a packet with the medical claim form as page 1, the travel itemization form as page 2, then you would include additional pages with original itemized receipts and Google maps or MapQuest printouts for each day you are requesting a mileage reimbursement.  Note the rules for attaching receipts (no tape, highlighting etc.) which are listed on the Travel Form.

Make copies for your records and mail the packet to Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas, PO Box 660044, Dallas, TX 75266-0044