American Express Membership Rewards - medical evacuation benefit with Platinum ?

Weekend WSJ last week had a piece comparing the various medical evacuation services one may sign up for. They mentioned the benefit comes free with Amex Plat. I did a quick search here and while I found various mentions of it, I am wondering if anyone can point me to the full description of the service and share any thoughts on it. Thanks.

Weekend WSJ last week had a piece comparing the various medical evacuation services one may sign up for. They mentioned the benefit comes free with Amex Plat. I did a quick search here and while I found various mentions of it, I am wondering if anyone can point me to the full description of the service and share any thoughts on it. Thanks.
there is very little discussion i have found online.

this was also touted as the benefit of the mbna platinum amex (free for first year)

I have the benefits package and remember reading about these benefits.

Weekend WSJ last week had a piece comparing the various medical evacuation services one may sign up for. They mentioned the benefit comes free with Amex Plat.
I don't know about the Platinum card, but the UK Centurion card covers up to £5M in emergency medical assistance expenses including repatriation/evacuation expenses. What precisely do you want to know? I have the policy details here.

Is it for the cardholder under any circumstances, or only when travel is purchased with the card?

Is it for the cardholder only, or any ticket the cardholder purchases? (e.g. for self and family)

Is it for the cardholder under any circumstances, or only when travel is purchased with the card?

Is it for the cardholder only, or any ticket the cardholder purchases? (e.g. for self and family)
It covers the cardholder, their dependent children under the age of 23 and any supplementary cardholders. It applies to all travel, up to 240 days per year.

Here's the blurb from Amex Plat's website benefits page:
quote Premium Global Assist® Hotline
Whenever you travel, have peace of mind knowing that you have 24/7 medical, legal, financial, and other emergency assistance while traveling more than 100 miles from home. We can direct you to English-speaking medical and legal professionals and arrange for a transfer to a more appropriate medical facility, even if an air ambulance is required. We can also help you with prescription replacements, emergency hotel check-ins and cash access, lost luggage, and more. New additions to this program include assistance with lost or stolen passports, Card cancellation, and emergency Card replacement.5

5. The Premium Global Assist Hotline must arrange all medical and visitor transportation. Because the Premium Global Assist Hotline is an assistance service, we cannot reimburse you for expenses you incur on your own.
unquote

Although not stated, in the past you had to have charged your airline/train tickets with an Amex Plat card in order to be eligible.

Thanks for all your responses. Here is the link to the PDF I found on the AMEX site: http://amex.tgclientservices.com/documents/GlobalAssist.pdf.

It doesn't answer all the questions, but gives some more details. Its is my understanding that both Plat and Centurion cardholders getPremium Global Assist and it is not rquired that the tickets are charged to the card...

"Premium Global Assist offers everything Global Express and Global Express Plus offers, as well as:
Emergency Medical Transportation Assistance
In the event that you or another covered family member becomes injured or ill while traveling, the Global Assist medical department will not only assess your need and coordinate your transportation, but they’ll also pay for the cost of the transport to the nearest appropriate medical facility."

Note that transportation to the "nearest appropriate" facility is not the same as transportation home.

dennis

As a Platinum member I will freely admit that when traveling abroad, if I'm ever involved in a medical or legal emergency, the first number I call or person I think of won't be American Express. I can picture it now, a man begins to suffer the first symptoms of a heart attack and says, "quick! Someone please call American Express!"

As a Platinum member I will freely admit that when traveling abroad, if I'm ever involved in a medical or legal emergency, the first number I call or person I think of won't be American Express. I can picture it now, a man begins to suffer the first symptoms of a heart attack and says, "quick! Someone please call American Express!"

LOL, a very good point. ;)

But, this benefit comes into play in at least a couple of somewhat likely scenarios:

1) You're at a shoddy hospital in a remote spot of a country. You need care beyond the facilities of that place. AMEX will pay for you to be taken to the nearest appropriate facility, which saves you money. They consult with the treating physician, so really, this is only a useful benefit if you're conscious and able to call AMEX!

2) They'll bring a relative/close friend to be with you if you're seriously injured or ill. Again, you'd need to be able to make the call!

Is it for the cardholder under any circumstances, or only when travel is purchased with the card?

Is it for the cardholder only, or any ticket the cardholder purchases? (e.g. for self and family)

It's for the cardholder under any circumstances. It also covers additional Platinum cardholders on the same account.

As a Platinum member I will freely admit that when traveling abroad, if I'm ever involved in a medical or legal emergency, the first number I call or person I think of won't be American Express. I can picture it now, a man begins to suffer the first symptoms of a heart attack and says, "quick! Someone please call American Express!"
I don't agree. If you get sick on some remote island in South East Asia, you may call anyone you want, but there is little they will be able to do for you. Paying for an airlift yourself will mean atleast $10,000 plus you have to figure out where the appropriate facility is. If they do that, its a meaningfull benefit for those of us who travel a lot to somewhat exotic destinations...Thats just my 2 cents. According to the WSJ article I mentioned in the op, people pay several hundred dollars per year for a similar benefit on a stand alone basis.

<<people pay several hundred dollars per year for a similar benefit on a stand alone basis>>

Yes I do, because the similarity is superficial. American Express will only transport to "nearest appropriate medical facility". Medjet (http://medjetassist.com/) will move you to your home hospital, or elsewhere that you choose, and they will do this even if there is no medical necessity to move. They have a side-by-side feature comparison with American Express Platinum here (http://medjetassist.com/comparing_services.asp).

dennis

This benefit has limitations such as valid only during the first 90 days of a trip. When you get the card there is a very lenghtly description of the onditions.

<<people pay several hundred dollars per year for a similar benefit on a stand alone basis>>

Yes I do, because the similarity is superficial. American Express will only transport to "nearest appropriate medical facility". Medjet (http://medjetassist.com/) will move you to your home hospital, or elsewhere that you choose, and they will do this even if there is no medical necessity to move. They have a side-by-side feature comparison with American Express Platinum here (http://medjetassist.com/comparing_services.asp).

dennis

I actually used to work for the company that provides the medical benefit for AMEX and I think most people will find it more than adequate for their needs. And it is certainly something worth having - we got calls from people with nothing but the "assistance" benefit - which means basically we would "assist" them find a company that would do the evac and they would pay out of pocket. The thing to remember here is that we are talking a "medical" benefit - which comes with enormous liability considerations. AMEX is not going to have a company provide you with a sub-standard (read less than American) quality of service because of the danger of litigation.

When I boarded a Holland America cruise ship with my 92 year old father in the early 90s in Rome bound for a premiere itinerary in the Mediterranean, neither of us had an Amex Platinum card; I did have an Amex Gold card but my father, being frugal, just had his Sears card! To make a very long story short, the cruise line put us off in the port of Naples and a car loosely termed an ambulance (with no medical equipment) took us to a hospital, which we discovered quickly was a birthing hospital. My father was the only male there.

When still on the ship (this was my father's 18th cruise with that liner), they asked me to pay for the care he had over the course of a few hours, which consisted of monitoring his heart ... he had the beginnings of a heart attack, but only just the beginnings. Holland America charged me $800 and I handed a nurse my Gold Card. After the charge was processed, I got a call from Global Assist asking me, as a 20-year holder of the card, what was wrong. I was amazed. I explained and they said they would alert their medical representative (a doctor) in Milan who would check on my father at the hospital, talking to the Italian doctors. For the next three days the Milan doctor monitored his care remotely by phone twice a day, recommending on the last day that we transfer him to a facility he had chosen. He would order the transfer by medical ambulance.

At this hospital, there was no cardiac unit, nor was he hooked up to any machine except for a creaky EKG. By then the doctors at the hospital who spoke no English told the secretary-translator he could go back to the US, so my father rejected the offer to transport him to a hospital that could treat him. He died the next morning before we could consider the transport again. Global Assist continued to call even after his death.

Global Assist even wrote a letter that stated that the hospital had no appropriate cardio facilities available to treat him in case I filed a lawsuit; they were extraordinarily helpful in the most stressful of situations, for the the cardholder (myself) and my father who was not covered under my card.

When I boarded a Holland America cruise ship with my 92 year old father in the early 90s in Rome bound for a premiere itinerary in the Mediterranean, neither of us had an Amex Platinum card; I did have an Amex Gold card but my father, being frugal, just had his Sears card! To make a very long story short, the cruise line put us off in the port of Naples and a car loosely termed an ambulance (with no medical equipment) took us to a hospital, which we discovered quickly was a birthing hospital. My father was the only male there.

When still on the ship (this was my father's 18th cruise with that liner), they asked me to pay for the care he had over the course of a few hours, which consisted of monitoring his heart ... he had the beginnings of a heart attack, but only just the beginnings. Holland America charged me $800 and I handed a nurse my Gold Card. After the charge was processed, I got a call from Global Assist asking me, as a 20-year holder of the card, what was wrong. I was amazed. I explained and they said they would alert their medical representative (a doctor) in Milan who would check on my father at the hospital, talking to the Italian doctors. For the next three days the Milan doctor monitored his care remotely by phone twice a day, recommending on the last day that we transfer him to a facility he had chosen. He would order the transfer by medical ambulance.

At this hospital, there was no cardiac unit, nor was he hooked up to any machine except for a creaky EKG. By then the doctors at the hospital who spoke no English told the secretary-translator he could go back to the US, so my father rejected the offer to transport him to a hospital that could treat him. He died the next morning before we could consider the transport again. Global Assist continued to call even after his death.

Global Assist even wrote a letter that stated that the hospital had no appropriate cardio facilities available to treat him in case I filed a lawsuit; they were extraordinarily helpful in the most stressful of situations, for the the cardholder (myself) and my father who was not covered under my card.

I am sorry your father passed away. It is really times like this when the term "AMEX never leave home without it" really means something. As a PLAT I believe they would pay for the body to be transported home. I was sick in the hospital out of state and they consistently helped with getting me any phone numbers of specialists and anything else I needed. Amex really does this program right!!^^

I am sorry your father passed away. It is really times like this when the term "AMEX never leave home without it" really means something. As a PLAT I believe they would pay for the body to be transported home. I was sick in the hospital out of state and they consistently helped with getting me any phone numbers of specialists and anything else I needed. Amex really does this program right!!^^

Emergency Medical Transportation Assistance
In the event that you or another covered family member becomes injured or ill while traveling,
the Global Assist medical department will assess the need for transportation to the nearest
appropriate medical facility that will provide suitable quality of care, and set-up and coordinate
the transport. (You’re responsible for all costs associated with any transport.)

I believe benolaa was referring to....Premium Global Assist

Premium Global Assist offers everything Global Assist offers, as well as:

Emergency Medical Transportation Assistance
In the event that you or another covered family member becomes injured or ill while traveling, the Global Assist medical department will not only assess your need and coordinate your transportation, but they’ll also pay for the cost of the transport to the nearest appropriate medical facility.

Repatriation of Mortal Remains
In case of death of a covered Cardmember or covered family member while traveling, the medical department will not only provide the necessary administrative services to effect the transportation of the mortal remains back to the your principal place of residence or place of burial, but as an exclusive benefit for Platinum and Centurion Cardmembers, we will pay for the cost of the transport.

I believe benolaa was referring to....Premium Global Assist

Premium Global Assist offers everything Global Assist offers, as well as:

Emergency Medical Transportation Assistance
In the event that you or another covered family member becomes injured or ill while traveling, the Global Assist medical department will not only assess your need and coordinate your transportation, but they’ll also pay for the cost of the transport to the nearest appropriate medical facility.

Repatriation of Mortal Remains
In case of death of a covered Cardmember or covered family member while traveling, the medical department will not only provide the necessary administrative services to effect the transportation of the mortal remains back to the your principal place of residence or place of burial, but as an exclusive benefit for Platinum and Centurion Cardmembers, we will pay for the cost of the transport.
You took the words out of my mouth lol +1