QT31415

Interesting article in the NYT today on what to do when testing positive while traveling abroad. It had a blurb on a company called Covac Global, described as

"COVAC GLOBAL is the first fully indemnified membership program that will pay for the cost of evacuation and repatriation should the member be diagnosed with COVID-19 while traveling outside of their home country. We created COVAC GLOBAL for all individuals, families and employees to travel with confidence. Giving you peace of mind that should you contract COVID-19 you will be able to come home. "

Per the NYT article, if you test positive for covid while traveling, this service will fly you home as an alternative to spending 14 days in quarantine and possibly facing suboptimal medical services or delay in travel. While most countries have excellent medical services and it is not recommended to travle while seriously ill , I am more interested in this repatriation option in cases of false positive covid tests or breakthrough infections (milder type of infection that may occur after vaccinations). While the cost of a 15 day membership is not inexpensive ($695) it is definitely less expensive than 14 days of lodgings, etc.

Any IRL experiences with this service would be appreciated!

Often1

While Covid is, of course, a major concern these days, you should also consider this in light of your broader insurance needs.

What is the plan if you do not test positive, but become otherwise seriously ill or injured? What if you are OK in a hotel post-surgery, but cannot fly for a month?

Look at this in the context of all of the matters which ought to be insured and have existed before this pandemic and will exist after.

david22

Wonder if anyone has purchased this? If so what was your thought process around the "self-insure" risk vs. buying this very specific coverage?

donjo

I purchased a month of this coverage, and have used 2 weeks of it so far. I have 2 more international trips in the next few months where I will use the rest. The idea of a false positive result preventing me from returning to the US for two weeks was enough for me to purchase it. The amount of income I would lose over two weeks made this an easy decision. Additionally, if I actually did get a bad case of COVID, being in a foreign country trying to recover from a potentially fatal illness would not be on my wish list.

kac2138

I read the NYT article and am a little confused. Why did it cost 11k even with the covac service?

edit: oh it’s everything else excluding the actual flight. How much luggage did these people have.

daniellam

I watch some youtube videos on Covac and apparently since July 1st, the length of a trip is no longer limited to 14 days in order to be covered.

ghfatw

I don't understand how this would work outside the US. If one tests positive one cannot enter the US by air until one clears a 10 day period without symptoms but one could fly on a commercial plane in that instance? I could see this domestically though.

david22

The site FAQ / info explains this. They bring you back on a charter medical evacuation flight under the supervision of a doctor / nurse on board.

distrips

Just FYI, they don't cover all travel out of the US. I am taking a river cruise and there will 31 cabins occupied and they don't cover anything with more than 25

elisemiller3

We are stuck in Mexico while fires burn in our home town. We have covid. We bought this insurance specifically to be quickly evacuated in case we test positive. Well we did and it’s going to be 4-5 days before we get home…. And this is so far. To this point, This is NOT as advertised. They do not measure in hours- it’s days u til you get a response or any plans to get home

listorganizer

I purchased their coverage for this exact reason and thankfully haven't tested positive to find out how it would all work. The risk of not being able to get back for two weeks (or potentially longer) is far more costly than the price of buying this. Having that option to get back in a few days once all the logistics get worked out is far better than possibly being stuck for who knows how long.

AsiaTraveler

I'm sorry to hear of the delays. I will say that this is common for any medical evacuation flight. There are a lot of parts to put together - the plane, crew, permissions to land, etc.- and those take time. I suspect COVAC Global contracts with 3rd parties for some or all of those services, which can increase the time it takes.

In my experience (generally with evacs), the best way to move things along is to keep calling, especially if they say they will do something and haven't.

Mickidon

I am still confused....is this evacuation flight acceptable to the US government and able to override the requirement of a negative test? Once home, are the passengers required to quarantine? If so, would adding medical personnel to a private charter
be a work around?

listorganizer

I would assume the flights are officially operating as medical evacuations. There are regulatory requirements for such transport. Here's the guidance - https://www.cdc.gov/quarantine/inter...nsporting.html

Not sure about a workaround for private with medical personnel.

downinit

Given the current explosion of Covid cases, if they were to charter an evac flight for everyone who tested positive on vacation, they would surely go bankrupt in a very short order. I would be quite shocked if any policy T&C's allowed evacs due to asymptomatic or mild infections. The purpose of medical evacuation has always been to give people life-saving treatment that is unavailable locally, not to skirt around quarantine requirements.