tom911

Have you been to Australia and seen the fleet of ambulances, helicopters and planes that Queensland Ambulance Service maintains? Their communications center in Brisbane would rival any big-city U.S. center, and all they do is medical. Other states in Australia have similar centers. You also have the Royal Flying Doctor service. If I was to have a medical emergency outside the U.S., Australia is one place that has all sorts of options to get me immediate care and get me a a medical facility that can best deal with my issue. I'd actually suggest they're probably far ahead of some regions in the U.S. in the level of service they can provide.

If you have serious medical emergency in my area of the U.S., such as being shot/stabbed or having head/chest injuries in a vehicle accident, we're going to airlift you to a trauma center, and those are generally not the closest emergency facility. The two closest to me are about 15 and 25 miles away and we airlifted just about every day, sometimes multiple times a day.

abmj-jr

Yes but do they answer to a call to "911?" That was my point, not that other countries don't have good emergency services.

tom911

They have equivalent numbers such at 000 in Australia and 999 in the U.K.

abmj-jr

Still not getting it.

The whole fricking point was that "dial 911" was not going to work.

Never mind. I refuse to continue arguing with one who simply wants to be contrary. All done here.

LtKernelPanic

Nothing wrong with planning for contingencies especially if you frequent remote areas. I would echo the poster who mentioned about checking into if some sort of insurance or membership is possible with whichever company you decide on. I know two people who have been life flighted by the local air ambulance (one to the local hospital and one to children's hospital in Omaha) and both got a bill for just over $15k USD. They offer a $65 yearly option or an $1100 25 year option that covers an entire household.

Kiwi Flyer

A good travel insurance policy should cover all of that, assuming no pre-existing heart condition.

Kagehitokiri

if you look at comparisons there are very big differences in evacuation coverage

i would consider evacuation/medical, but not general trip/travel

https://medjetassist.com/personal-ai...aring-services

Cloudship

There is a difference between going to a trauma ward and going home for rehab. Of course, every policy is going to be different.

My brother was in an avalanche many years back. He was airlifted from the mountains of Colorado to Denver. Insurance helped with those costs. Since he was a student there, the rest of the family was here in the Northeast. Upon discharge, we had to figure out what to. An air ambulance would not have been covered, and would have been cost prohibitive. We were looking at a regular ambulance - it would have been a couple day trip - which would have been much cheaper. They would stop overnight at a hotel. He was discharged, so didn't need any permanent IV/Medical technology that they couldn't do that, just a bit of planning.

As it worked out, a friend got us F tickets back home (back in the day when you could get a wide body from DEN to ATL and ATL to BOS), and another nurse friend flew out to help us back. He couldn't put weight on either of is legs, or his forearms, but believe it or not, they have all that stuff worked out. Aisle chair to seat, sliding boards and two people easily transferred him into the seat. They know all about how to position the legs so they slide under the seat without bending. You would be surprised what they can do on a regular aircraft.

As for being in such as state that you are stuck lying flat, or have significant medical devices, quite frankly I would rather stay where I was and get that fixed first, at least in the US. I don't think there is anywhere here that is in that bad of state that you couldn't go for a month or two.

747FC

OP: A few years ago, a friend injured herself in London. She really needed to be air ambulanced back to Hawaii, but she was not insured for that. She ended up spending $20k on first class tickets for her and her companion. She was never the same after that, and I always wondered if she would have better recovered if she had been properly transported.

After her experience, I have subscribed to Medjet....

PbodyPhoto

Aside from the fact that you can dial 911 in most countries and be connected automatically to the local number.

aroundtheworld76

Unless you have heaps of cash laying around, you will not be choosing your air ambulance provider. Figure $7-10k per loaded flight hour give or take. Half that for stretcher service aboard a commercial airline, a third for commercial first class escorted by a nurse or physician.

Your insurance company will make the decision after getting a report from the sending physician.
Much of this discussion should actually be in travel products.