MedJet
 

During Randy's recent illness, someone asked if he had considered using MedJet to get home to the US. I went to www.medjet.com and found it very interesting. WOW! Hopefully, none of us will ever have to use it, but that's a good phone number to keep in your wallet when traveling the world.

Looking at the rates, a medical evacuation could easily exceed $50,000. I wonder if most health insurance policies would cover this?

Adam .. the reason I asked was because of Randy's sidebar article about Medjet Assistance in the Airmail column in Inside Flyer.

The tie in is that they offer AAdvantage miles for signing up for Medjet Assistance, which could prove useful.

-David


[This message has been edited by LIH Prem (edited 05-13-2001).]

There is a substantial discount for Medjet membership for AAA members.

Also, members who refer get a discount when they renew their membership (for each referral). If you sign up and don't mind my benefitting, please use me as a referral!

Please also see:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum94/HTML/000432.html
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum94/HTML/004182.html

I want to say the CAUTION... I have said on other threads that I do this for a living. I looked at medijet's web site due to all these threads. Basically they have a couple of big name POLITICAL people that are directors. Many, many, companies have had a "name" and failed. Haley Barbour is not going to come pay your bills if this fails. What is NOT on the web site is crucial. The finacial stability of the company. NO finacials are posted. One extremely vauge mention of a "relationship" with LLoyds of London. People, these are clues. You should know LLoyds itself does not have partners etc. It is a syndicate of underwriters that provide a market to insure complex risks. Each underwriting group, or syndicate, can choose to participate in a risk or not. There a let's say about 100 sydicates. So how do we know one syndicate has sold them a policy to insure their airplane? That would be a "relationship with LLoyds". OR what if the have part of their risk reinsured to $5000... again, a relationship BUT nothing helpful to any degree. Look when you do business with companies on the web, particularly with companies that are almost insures... Finacial strength is paramount!. You give them you money in exchange for a promise. MANY, prominant insurers have gone bust. But at least we had a clue based on the finacials. This is a club. And I must tell you that has the smell of too good to be true. NOBODY lets you pick where you want to be treated. Think about the cost of flying someone from (using randys deal) singapore to colarado springs. Let's say it would be (making up a number) $50,000. That means the would spend about 5500 annual dues in one shot. Then there is their overhead, office space, employees etc. So where is the break even on number of enrolless? It will be huge. Every other reputable company (i know) in case of 1)life or limb threatening (lowers useage) will 2) transport you to the Nearest FIRST WORLD hospital (again reduces cost). I contend this transport almost at your whim, cannot be done at the dues they change. This smells like an internet start up kinda thing. The burn rate will catch up fast OR the services won't be provided (in my opion). MAYBE, this is legitimate. BUT, the financial guarentees/performance has got to be looked into. The web site is just a RA RA event. Until I see real numbers, I'd take a pass. This is only my opinion. here is the link to their benefits. http://www.medjetassistance.com/
Now I suggest you look for financial info. I suspect their first business is/was profitable and now they are starting a club. The disclaimer they have to "this is not insurance" etc. Is a clue that more dilegence must be performed. Okay, so it's a travel club... so why should you EVER give any money to a travel club without financial strenght info. It's only common sense. But they are not subject to the same financial regulation that an insurance company is. Also, I'm distrustful of their "comparison" chart between them and ALL insurance programs. See where they claim things like they have no limit to amount spent (to evacuation). These comparisons are bad logic. First, they don't know what ALL plans cover. If I wanted to I could write a plan with no limit (sure it would cost more). But you can't say ALL. And they do have a limit... the financial resources of the company itself. They aren't going to evacuate you if they are broke. Clearly a silly extreme example... BUT, It does point out the "sales puffing". These guys may be great... but there are nagging little finacial question of the club portion that I would want to know first. Again, this is only my opinion and I certainly can be wrong. But, as buying ANY product or service... buyer beware.

[This message has been edited by cigarman (edited 05-13-2001).]

cigarman -

I asked this question mostly out of curiosity. I wasn't planning to join up with MedJet. It does sound intriguing though. I wasn't really aware of their "membership"... I was under the impression that you just pay them for the one-time expenses for evacuation, which are outlined on their site and which could easily exceed $50,000.

My insurance company tells me that I am covered for medical necessities in a foreign country, but I must pay up front and then be reimbursed by them upon my return. I suspect if I were truly ill in a third-world country I would pay almost any price to get back home.

So, as the resident expert on this subject, what would YOU recommend we do to protect ourselves while traveling? Hopefully we'll never have a need for this kind of thing, but the possibilities are a bit scary. I'd rather plan ahead than wait until it's too late.

Well, it's a catch 22. I don't really know if medjet is great or not. I just would like some finacial guarentee before I would join. I want to be care not to falsely represent them.
As for insurance...Typically your major medical policy pays for medical expenses in life and limb threaten situations abroad. This coverage typicall is for vacations and business trips of 30 days or less. Some policies are limited to 14 days business. If you're travelling to a first world country, your regualar insurance will probably suffice. If you're going for a longer period than 30 days, I personally would be some QUALITY international major medical. These policies come in periods of time from 7 days to several years. They can be written for one country or several countries. The price depends on your age and where you are going, and for how long. Some policies include air ambulance, some do not. Most do not cover you in a war zone or injuries cased by riots or in the commision of a felony. Basically if you are going to certain "hot spot" places, a different kind is in order. Then their are sports/activity requirements. Going to fly a plane in africa? (true FT story) well that requires a special policy. Except, for major medical we sell Canadians just visting the USA (dirt cheap) Quality major medical tends to run between $100-750. Most of the time it seems to run between $100-200 for a typic client of ours. But it is so subjective. Some of our insurers cost more than others. But some will write risks that others won't. A good international major med policy will pay medical costs for anything, cold/flu etc, not just life threatening. Most pay direct, however to answer your question, sometimes you must pay then be reimbursed. A close cousin is another policy... the kidnap and ranson policy. These are very common for U.S. business executives travelling to South and Central america. These polices provide ransom money when you are kidnapped in addition to other benefits. Basically, the field is very confusing and I've seen MANY claims about what companies will do... but most of the time, You get what you pay for. The bottom line for your situation is where are you going and for how long? Remeber the medjet service does not pay hospital expenses, it just transports you. Maybe you need the emergency surgey and can't be transported. It is a very complex issue.

Seems like it may be a scam
 

I too noticed the grandiose and generous claims of this company on their website. I noticed the long list of "employees" or "directors" or whatever. And I noticed that they are based in Birmingham. I also noticed that the website, though reasonably OK, is not completely professional. It seems a little low budget. So I asked myself, "How can these people afford to pay $100K flight bills because someone says they want to go to their home hospital in Paducah?" That just seemed like BS.

So, I called them. A nice lady answered immediately and I asked her where their financial information was on their website. She said that they were backed by Lloyd's of London and I told her that I know enough about Lloyd's to know that if they back a risk, they issue a certificate. She went away to talk to someone and came back and said that they did not have it on their website. I asked, "Do you have any proof anywhere of financial stability?" She said they have "sold over 22,000 memberships." This means nothing to me because I don't know what they did with the money and over what period that was. I told her I did not care if the financial information was on their website, though I think it should be if they have it, but do they have it anywhere and can I see it? She said she'd have to get back to me and took my email address. I have not heard anything yet but will update this post if I do.

Ladies and gentlemen, although I have no experience with this company other than what is stated here, my trained and skeptical eye indicates to me that this company is probably a scam waiting to happen. I trust people right up until I can't trust them any more, and failing to give ANY financial information to the few smart people who ask for it is, to me, proof that their financial picture is probably dismal. I don't think they are backed by anyone. I am not doubting the testimonials only because I don't have any info that they are falsified, and they do mention full names. So I think they have probably had a few claims and that they have paid them. I suspect that they have been able to pay those claims by using current cash flow, but that if they had any real stress on their system they would fall apart like a cheap watch. If there were any real Lloyd's relationship they would paper the house with it.

These are my opinions based on 41 years of learning to avoid getting screwed, mostly. If I were buying this sort of insurance, which I am for trip we are taking to Africa this month, I'd buy it from a very strong insurance company and leave these MedjetAssist guys to sip mint julips at their country club in Birmingham with someone else's money.

Lots of similarities with the website of a London "lawyer" firm offering millions of pounds to be claimed due to a previously unknown distant relative of mine with complete family died in a car accident 7 years ago, without any will signed.

Nigeria meet Birmingham!

My employer supplies me with emergency international medical coverage that includes medical evacuation. I have never used it, but I have seen it used for coworkers.

I don't want to get into names as I am not trying to hype a specific company. There are reputable companies that provide this kind of service.

If you want good medical/medical evacuation coverage (where you do not have pay the local medical provider and then apply for reimbursement), be prepared to pay. They are not cheap.

I hasten to add that, if they would just give some indication of financial stability, I could believe that this may be a completely legit business. But I am a skeptic by nature as anyone should be who places the safety and security of his family in the hands of people sitting behind a website. I believe in the maxim handed down by Reagan - "Trust but verify". These Medjet guys, so far, have given me no confidence that they have anything backing their claims other than the potential goodness of their hearts. A direct comparison of them to Nigerian scam artists is unfair though. From a business point of view, it would make a lot of sense to offer this service and do your level best to deliver. I just don't want to be the guy who finds out that they just spent their last dollar taking someone else to his favorite hospital back home while I am bleeding out in Harare.

I'm Canadian. I know many Canadian travel policies will fund evacuation from the USA as it's much cheaper to get someone home into a Canadian hospital than it is to keep them in the USA.

Had a coworker have to have a medical evacuation from Greece to Canada--quite a trip by a small jet..don't have the exact routing, but a number of stops en route. You can imagine the $$$ cost. (not to mention she was in hospital about 1 month in Greece).

All covered by credit card insurance. Frankly, he would have been destitute without the insurance. Taught me to read my policies more carefully!

Please note that this thread was started 11 years ago. It is pretty much considered bad form as well as a TOS violation to bump a thread which is more than just a few years old.
I am going to lock this very old thread. If one wishes to post current information on MedJet please start a new thread.
Thanks..
Obscure2k
TravelBuzz Moderator