david55

wondering what some of you work horse travelers use for insurance for medical evacuations... Is there a policy that just covers M.E. and not full of unnecessary benefits.....

LouiseMc

Although I am not a "work horse traveler", I think what you are speaking of would be Medjet Assist. It is in the neighborhood of $200 a year or $75 a trip.

hnechets

I seem to remember that the higher-end American Express cards have this. Too lazy to search for it right now, sorry, but it might be worth a look.

gradvmedusa

http://www.quotetravelinsurance.com

SirFlysALot

I don't remember the name of the company but my Mom was a travel agent and she would get these kinds of insurance cheap. Anyway my Dad had a massive stroke while they were on vacation and after several weeks of hospitalization, the insurance company refused to medvac him back home. The company said they would just buy them regular airline tickets home. Clearly this was not appropriate if he was confined to a hospital bed and could not breath unassisted. That was all they would cover. Sorry.

A call from my parent's attorney reminding them of the terms of coverage got them to come up with a corporate type jet and a medical crew to get him home.

bigjim

If you travel a lot, this is the way to go, www.medjetassist.com.

It far surpasses anything else available as part of a travel insurance package. $205 for annual membership and discounts for family and multiple-year purchases.

They also have plans for individual trips based on the length of stay, starting around $75. All of the details are at the website mentioned above.

SkeptiCallie

Second the Medjet Assist other poster mentioned. I bought it once. The main benefit that I could see when I bought it was that it would, at its judgment, send a medically equipped jet anywhere in the world (assuming it had landing privileges and a viable landing strip) to evacuate someone. However, if I understand their terms correctly, the person would have to be currently in a hospital and their condition confirmed by a physician. In other words, you couldn't be lying at the foot of a mountain with a crushed foot and have someone call their number and then have a rescue plane arrive. Also, this is a membership plan, not insurance, so I don't know about any recourse if you disagreed with their decisions. That is probably a consumer flaw in any insurance policy bought over the web, however. How to complain if they don't honor policy? Probably only through a BBB or state AG. But I haven't heard any complaints, not that I would, only that it is good to know what you are buying.

When I did my research sometime back, found there were essentially three types of coverage for what I was asking:
(1) the sort sold by MNUI (TravelGuard owns it now, I think) and others, which is evacuation by scheduled airline. If you already own a ticket home, which could have the date changed if necessary, don't know if this would be helpful, although they also in some policies will pay for a family member, so there might be at least some added value to having the policy evac clause, over and above a ticket already. Depends on policy, so you have to read it to confirm.
(2) Medjet Assist, or whatever name they have now (I believe they changed their name slightly a half year back or so), will either use scheduled jet and maybe have a nurse/health tech acccompany you if necessary, or if the patient's condition is dire, use a plane from a non-owned network they have access to.
(3) Third type of insurance is rescue insurance, which would actually, say, send a helicopter in to pull someone off a mountain. At least that is my understanding. This would be bought through a particular mountain-climbinb organization, insurance available to their members only. If anyone wants to know the name, they can PM me, although I am not an expert in it and don't, FYI, mountain-climb. Just one of those bits of information I pulled up when I did my research, difference between rescue and evacuation insurance.

I don't guarantee any of the above information, not "recommending" any of it. Just sharing what little info I have. Main points are to know the difference between insurance and prepaid membership plans, and to know the different insurance terminologies. Evacuation insurance vs. rescue insurance, etc. And to know the limits of the policies and of your complaint avenues if necessary.

wintersummer

Does anyone have the name of medical air transport company that you've used or have knowledge of? I'm assuming that all names listed above are insurance companies. This is one of those things where I will not buy insurance, but would like the name of good company, just in case it's ever needed.

SkeptiCallie

I may be misunderstanding the question. If so, please excuse. Both Medjet Assist (whatever its current name is), which I mentioned in my post, and "Air Ambulance Card," which another poster mentioned, are prepaid evacuation membership plans. You pay for a membership, and if you are hospitalized, they presumably will access their fleet of jets, which in the case of Medjet Assist means jets they have access to, not own, I think (I don't know about Air Ambulance Card, haven't checked into it) will presumably pay to have that jet sent your way to get you from your current unsatisfactory hospital back to your hometown or wherever hospital. These are NOT insurance companies, even if they act like it. Difference is the lack of regulation, I would guess, though any lawyers out there could probably add to (or subtract from) my supposition.

But your question is for air transport companies. Not prepaid membership to have air transport, but the actual air transport companies. I.e., if you have no PREPAID membership for transport coverage through, say, MedAssist or Air Ambulance Card, become hospitalized in a foreign country, and want to pay AT THAT TIME for your own individual evacuation back home? I Googled this once, and found several. Yes, you can pay for your choice of company to get you and transport you, but the cost was (I forget) in tens of thousands of dollars? Don't remember. I did not pursue this possibility. For obvious reasons. The cost is w-a-y prohibitive. But yes, you could charter your own if you wanted to, and if this is what you are asking, yes, they exist. Google and you'll find several. Not my cup of tea, not most people's. But they're around.

prspad

I have posted similar information previously in this regard... Personally, I am a multi-million mile flyer and NEVER take a journey without trip insurance pegged at the particular trip I am on. This, ever since I took a stroll once from my business class seat on a Qantas 747 on a lightly loaded flight from SYD - LAX, and saw that the rear section of the aircraft was set up as a flying hospital for a Bloke being transported back to the US from a horrendous accident he had been involved in a few weeks earlier. I spoke with a family member accompanying him and about 6 medical staff and the family person said that his evacuation was being paid by travel insurance.

You can compare Trip Insurance providers and medical evacuation coverage here... http://www.insuremytrip.com/

david55

There are two companies that you guys have "turned" me on to that fit our needs....Medjet Assist and airambulancecard. They are both nearly identical with the later being slightly less $$. Is there some way of checking up on the quality of these companies...ie complaints etc. to judge which one is the most reputable and likely to stay in business.....

RustyC

Diver's Alert Network includes evacuation insurance even for non-divers in their $29 annual membership fee. Found out about it from an article some time ago in Frommer's Budget Travel magazine. It applies if 50+ miles from your primary home, and you have to call their 800 number to get approved before they'll pay (though you do get a DAN membership card to carry around).

As relating to where I sometimes go, I think it would/should apply in places like Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, parts of rural Thailand, etc. Would not be surprised if they only brought you as far as Bangkok or Singapore or KL, but that'd probably be good enough. Thankfully have not had reason to test (knock wood).

MisterNice

I will second RustyC's advice regarding DAN. I have belonged for many years and fortunately I have never had to use med-evac.. It is a premiere organization and highly regarded in the diving field, but the beneifits cover both divers and non-divers.

Membership is a nice $29/yr for an individual and $44/yr for a family. It covers FAR more than med-evac insurance. Go for infoto www.diversalertnetwork.org/

MisterNice

LouiseMc

I believe I have posted this before but please be aware that even though trip insurances offer evacuation insurance no matter if it is $1,000,000, they will only evacuate you to the nearest suitable hospital facility. The insurance coverage will not cover transportation back to the U.S. if you need major assistance. I verified this by questioning insuremytrip. Don't know about PADI coverage.

SkeptiCallie

Exactly. The usual trip insurance/evac insurance is usually for a seat (not an entire plane section) on a scheduled airline, and it is to the nearest suitable hospital facility. This is generally true for INSURANCE policies sold on the Web. Also appears true for Divers/DAN coverage, which otherwise looks very good. I believe they cover evac to the nearest suitable hospital (although they appear to use a medical airplane, not sure--I've been trying to download their policy terms but haven't succeeded yet).

HOWEVER, MedAssist and Air Ambulance Card, which are NOT insurance policies, BOTH say they will cover medically necessary evacuations from a current overseas (or even domestic, if it is far enough away from your address) to the hospital of your choice. I am not guaranteeing this. All I know is what I read. Also note that the usually quoted $195 yearly membership, or whatever it is, would be somewhat greater of any of the trips during that year extend longer than a certain period of time. I don't recall the details, it didn't seem like more than $30/40 dollars extra, and it would apply only if the traveler did not touch home base within that certain period of weeks. Evidently to discourage ex-pats who stay a long time at a country without satisfactory hospitals and who wish home transportation protection.

Anyhow, usual caveat--all I know is what I read. And that's no guarantee of anything. Occasionally you do read the story of how they transported someone from an incredibly obscure location back to their hometown location using all sorts of medical airplanes, nurses, etc. But I can't pin down any statistics. Also, there are age limits, not that all of us are not forever youthful.