"Being prepared is less expensive if there's an emergency," Richards says. These kinds of policies are too expensive and travel is expensive enough. "Without medical evacuation coverage domestically, patients are often forced to recover, sometimes for weeks or months, far from home."ĥ. That's important, not simply from the standpoint of medical care, but "statistically better outcomes occur when patients are treated in care environments close to their support networks of family and friends," says Global Rescue's Richards. will move you back into your network of physicians, family and friends." "Over 50% of the transports a company like MedjetAssist provides are done domestically," says Berger. A car accident in California can be just as destructive as one that occurs in Italy, Chile or Thailand. can be just as life-threatening as those sustained abroad. I only travel in the United States, so why would I need medical evacuation coverage? Also, medical evacuation coverage should include coordination of all details of your transport home."Ĥ. The best medical evacuation coverage offers you "medical advice from expert resources, including physicians and even access to specialists from a medical center of excellence if you need it, and deployed personnel right to your bedside. Richards contends that if you're seriously ill or injured, relying on a credit card is not a good solution. "And if it promotes 'hospital of choice,' almost exclusively it is their choice, not yours." "Your credit card may offer an evacuation benefit," says Roy Berger, President/CEO of MedjetAssist. Indeed, the fine print can be very fine indeed. "Some credit cards do offer nearest appropriate medical coverage," says Richards, "but they leave it up to you to arrange all the details yourself and outsource to third parties all critical elements." Your credit cards may offer some type of coverage, but none offer the kind of coverage available from a bona fide medical evacuation membership. My credit card already offers that kind of coverage. True medical evacuation coverage, such as that offered by Global Rescue and MedjetAssist, will cover the costs of transport should you need to be evacuated, and should include field rescue provisions if the traveler is going to a remote location.ģ. "The definition of 'appropriate' is broad enough that medical transportation almost never occurs and unlike with medical evacuation memberships, it is not in the traveler's discretion where transport will occur to." "Your health insurer will not cover or pay for an air ambulance to get you home if you're at an 'appropriate' facility," says Richards. But if you break a leg while biking in France, have a heart attack in the Caribbean or encounter a debilitating virus in Mexico, don't count on your health insurance to send a plane to pick you up and bring you home. Health insurance covers your medical bills.
Health insurance and medical evacuation coverage are quite different. I don't need medical evacuation coverage because I have a good health insurance policy. "It is also worth noting," adds Richards, "that most medical evacuation policies underwritten by insurers only pay for transport to the nearest appropriate medical facility, which means it isn't the traveler's decision where they will go."Ģ. The second part is true medical evacuation, "which is actually medical transportation, since it occurs between medical facilities and is generally used interchangeably, and often incorrectly, with medical evacuation." The first is field rescue, "which evacuates those in need from the point of injury or illness to a location where they can be diagnosed and receive stabilizing care." Richards adds that this is "almost never supported or reimbursed by travel insurance." Medical evacuation, says Richards, generally consists of two segments.
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