Erica Lamberg is a personal finance and travel writer based in suburban Philadelphia. She is a regular contributor to USA Today and her writing credits include NBC News, U.S. News & World Report, Business Insider, Oprah Magazine and Creditcards.c.
Erica Lamberg ContributorErica Lamberg is a personal finance and travel writer based in suburban Philadelphia. She is a regular contributor to USA Today and her writing credits include NBC News, U.S. News & World Report, Business Insider, Oprah Magazine and Creditcards.c.
Written By Erica Lamberg ContributorErica Lamberg is a personal finance and travel writer based in suburban Philadelphia. She is a regular contributor to USA Today and her writing credits include NBC News, U.S. News & World Report, Business Insider, Oprah Magazine and Creditcards.c.
Erica Lamberg ContributorErica Lamberg is a personal finance and travel writer based in suburban Philadelphia. She is a regular contributor to USA Today and her writing credits include NBC News, U.S. News & World Report, Business Insider, Oprah Magazine and Creditcards.c.
Contributor Michelle Megna Lead Editor, InsuranceMichelle is a lead editor at Forbes Advisor. She has been a journalist for over 35 years, writing about insurance for consumers for the last decade. Prior to covering insurance, Michelle was a lifestyle reporter at the New York Daily News, a magazine.
Michelle Megna Lead Editor, InsuranceMichelle is a lead editor at Forbes Advisor. She has been a journalist for over 35 years, writing about insurance for consumers for the last decade. Prior to covering insurance, Michelle was a lifestyle reporter at the New York Daily News, a magazine.
Michelle Megna Lead Editor, InsuranceMichelle is a lead editor at Forbes Advisor. She has been a journalist for over 35 years, writing about insurance for consumers for the last decade. Prior to covering insurance, Michelle was a lifestyle reporter at the New York Daily News, a magazine.
Michelle Megna Lead Editor, InsuranceMichelle is a lead editor at Forbes Advisor. She has been a journalist for over 35 years, writing about insurance for consumers for the last decade. Prior to covering insurance, Michelle was a lifestyle reporter at the New York Daily News, a magazine.
| Lead Editor, Insurance
Updated: Oct 26, 2023, 11:34am
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A vacation can be ruined by injury or illness. If you’re far from home, it can be even worse. If you require transportation for immediate medical care during your trip, a comprehensive travel insurance plan with emergency medical evacuation benefits can cover the cost.
Emergency medical evacuation insurance is a type of insurance that helps pay for the expense to transport you from a remote area or inadequate medical facility to a better-equipped medical center, usually by airlift or ambulance.
Medical evacuation travel insurance is generally included in a comprehensive travel insurance plan. Sometimes emergency medical evacuation insurance is called medical evacuation and repatriation insurance.
The maximum coverage amount will vary by plan, so be sure to shop around for a high coverage amount if this is important to you.
The best travel insurance plans provide up to $1 million per person for medical evacuation. That might seem high, but evacuation costs can add up quickly.
“The cost of emergency medical transportation can run into the tens of thousands of dollars or more, especially if you’re in a remote destination,” says Daniel Durazo, a spokesperson with Allianz Global Assistance.
Exactly what you’d pay for emergency evacuation would depend on your medical condition, the care required and your location. Durazo says emergency medical transportation to the U.S. from the following countries can cost the following:
Medical evacuation travel insurance can help pay for evacuation and ground ambulance costs, medical escorts, the cost for family or friends to fly to your bedside and to transport your children back home if there is no one to care for you, among other things.
Medical evacuation insurance can pay for the cost of emergency transportation to the nearest adequate treatment center if you become seriously ill or injured while traveling and require immediate care. It can also pay for you to be transported back to the U.S. if medically necessary.
Or, if you’ve been treated but you need to fly back to the U.S. for further treatment or to recover, it can pay for the flight home.
If you require specialized care for the flight home, like a medical professional who can administer intravenous antibiotics or oxygen during your flight, medical evacuation insurance can pay for associated costs for medical escort services.
If you’re hospitalized during your trip following an illness or injury that is covered by your policy, your medical evacuation travel insurance can pay for a round-trip flight for a friend or family member to come stay with you. This benefit usually has a minimum hospital-stay requirement. For example, if you’re told you’ll be hospitalized for seven days or more, your benefits might apply.
Some medical evacuation benefits include compensation for hotel stays, meals and other reasonable costs your traveling companion has while staying near you.
If you’re hospitalized during your trip and traveling with your children, your travel insurance company can arrange for your children to fly home or to another U.S.-based location. Your benefits can compensate for the cost, minus any refunds for unused plane tickets. This benefit also usually has a minimum number of days for hospitalization you must meet to file a claim.
If you or a traveling companion die during your trip, the cost of transporting remains home can be covered by repatriation benefits included in your evacuation coverage.
Medical evacuation benefits help if you become seriously ill or suffer a severe injury during your trip and there are no local hospitals with the resources to treat your condition.
For example, if you suffer a serious injury in a car accident during a trip to China, your travel insurance company can arrange for medevac services to the nearest hospital equipped to care for you, which can be elsewhere in China, another country or even back in the U.S.
Your travel insurance company will work as a liaison to arrange the transportation on your behalf, which can come in handy during a medical crisis in a foreign country.
The travel medical insurance in a travel insurance plan can pay for doctor and hospital bills, X-rays, lab work, medicine and other associated expenses, up to your medical coverage limit. Evacuation insurance and travel medical insurance have separate coverage limits. For example, a generous travel insurance plan might have up to $500,000 for medical expenses and up to $1 million for evacuation.
When you’re well enough to travel, your travel insurance company can pay for your flight home.
It’s prudent to have both medical evacuation travel insurance and travel medical insurance when traveling abroad.
“If you’re not prepared to pay all your medical bills out of pocket, this is a crucial reason to buy travel insurance that includes emergency medical coverage and transportation benefits,” says Durazo at Allianz.
If you are traveling internationally, it’s essential that you have travel medical expense insurance. That’s because your domestic health insurance plan may have limited or no coverage outside the U.S.
Check with your health insurance company to see if your U.S. health plan has global coverage and whether it’s considered “out of network.” Also, senior travelers should know that Medicare isn’t accepted abroad.
After a medical emergency during a trip, the first call should be to the local emergency services. Then, you or your companion or tour guide should call your travel insurance company’s emergency hotline or customer service number.
“The assistance team, which includes emergency room physicians and travel experts, reviews the case and contacts your physician to discuss your treatment, help manage your care and determine if emergency medical transport is necessary,” says Durazo.
To use medical evacuation insurance, you usually must have an emergency evacuation ordered by the onsite, attending physician who certifies that the severity of your accidental injury or illness warrants the move.
Ideally, your travel insurance company would help coordinate the medevac and the move, and sign-off on it in advance. If that’s not possible, your travel insurance company should be notified as soon as possible.
If you require emergency medical transportation, your options may include an air ambulance or a commercial airline.
While you may think an air ambulance is your only choice, Durazo says working with a commercial carrier is typically a better experience for the patient and their companions for several reasons:
Travel insurance companies generally have a staff of physicians, interpreters and travel experts available to help you around the clock. You can contact your travel insurance company by calling the dedicated 24/7 travel assistance hotline or using its app, if one is available, to reach the care team.
“The assistance team can help coordinate care with the doctors treating you in your destination, as well as help you get to a high-quality medical facility with appropriate treatment options—all to ensure the best medical care possible,” explains Durazo.
In addition to arranging emergency medical transportation, Durazo says these teams usually offer aid throughout the treatment. For instance, the staff at Allianz Global Assistance will stay in touch with doctors to review daily medical reports and relay updates to family members, provide interpretation services if needed and help guarantee payment to the treatment center and handle billing.
There are some instances when medical evacuation travel insurance can be a smart choice even when traveling within the U.S, says Durazo.
For example, if you are doing a dude ranch trip or taking an adventure-oriented trip in a remote area, it’s wise to have evacuation coverage. If you’re injured, your health plan should cover your transportation to a hospital and your medical care once you’re there, but it likely won’t pay for a flight home requiring medical equipment and a medical escort. Additionally, you’ll be responsible for copays and deductibles that come with your health insurance coverage.
On the other hand, let’s say you’re visiting a college friend in Chicago and plan to shop and visit museums in the Windy City. You probably won’t need emergency evacuation coverage in that case.
Limits for emergency medical evacuation insurance vary by company and plan. The most generous travel insurance plans provide $1 million in medical evacuation coverage per person. For example, the Platinum plan from AXA Assistance USA and the OneTripPremier Plan from Allianz include up to $1 million in medical evacuation coverage.
However, you can find plans with lower coverage amounts. For instance, the Silver plan from AXA Assistance USA provides $100,000 for emergency evacuation, and the OneTrip Basic Plan from Allianz provides $50,000 in emergency medical transportation benefits.
Most travel insurance plans offer a 14- or 15-day “free look” period during which you can review your policy. “If you then decide during the free look period that the product doesn’t meet your needs, you can purchase a new product with more or less coverage or cancel the policy for a full refund,” says Durazo.
You can buy medical evacuation travel insurance as part of a comprehensive travel insurance plan or a stand-alone travel medical plan.
Travel medical insurance and emergency medical transportation insurance are often purchased as part of a comprehensive travel insurance plan that also includes trip cancellation insurance, travel delay insurance, trip interruption insurance and baggage insurance.
However, says Durazo, if you’re not concerned with trip cancellation, you can find plans covering just medical-related trip issues. For example, Allianz offers the OneTrip Emergency Medical Plan, which provides up to $50,000 in medical expense coverage and $250,000 in emergency evacuation benefits.
Details of coverage vary by plan and travel insurance company, so be sure to review the following details.
Benefits for your children’s flight home and for someone to be flown in to visit you are generally for extended hospitalizations. For instance, this may need to be seven days or more. That means if you’re in the hospital for four days, these benefits may not apply.
Most medical evacuation insurance plans stipulate that you are flown to the nearest adequate facility for treatment. If you need further care after that, some plans have add-on coverage that allows you to choose the hospital you go to next. For example, the AIG Travel Guard Deluxe plan allows you to request transportation to the hospital of your choice for further care, recovery or treatment after you’re stabilized.
Also, hospital choice benefits usually don’t apply to nursing homes or rehabilitation centers. Be sure to ask your travel insurance company if “hospital of choice” is offered and how it works.
Some travel insurance plans exclude injuries resulting from extreme sports or adventure activities from medical and evacuation benefits. You can sometimes add a rider to get coverage, or look for a plan that covers your specific activities.
Companies like Medjet and Global Rescue can be a good fit for those who want to be flown directly back to the U.S. after a medical emergency rather than to the nearest hospital equipped to treat you, as mandated in most travel insurance plans.
These types of companies are also worth serious consideration if you are participating in extreme sports during your vacation or you have pre-existing medical conditions.
Medjet provides private or commercial medevac or air ambulance transportation from a hospital anywhere in the world to the hospital of your choice in your home country. In order to use Medjet services, you must buy a membership before your trip. And you must be traveling at least 150 miles from home. Medical and legal specialists are on staff to assist you.
The company offers a variety of membership plans for domestic and international travel, college students, business travelers and more. Plans for short-term vacations of eight, 15, 21 and 30 days range from $99 to $255 for an individual and from $198 to $395 for a family.
Medjet also offers a plan that adds on security help and crisis response.
Global Rescue is a provider of medical, security, evacuation and travel risk management services to enterprises, governments and individuals. An individual annual membership is $359.
One benefit of Global Rescue is that you can be airlifted from where you had your accident or injury.
“If you have a minor injury or illness, you can call Global Rescue and speak to an on-staff medical expert who will help sort out the dos and don’ts based on your unique situation and symptoms,” says Dan Richards, chief executive officer of Global Rescue.
For major injury or illness, including Covid, Global Rescue assesses the circumstances and arranges for field rescue medical evacuation or repatriation, says Richards.
“If the case is complicated, we may deploy to the member’s bedside to make sure they’re getting the care they need to get stable enough for transport,” he says.
Global Rescue also provides emergency evacuation for non-medical emergencies. With a security upgrade, Global Rescue provides advisory and evacuation services for unpredicted natural disasters, civil unrest, acts of terrorism and government-ordered evacuations.
“Global Rescue’s services extend to wherever the individual is, and the personnel who respond are among the most highly trained paramedics, nurses, doctors and military special operations veterans available. We don’t just take the phone call; we dispatch our personnel to the site of the crisis and use all available means to get them to safety and the care they need,” says Richards.
You might want to buy Medjet or Global Rescue memberships as supplemental coverage to a travel insurance plan if you frequently travel to remote locations.
With Medjet and Global Rescue, there is no cap on the coverage for transportation as there is with travel insurance. You just pay the membership fee.
“If a member gets sick or injured while skiing in the backcountry, paragliding, rock climbing or anything else, our services are in force,” Richards says.
Another advantage of services like Medjet and Global Rescue is that you won’t have to file a reimbursement claim for evacuation services. Your membership is your access to coverage.
You can also be airlifted directly from the location of your emergency with Global Rescue services. “We will rescue you from the point of injury or illness (field rescue) and get you to a medical facility where you can get diagnosed and treated,” says Richards.
However, Medjet and Global Rescue aren’t travel insurance companies, so you won’t find coverage for medical expenses, trip cancellation, interruptions, delays or baggage.
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