Emergency Medical Evacuation Insurance In Travel Insurance Plans

Illness or injury can spoil a vacation. It's worst if you're far away. If you require emergency medical evacuation services for your timely health care during your vacation, a comprehensive travel insurance plan with emergency medical evacuation benefits can help cover the cost.

What Is Emergency Medical Evacuation Insurance?

Emergency medical evacuation insurance is usually included as part of a comprehensive travel insurance plan. It is usually known as medical evacuation and repatriation insurance. The maximum coverage amount will vary between plans, so be sure to shop around for a comprehensive coverage amount if this is of vital importance.

The best medical evacuation plans might cost in excess of $1 million. That's high, but medical evacuation charges can add up fast.

The price of emergency evacuation would be based on your particular medical condition, the needed treatment, and your location. Durazo states that emergency medical transport to the United States from the countries listed below can cost the following:

• Caribbean and Mexico: $15,000 to $25,000
• South America: $40,000 to $75,000
• Parts of Europe: $65,000 to $90,000
• Asia, Australia and the Middle East: $165,000 to $225,000

What Does Medical Evacuation Insurance Cover?

Here's an overview of medical evacuation insurance.

Emergency transportation

If you choose to become ill or injured while traveling, insurance can compensate for the costs of getting healthcare closer to your place of residence or back to the United States if deemed necessary.

If you need to return to the U.S. for further development or treatment, it can cover the flight home.

A medical escort on your return home

If you require medical treatment, medical insurance may pay for a caudiologist's services while en route or on an airplane.

The cost for a friend or family member to travel to you

If your illness or injury is covered by your medical evacuation medical evacuation travel insurance, you may be eligible to receive reimbursement for a round-trip flight, as is typical of most carriers. The flight must have a minimum hospital-stay requirement. For example, if you get told you'll be hospitalized for at least seven days, the reimbursement may be for those withstay requirements.

Costs for a bedside companion

Some medical evacuation benefits include hotel reimbursements, meals and reasonable costs incurred by your traveling companion during your stay nearby.

The cost for your children to fly home

If your trip is interrupted and you're hospitalized during it, your insurance company can cover the expenses of arranging a separate flight for your kids or to transport them to another destination in the United States. This benefit usually involves a minimum number of days that you must spend in a hospital to file a claim.

Repatriation of remains

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.

When Do You Need Medical Evacuation Insurance?

As of to dates, medical evacuation benefits can help you if you happen to get very sick or have a significant injury and find yourself in an area that cannot offer you treatment.

For example, if you incur a severe injury in a car accident in China, your travel insurance specialist can arrange for medical treatment to the nearest hospital able to meet your medical needs, which can be in another country or in the U.S.

Your home insurance company will act as a liaison to arrange for transportation for you if need be, which can be useful during a medical crisis in a foreign country.

A health insurance policy in your travel medical expense plan can help you pay doctor and hospital bills, X-rays, laboratory work, medicine, and other associated expenses, up to your policy limit. Evacuation insurance and travel medical insurance have different policy limits. For example, a generous travel insurance policy could have up to $500,000 for medical charges and up to $1 million for evacuation. If you're able to travel, your airline carrier may cover your flight back home.

Do You Need Both Medical Evacuation and Travel Medical Insurance?

Medical evacuation travel insurance and travel medical insurance are good to have when traveling abroad.

If you don't want all of your healthcare costs to shoulder out, this particular reason to purchase travel insurance is a huge one to get emergency medical coverage and transportation benefits, according to Durazo at Allianz.

In the event that you're traveling abroad, it is often essential that you have travel medical insurance because your domestic insurance coverage may not offer great international travel coverage. Contact your insurance provider to determine if you have acceptable international insurance, and if it's consider out of network. Always check before traveling that Medicare is not accepted abroad.

How to Get Approval to Use Medical Evacuation Insurance

Closest to a medical emergency during a trip to hospitals the first call should be to the local emergency services. After doing so, you or your travel companion or tour guide should contact your travel insurance company's emergency services hotline or customer service number.

The treatment assistance team, which entails ER doctors and travel specialists, reviews your case and contacts your physician to discuss your treatment, help you manage your care and evaluate whether emergency medical transport is necessary, says Durazo.

To utilize medical evacuation insurance, you generally must have an emergency evacuation ordered by a licensed medical professional who certifies that your accidental injury or illness demands evacuation.

Ideally, your travel insurance company would coordinate the evacuation and transition of medical transport and sign off on it in advance. If it is impossible, your travel insurance company should be notified as soon as possible. If you require air ambulance transportation, your options may include an air ambulance or a commercial airline.

How Will You Be Transported?

While you may think that an air ambulance is your only option, Dratcho forms of business are typically better off for the patient and their family members for a number of reasons:

• Most air ambulances are small aircraft that can only fly for four to six hours at a time, requiring frequent landings to refuel. They may accommodate only the patient, nurse and a guest with very limited limited space, frequently with no bathroom and with little luggage storage space.
• Commercial passenger carriers offer options, such as offering direct flights, more comfortable flights with more room for accompanying medical staff and travel companions. 
• Passengers can travel in either first or business class, where they can lie flat, if necessary.

Your Travel Insurance Company’s 24/7 Assistance Line Can Help

Travel insurance companies typically have a team of physicians, interpreters, and medical experts available to help you around the clock. You can connect to your travel insurance company by calling the 24-hour travel assistance hotline or app, if one is available, to reach the care team.

The medical transportation team arranges emergency medical assistance for Durazo patients. For instance, the staff at Allianz Global Assistance contacts doctors to obtain information on patients and arranges medical follow-up calls. A firm may provide any additional services if necessary, like billing and explanation of charges.

Do You Need Evacuation Insurance for Trips Within the U.S?

Medical evacuation travel insurance could be a beneficial choice occasionally when traveling in the United States, claims Durazo.

For example, if you're doing a dude ranch trip or taking an adventure-oriented trip in a remote location, it 's smart to have evacuation coverage. If you need medical attention, your health care plan will cover your trip to and from your medical facility, but you'll probably have to pay for a flight home to get medical equipment and a medically trained escort if an injury keeps you from traveling alone. You must also pay out of pocket for copays and deductibles with your health insurance, in addition to any deductibles.

On the other hand, if you have plans to go shopping and visit museums within the city of Chicago, you won t require emergency evacuation protection in that situation.

How Much Medical Evacuation Travel Insurance Do I Need?

The limits of emergency medical evacuation insurance for different companies and plans vary. The most generous plans provide up to $1 million in medical expenses for evacuations per person. For example, the Platinum plan from AXA Assistance USA and the OneTripPremier Plan from Allianz offer up to $1 million in evacuations.

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 policies offer a 14- or 15-day free look period during which you can review your policy. If you then decide during this free look period that the policy does not meet your requirements, you can make new travel arrangements with more or less insurance or cancel it for a full refund, says Durazo.