What You Need to Know About Medical Evacuation Before Buying Travel Insurance

On November 21, Carl and friends were beingbest, but nevertheless they were not
driven in a van to visit family when the van lostknowledgable enough about conditions in that area.
control on an icy road and fell into a ditch 3So how do you know if the travel insurance you
meters down, rolling over several times beforebuy offers you the best medical evacuation
stopping. The impact threw Carl out of the vanservices possible? While they cannot guarantee
and seriously injured his neck and back, as well aseverything - after all they are limited in some
leaving him with pain in his ribs and hands. Anway by the local conditions in which you may find
accident like this is serious enough in America, butyourself should you be in an emergency situation
this occurred in East Asia. Sub-standard healthoverseas - they can certainly give you
facilities, cross-cultural communication problems,assurances about the quality of their services.
and inefficient medical evacuation proceduresBefore you buy travel insurance that includes
quickly plunged Carl and his family into amedical evacuation ask your broker or agent
nightmare.these questions.
Fortunately, Carl did have travel insurance that1. What is the process by which my travel
covered medical evacuation; without it, he wouldinsurance carrier chooses a medical evacuation
have had been stuck paying the $50,000company in the event something should happen
evacuation fee alone. U.S. medical insurance isto me while I am in Country X? Remember, Carl
generally not accepted outside the United States,had to wait while the insurance company bid on
and neither Medicare and Medicaid programs willthe medical evacuation service. You will have
provide coverage for medical costs outside thepeace of mind knowing that your travel insurance
United States.has already selected who they work with.
But there were problems with the evacuation2. Who decides what hospital to go to? Carl was
service that began long before he had to get ontaken to a local hospital that did not meet the
the emergency flight. Carl quickly learned that notpromised standards initially stated by the travel
all medical evacuation companies offer the sameinsurance carrier when he bought his travel
quality of services.insurance. You will want to know if you have a
It took four days to get Carl evacuated. Here arechoice of hospitals, either to one close by or back
a few reasons why.to your home country. You may not get your
First, the insurance carrier wasted valuable time infirst choice because emergency services assess
a bidding process for the right medivac company.your condition to determine how long of a flight
Second, they were unsure what hospital to sendyou can handle based on the seriousness of your
him to because they were unfamiliar with thesituation. In Carl's case, neither the evacuation
area.charter company nor the travel insurance
Third, local Customs and Immigration officials tookcompany back home knew much about local
time clearing them for the emergency. Neither thehospital conditions.
medivac company nor the insurance carrier hadIt helps to be prepared when asking about
the phone numbers for the proper authoritiesmedical evacuation policies when you buy your
who could release the flight.travel insurance. Online searches bring up
His care, both in the admitting hospital and withnumerous evacuation companies. By looking on
the medical evacuation company, was less thantheir websites you will have a better feel for
desirable. The US based insurance carrier tried itswhat you want in a medivac situation.