Medical Evacuation Insurance (2024)

What Is Medical Evac Insurance?

Emergency medical evacuation plans (also known as “med evac” or “medivac”) are for times when you get seriously ill or injured in a place where you can’t get the care you need. These plans are vital if you’re in a foreign country and need evacuation to a quality hospital for treatment. They’re especially key if you’re traveling or living in a remote or rural place. If you want to continue your treatment closer to home, you can get more comprehensive medical evac coverage on top of your insurance plan.

Some international travel insurance plans include some coverage, though it can be limited. Some long-term international health insurance plans include it, too. But especially if you’re living somewhere far from top-flight care, you may need to purchase supplemental emergency medical evacuation insurance.

Do I Need International Medical Evacuation Insurance?

You might, depending on what plan you already carry and where you’re going. First, check with your provider to see if this coverage is included, and if so, how much and what is covered. The Centers for Disease Control points out that medical evacuation from a resource-poor area to a high-quality hospital can cost more than $100,000. So you’ll want to make sure your plan offers at least that much coverage.

If you buy a high-quality travel medical insurance plan, it will typically include evacuation. Still, you should double-check how much it covers and any limitations or restrictions. Most travel insurance plans won’t include things like non-medically-necessary transport. If you want to be able to choose to go home to continue your treatment, you can get a third-party evacuation plan. You can add these plans to either your travel insurance or a global health insurance plan.

Also Read: Travel Medical Insurance

As with most insurance, most people will be lucky enough never to have to use this type of plan. But for those who end up needing it, it’s often a literal life-saver.

Why Purchase Medical Evacuation Services

What would you do if you needed to be moved to a qualified medical facility while traveling internationally? How would you deal with it if the nearest hospital couldn’t give you the care you needed?

Emergency evacuation plans are crucial in these kinds of situations. This benefit provides emergency transportation when you are sick or injured to the nearest hospital that can provide quality treatment, or if needed, to your home country for care. With basic coverage, you can be transferred to the nearest adequate hospital when it’s medically necessary. With a standalone medivac plan, you can choose to be transported to a facility you select, even if it’s not medically necessary.

When Would I Need Coverage?

When you travel to amazing places off the beaten path, you will sometimes find the medical care lacking compared to what you’re used to. Remote hospitals and clinics often simply don’t have the resources available in big urban settings. They may not have the right medical specialists for your condition. There may be insufficient equipment. Overall, they may just not be up to delivering the necessary care. When that happens, medical evacuation insurance covers the expenses to move you from an inadequate facility to one that’s equipped to help you.

As always, review the various policies, benefits, and coverage to ensure you have the policy you need and are comfortable with. You might find the coverage you have is adequate. Or you may want to purchase something more robust that gets you home and close to your loved ones for treatment.

Requirements for J Visa Visitors

J-1 visa holders and their families under J-2 visas in the United States are required to have a minimum of $50,000 of evacuation coverage and a minimum of $25,000 for repatriation of remains. The Seven Corners Medical Evacuation and Repatriation plan provides annual coverage that meets these requirements.

Any non-U.S. citizen and non-U.S. resident who is traveling to the United States and participating in full-time educational activities can buy this plan. Some schools may require students to buy a university-approved health insurance plan. However, most of these do not include emergency medical evacuations or repatriation. This plan would cover the expenses and associated services for your emergency medical evacuation or repatriation back to your home country.

Am I Already Covered by My Insurance?

If you hold a travel or long-term international insurance policy, you may already have medical evacuation. Most of the time, these plans cover limited emergency transportation. Generally, the benefit will allow you to be transported to the nearest hospital that can treat your illness or injury.

If you want to have the freedom to choose to be transported home, to a facility of your choosing, even if it isn’t strictly medically necessary, you’ll need further coverage.

You may also choose to add a stand alone medical evacuation policy to your existing insurance. Keep in mind that these standalone policies do not include other benefits, specifically medical care for emergencies. So with medivac alone, you can be transported to a high-quality facility at no cost to you, under whatever conditions you decide. But the plan won’t cover any of the care you receive when you get there.

Travel Health Plans with Medical Evac Included

Some travel medical insurance plans include basic evacuation as part of their benefits. If you’ve already purchased a travel medical policy, check to see whether medivac is covered, and if so, how extensive that coverage is. Usually, it’s fairly basic: if you’re in a crisis and the nearest hospital can’t provide the care you need, you’ll be transported to the nearest hospital that can.

A typical travel medical plan will include:

• Emergency Transportation of a sick or injured person to the nearest hospital that can provide quality treatment
• Political Evacuation in cases where unrest in the country puts travelers in danger
• Emergency Travel Assistance Services, which allow you to contact your provider 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for help with emergencies

Some plans also include:

• Emergency Reunion, which transports a family member to where you are if you are sick or injured; sometimes called “visitor to bedside”
• Repatriation / Return of Mortal Remains, in cases where a person dies while traveling

Our recommended travel medical plan is the Atlas Travel medical plan:

If you want more comprehensive international medical coverage while traveling, Compare our Travel Insurance Plans. Travel medical plans include emergency evacuation but also cover medical expenses, provide assistance services and include some trip insurance benefits (like coverage for lost luggage).

Medivac Benefits in Global Health Insurance Plans

Some long-term international health insurance policies include a medical evacuation benefit. However, this benefit is not included as frequently as with travel plans. Because global medical plans are meant to cover you while you’re living in a foreign country, they tend to focus on getting you quality care where you are.

You should check your policy to see what kind and extent of medical evacuation it covers. Some plans include it up to $50K. Others only offer it as an add-on or premium benefit.

The global medical plan we recommend with medical evacuation coverage is GeoBlue Xplorer, which includes the benefit in all plan tiers.

Keep in mind that even with this plan, medical evacuation must be certified as medically necessary by an attending physician. If you want to be able to choose to be transported home for yourself, you must buy supplemental medivac coverage.

Standalone Emergency Medical Evacuation Plans – Medjet

For more robust medical evacuation insurance on top of your travel medical or long-term international health plan, you’ll need to purchase a membership from MedJet. With this option, you can choose to be sent home to your hospital of choice in a medical emergency, without prior approval.

You might want this option when you need ongoing, inpatient care for a serious illness, injury, or other medical condition. For example, say you have a bad fall while climbing in the Pyrenees. Your medical evacuation coverage from your insurance plan gets you to a local hospital that’s equipped to treat you. But after a week, they say you need several more weeks of inpatient treatment. With Medjet, you can decide you want to be transported home and receive that treatment in a facility you choose, close to your loved ones, instead of in a foreign country alone.

Basic Medjet Plan Features

If you experience a medical emergency while abroad, all of Medjet’s plans include:

• Medical evacuation to the nearest qualified medical facility, regardless of medical necessity
• Expenses for reasonable travel and accommodation resulting from the evacuation
• The cost of returning to either the home country or the country where the evac occurred up to certain maximum benefits
• Transfer of mortal remains

Medjet Horizons

Medjet’s premium offering, Medjet Horizons, offers even further security and crisis response protection, including:

• Emergency medical cash advance
• Ground ambulance and specialty hospital transfer
• 24/7 travel security response and evacuation services due to political threat, terrorism, natural disaster, pandemic and violent crime
• 24/7 crisis response to kidnap for ransom, disappearance, wrongful detention, blackmail & extortion

Medjet has both short term and long term plans. You can get coverage for as little as eight days or enroll in a yearly plan. There are additional options for student & academic faculty-focused plans, and US-only plans.

To see how to get the medical evac insurance you need for your specific case, see Medjet’s plan comparison.

There and Back Again: Getting Home When You Need To

Wherever you are in the world, sometimes things happen and you have to get home. While it’s not fun to think about, it’s important to get emergency evacuation and repatriation coverage. Going someplace remote, doing something dangerous, or traveling with a medical condition? You’ll want to be sure that you have access to the best care if something goes wrong. If you’re still unsure which plan is right for you, contact one of our licensed brokers for help – they’ll be happy to set you on the road home!

Related:

• J-1 Visa Insurance Requirements
• Travel Medical Insurance
• Extreme Sports Travel Medical Insurance