Anyone delt with travel medical/evacuation plans?

[skydiver30960 0]

Being a Fire/EMS volunteer, I would expect a call to 911 would first tap the local resources, i.e. local Fire, EMS, and SAR teams. Being local to such areas (mountains or desert, for example) they will be trained in rescue in such environments. Examples: I've responded as a volunteer to brush and mountain fires on National Park property until the Park Service could mobilize nearby hotshot crews, and the county fire department owns and maintains a beefed-up ATV designed for patient transport. If you got injured in a National or State Park you would also have access to the resources and manpower of the park rangers. The local emergency services officers would probably have access to National Guard resources (i.e. Blackhawks) if they were deemed necessary, but I've never seen an incident here go that far.

My guess would be that services you listed would probably start by looking close to you for resources they could mobilize before bringing their own resources from long distances.

You may get more input from folks living near the Rockies or the Northwest...

EDIT TO ADD: when you buy into services like these (I belong to the Diver's Alert Network for SCUBA diving, it's similar) I think that you aren't buying access to the resources, you're buying the insurance so that you won't have to pay for them. Using DAN as an example, if you're injured on a dive in a remote location and are NOT a member they will still do everything they can to facilitate your rescue, they just won't foot the bill afterword. So, it's not that you get access to resources you wouldn't get otherwise, it's the $$$.


Elvisio "those were long damn walks to fight a fire" Rodriguez

[airdvr 210]

Pretty certain you'd have to have the funds available for evacuation and then be reimbursed by your insurance carrier. Not an attractive option. We had a client a couple of years ago that fell and broke their hip in Cancun. $20,000 to get them evaced to the US.

Please don't dent the planet.

Destinations by Roxanne

[NWFlyer 2]

Take a look at ihi. I bought coverage for the Belize Boogie through them; fortunately, didn't have to use it, but everything I read indicated that they were top-notch (good reviews) and the site indicates they'll coordinate things for you if you need evac. They also have no exclusions for skydiving or scuba injuries, which was very important for Belize, those being the two most likely ways I would have injured myself.

I recall asking a couple questions before I bought the policy and they were responsive via email query, so you should be able to get your questions addressed before you make a decision.

http://global.ihi.com/

(Also if you travel quite a bit, I recall that the cost difference between single-trip and annual travel coverage was fairly low).

"There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

[Southern_Man 0]

Quote

Pretty certain you'd have to have the funds available for evacuation and then be reimbursed by your insurance carrier. Not an attractive option. We had a client a couple of years ago that fell and broke their hip in Cancun. $20,000 to get them evaced to the US.

I don't think this is correct for most trip insurance that includes medical evacuation. I worked for one of these places for a short while and they had a full time staff to handle evacuations throughout the world. They did not handle immediate evacuation/medical attention, that would be handled by local authorities/resources.

To be safe you should read any contract terms very carefully.

"What if there were no hypothetical questions?"