Emergency Medical Transport Insurance

paulcb

paulcb

- - - Tetelestai - - - R.I.P. - 2022/05/26
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I searched, but didn't find a thread on this subject, so here we go. Curious if anyone carries any "extra" insurance for a helicopter ride? I currently don't, but am looking into it. I guess I also need to see what my employer provided health insurance will cover. Here's one I found...
www.airmedcarenetwork.com

Home

An air medical transport can dramatically reduce travel time to an emergency facility for members and non-members...
www.airmedcarenetwork.com www.airmedcarenetwork.com
Bottom line for me, I don't want to end up paying $30-50k out-of-pocket for an air flight. What say you?

Edit: as this thread progresses, and we get options, I'll post them here for reference...

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We need to find something like DAN Insurance (scuba diving) for motorcycles.
Used it for many years.
$60 dollars a year, and they will even evac you from 3rd world countries, pay for chamber treatments, replace lost gear or equipment, and cover all medical stuff.
Most of my Medical stuff (work related insurance & Kaiser) treated scuba/free diving related stuff as high risk and would not cover treatment etc.
 
amorley said:
Skymed gave a presentation at the BMW K1600 TTD event last weekend. They go much beyond just helicopter rescue.

Emergency Travel Evacuation Medevac Membership | SkyMed

Our emergency medical travel services pick up where traditional insurance leaves off. Global leaders in emergency medical evacuation membership services.
www.skymed.com
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That looks pretty comprehensive Andy. $300 per year seems somewhat reasonable. Any caveats or downsides to this?
 
The one advertising on billboards around here is CareFlite. I think It is $50 a year, but it is more like "gap" insurance between your medical and what is not covered. If you don't have insurance they drop the bill by 50%.

CareFlite

www.careflite.org www.careflite.org

-Ryan

Edit: To answer your questions, it would probably be a good idea to have flight ambulance insurance. CareFlite at $50 per household per year is pretty cheap insurance. Especially considering my household is currently 9. ;)
I have thought about it in the past, but I will probably will buy this supplement insurance. Seems like it could potentially save you from a mountain of debt. I will watch this thread and see all the options before I commit to anything.
 
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I attended one of these presentations at a rally (must have been one of the BMW national rallies), and I thought it was a rather high pressure sales job. For one thing they were selling on the basis of fear - if you don't have it, you are in deep deep trouble - and I react very poorly to that kind of sales pitch. Were I interested enough in this I would find a consultant who is familiar with this kind of coverage and have him read their contract to interpret it for me - what does it not cover, what is their track record, etc. Too much insurance is sold promising the world, but when you need to make a claim, the world has shrunk to the size of a grapefruit (or maybe just a lonely grape).

It is also important to know exactly what kinds of things your insurance will cover or not right now, and act accordingly.
 
paulcb said:
I searched, but didn't find a thread on this subject, so here we go. Curious if anyone carries any "extra" insurance for a helicopter ride? I currently don't, but am looking into it. I guess I also need to see what my employer provided health insurance will cover. Here's one I found...
www.airmedcarenetwork.com

Home

An air medical transport can dramatically reduce travel time to an emergency facility for members and non-members...
www.airmedcarenetwork.com www.airmedcarenetwork.com

Bottom line for me, I don't want to end up paying $30-50k out-of-pocket for an air flight. What say you?

Edit: as this thread progresses, and we get options, I'll post them here for reference...

www.skymed.com
www.airmedcarenetwork.com
www.airmethods.com
www.careflite.org
Click to expand...
Thanks for posting this, its something I havent thought of.
 
Here is a good site for medivac/travel insurance comparison. One thing you need to do, and I can't stress this enough......read the fine print

expeditionportal.com

Buyer's Guide: Travel, Rescue, and Medical Evacuation Insurance - Expedition Portal

As we head further into the summer season and our adventures grow in grandeur and danger, we want to make sure safety is top of mind. One crucial aspect of that is medical evacuation insurance, and thus we’re bringing Christophe’s article back to our front page. We hope you find it as...
expeditionportal.com

Personally, I use Ripcord. They provide the best service for what I need. But an example of the fine print.....they do not cover you if you are less than 100 miles from home and you have to call them first and let them arrange the rescue/transport.

Other examples of fine print with other entities:
- some you pay all expenses and they they reimburse you
- some only transport from hospital to hospital
- some do not pay medical expenses, only transport
- etc.
 
Just curious, is there any rhyme or reason to helicopter / med flight pricing. Here in Ontario the provincial government provides this service as part of our single payer system, so not really an issue here + travel insurance for us usually covers this for trips to the U.S. This aside, I've seen articles where prices are all over the place, from $15,000 to $50,000, it's whatever the company decides their prices are and you certainly aren't in a position to price shop or negotiate when these services are required.
 
ReSTored said:
Here in Ontario the provincial government provides this service as part of our single payer system, so not really an issue here + travel insurance for us usually covers this for trips to the U.S. This
Click to expand...
In Ontario I think you are charged $200 or so for any ambulance trip including Ornge Air, but if you travel outside of Ontario it may not be covered/subsidized. I remember reading about a woman that was attacked by a polar bear in Churchill Manitoba and faced a large medical bill mostly because she had to be flown to Winnipeg. Out of province medical emergencies can give surprising costs.
 
mello dude said:
Thanks for posting this, its something I havent thought of.
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I'd not thought much about it either, but I was just riding in some fairly remote places in CO and NM this past week and it crossed my mind, what if? I realize that the probability of needing this type of insurance is very low for the general public, but it's much higher for us motorcyclists.
 
drrod said:
Lots of discussion in this thread regarding medivac, SAR, etc.

advrider.com

Emergency helicopter Ride $64,000; bankrupt!

So this n00b GS ADV rider buying a house from a fellow who's wife had a stroke and had to be air transported to hospital costing $64,000 and ended them...
advrider.com advrider.com
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I figured there would be something like that on ADV, but hadn't searched for it yet. Thanks for finding it.
 
The CareFlite coverage is cheap, but its operating area is approximately 100 mile radius around DFW and apparently there are other "Emergency Air" in the area. Obviously if you need one, you are probably not in a position to say "well, I have CareFlite, can you request them?". :p Unconfirmed, but from my limited searching on my HSA plan, this situation appears to be "out-of-network". So quite expensive to reach my out-of-pocket max and then the additional 20%.

I did find this company that I need to do more research on. $540 per year, but it covers ALL emergency related transport expenses including vehicle recovery and flights home for you and your dependents (if needed). This would be more something I would consider so I wouldn't have to worry about my proximity to home and what area I was in.

www.masamts.com

MASA | Medical Transportation Solutions

MASA is an undisputed leader in emergency transportation coverage providing medical transportation benefits and more to our members, employers, and their employees.
www.masamts.com www.masamts.com

I have not yet read through the ADV forum, I am sure there are some good options in there as well.

-Ryan
 
Before buying extra insurance I would check your current coverage. My 20 minute flight cost $16k, 2005 prices. I was fully covered. I think short & long term disability insurance is more important.
 
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