Think It Can't Happen To You? (Part 2)
By Wendy Perrin
A comment came in from reader SavvyTraveler re: my post about MedjetAssist. I wrote, "Should you get sick or injured on a trip and end up hospitalized, it will evacuate you by medical aircraft (basically a staffed I.C.U.) from the hospital overseas to the hospital of your choice (annual membership, $205; individual trip policy, $75)." I thought I was clearly stating that what MedjetAssist does is transport you from hospital to hospital--no more, no less. I guess not, because reader SavvyTraveler wrote back:
"I had a MedjetAssist annual plan, and it won't happen again. READ THE FINE PRINT! First of all, MedjetAssist won't perform an evacuation unless you are hospitalized as an inpatient. Secondly, MedjetAssist doesn't cover the medical expenses you incur, even though it requires you to be hospitalized to qualify for its services. Finally, MedjetAssist has a number of medical situations for which it won't provide evacuation services, including injuries or illnesses which can be treated by local doctors. You can have MedjetAssist. I'll take the medical evacuation coverage that is automatically covered in most travel insurance plans at no additional cost."
I can assure you I would not pay $205 per year for something without reading the restrictions and exclusions. I never said that MedJetAssist is a replacement for other travel insurance!
A MedjetAssist annual membership is something to consider buying in addition to travel insurance, if you are someone who travels overseas frequently and, should you end up hospitalized during one of those trips, would want to be moved to your hospital back home without incurring a bill in the $50,000 to $120,000 range. If you don't travel overseas frequently but are planning a single trip to someplace remote where you would not want to end up hospitalized for a long time, then you might consider buying MedJetAssist's per-trip policy in addition to travel insurance.
Here's what I usually do when it comes to travel insurance: If I'm headed to a part of the world with iffy medical care--someplace where, say, the nearest reliable hospital is in a different country--I buy travel insurance from International S.O.S. That's the coverage that will get me to a good doctor and pay my medical bills. I also have the MedJetAssist policy, which picks up where the International S.O.S. policy drops off. International S.O.S might decide I need medical transport back to the U.S. (from Singapore or Johannesburg or whichever hospital I've ended up in), but it very well might not. Since I have two small children back home, I need to know I can get moved back to where the kids can visit me.
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