Medjet Assist verses options

I am considering using medjet assist and was hoping for some feedback . I will post more questions to another thread with a more specific thread name.

I spoke to them on the phone and have reviewed their website. Recently, I had to use evacuation through RoamRight. As one might expect, getting approval took a bit of time and effort that I would like to avoid in the future. I fell and broke my hip inBhutan on May the first.

I was first choppered from a remote location to the capital where I had surgery. This claim has been put in for $8800. The second evacuation was from the capital of Bhutan to Bangkok where I had a second surgery. This took my partner a lot of effort. They did pay and arrange to the tune of $55,000.

As an aside, my claim is outstanding, but I am going to followup today. I filed late as I didn't get home until mid May.

So now I have a pre-existing condition within look back periods. Other points on another post, which will be entitled, am I missing something.

Most important to me is the cost of transportation. I think this can be solved by using medjet assist. I was told evacuation takes about five days in most cases (fit to fly, lining up options, getting a receiving hospital). So of course there is a medical bill to be addressed.

This incident also highlights that going home as a first resort is not always feasible given distance and the nature of the injury.

I was told that the two flights here would be counted as one event.

I am considering using medjet assist and was hoping for some feedback . I will post more questions to another thread with a more specific thread name.

I spoke to them on the phone and have reviewed their website. Recently, I had to use evacuation through RoamRight. As one might expect, getting approval took a bit of time and effort that I would like to avoid in the future. I fell and broke my hip inBhutan on May the first.

I was first choppered from a remote location to the capital where I had surgery. This claim has been put in for $8800. The second evacuation was from the capital of Bhutan to Bangkok where I had a second surgery. This took my partner a lot of effort. They did pay and arrange to the tune of $55,000.

As an aside, my claim is outstanding, but I am going to followup today. I filed late as I didn't get home until mid May.

So now I have a pre-existing condition within look back periods. Other points on another post, which will be entitled, am I missing something.

Most important to me is the cost of transportation. I think this can be solved by using medjet assist. I was told evacuation takes about five days in most cases (fit to fly, lining up options, getting a receiving hospital). So of course there is a medical bill to be addressed.

This incident also highlights that going home as a first resort is not always feasible given distance and the nature of the injury.

I was told that the two flights here would be counted as one event.

What is your question here?

Is it about MedJetAssist?

If so, what wasn't answered when you spoke with them?

If your question is about the overseas medical bills, that's not a MedJetAssist issue. They don't cover the cost of medical care anywhere... just the transportation you seem to be asking about.

And yes, MJA is very clear that one must first be medically able to travel, so if some medical care is essential first, then that's what must happen... and any payments required for that.

BTW, I think I'd focus a bit on the fact that it *was* possible for you to be helicoptered out and to get that local care and then to get home.

An injury like this in a remote area could have had a very different outcome.

Not knowing what you needed in terms of approval from the RoamRight plan, it's impossible to compare with what the process is with MedJetAssist.

Getting "insurance-type" approvals might not be necessary, but there could still well be "medical approvals" before one is stable enough to be moved at different stages.

(I responded to a different question from you in the other thread.)

I am looking for feedback, in the case that anyone has used them. The subject line is medjet assist verses other options.

I know they don't provide medical insurance. I have medical insurance. What I would like to avoid the hassle of having to convince an insurer that it is medically necessary to be transferred. I also would not have to worry about look back periods (brought up by other posters). I also know that they don't provide helicopters.

When I spoke to them, I was sort of surprised that it can take five days or more to arrange for a flight out using their service. I was told that the quickest is two days, A long time to spend in a local hospital, while what they are selling is flying to the hospital of your choice.

I do know that both require emergency room to emergency room transfers which makes sense as they are not a private jet services. I also know that medjet does not offer helicopters.

I feel it was condescending of you to point out that I "focus a bit" on the fact that it was possible for me to get out of Bhutan. Wow. I guess I am not greatful enough for OnCall finally agreeing to get me out. I had surgery in a place where there was no postoperative care and I was plopped on a public mixed sex Ward, where all twelve of us got to share one bed pan. My 70 year old friend was required to sleep on the floor next to my bed as there is no nursing care.

There was no soap. No potable water and no food, towels, toilet paper, sheets, pillows etc. Then we had to MAKE A CASE to be flown out on a medjet. Good thing as that surgery needed revision which if I had waited around as long as OnCall wanted me to would could have had fatal consequences. Not to imagine the risk of infection. It was really lucky too the the US embassy had to get involved. I did have the foresight to buy a huge evacuation policy.

I note that many people on this board use medjet, so I am I interested in their experiences. .

That's pretty much what people do on these boards including asking the same "what insurance should I buy question". Or I could go on the board for any cruise line and ask if it is ok to wear jeans to dinner on formal night. That question has never been asked either.

What I would like to avoid the hassle of having to convince an insurer that it is medically necessary to be transferred.

The steps required for medical transport to occur are listed in the Membership Rules and Regulations. Take note of Section D.

Quote:

"What I would like to avoid the hassle of having to convince an insurer that it is medically necessary to be transferred."

This is not a reasonable expectation. Anybody could then request transportation for any reason!

A lot of good points.

I am seeing less and less to persuade me that this service is any better than regular evacuation insurance.

I guess I am looking through my last experience and trying to see if there is anyway that it could have been easier to arrange an evacuation. Since I had a broken hip, I mistakenly thought it shouldn't have been so hard to arrange transport to another hospital or prove to the company that it was medically necessary, especially as there wasn't proper diagnostic equipment in Thimphu (like a CAT scan machine). If I had to spend time arguing with medjet assist that it is medically necessary it doesn't seem to be much of an improvement. The argument could have been made that I stay longer in Bhutan to recuperate before travel and then they they could have put me in business class with a nurse. That would have put my life in danger, a fact that was only established after the fact,

The other point that got to me in reading the agreement, is that if one is one a cruise ship, one must be admitted to a LOCAL hospital before transport can be SCHEDULED. That's five days in a hospital in say, some carribbean island, not in the hospital of ones choice. For some injuries, five days in a local hospital can be the difference between life and death. This is exactly what they are marketing against.

After reading the membership agreement, both medjet assist and traditional start to look much more alike. In both cases the phone Doctor, who hasn't examined the patient, makes the decisions, are can be final and NON-NEGOTIONABLE. Who is the phone doctor and what are his credentials ? Is he an expert in cardiac and orthopedics and neurology? The fact that he does this for a living means he isn't working at the Mayo clinic, yet he is the ultimate arbiter of patient care, not the surgeon who is trained in Tokiyo or the UK or Mexico City.

Given several barriers to this happening such as getting a translator on the phone, having both the phone doctor and the local doctor on the phone at the same time , differing time zones and lack of availability of the phone doctor it can literally take days. And then the clock is reset to the additional five days to set up the transport.... It's not the 24/7 we see in the marketing materials, there long wait times on hold, the answering service that picks up after hours. The phone doctor is not available for consultation around the clock.

When my partner fell and broke six ribs and was hospital Mexico City he was at an excellent hospital with first rate doctors. He just needed a nurse with oxygen for transport home, that was an exhausting chore that took over a week to arrange. The phone doctor overrode the two physicians that had been attending him for ten days.

So I guess when I said "medically necessary" I should have qualified it that the treating doctors have more of a say rather then a nameless phone doctor whose credentials and training are unknown. Perhaps I was hoping that the information is reviewed and clarified and discussed. Understandably, the medjet is not a taxi, and the medjet The transport does have a responsibility to the patient to ensure their safety. But not sure how the remote doctor who has never examined the patient is the best person to do it...especially as they are not unbiased given who they ultimately work for.

I maybe wrong in my understanding of the medjet vs others policies but if I am I apologize. I understand Medjet will get you from a hospital to a hospital of your choice for example back to your home town, where evacuation insurance will get you to the nearest medical facility where you will receive care there and not get transported back to your home town hospital.

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We are all here to learn!

Regular insurance will get you from your foreign hospital to your home airport , usually in business class, and depending on the situation with a nurse. Then they will take you either to a hospital, rehab or home. They don't care what hospital you go to in the US as they dont cover it.

So no difference there.

There are very few reasons to pay all that money to medjet, especially internationally. MEdjet will not cover a helicopter, which could definitely be needed, for example. They charter the same jets that the insurance companies do.

We are all here to learn!

Regular insurance will get you from your foreign hospital to your home airport , usually in business class, and depending on the situation with a nurse. Then they will take you either to a hospital, rehab or home. They don't care what hospital you go to in the US as they dont cover it.

So no difference there.

There are very few reasons to pay all that money to medjet, especially internationally. MEdjet will not cover a helicopter, which could definitely be needed, for example. They charter the same jets that the insurance companies do.

Are you absolutely sure of that. My understanding that that regular insurance will only evacuate you to the nearest appropriate medical facility.

DON

Of course you need to read your policy but I have never heard of a company that doesn't bring you to the US.

We have had two accidents abroad where we were hospitalized and flown home, in business class.

Call steve st the trip insurance store that is often mentioned on this forum for more information, if you aware not comfortable reading the fine print,

Sorry for the misspellings. It is imperative to understand your contract before you travel. Again, I know of three cases, two of mine and one other that all paid for the trip home. And also, we got the free travel companion (first class Emerites). Companion ate caviar twice and I took a shower with my nurse helping. But usually they just pay coach for the travel companion on the return trip. I also got the hotels paid for while I was in the hospital for 10 days for my travel companion. And they get repaid for lost days of the trip (medjet is just an air ambulance so this stuff is unlikely to be covered but can't say for certain).

One of the many issues I have with MEdjet is that they prey on people's fears. The worst is that you must be admitted to whatever hospital there is immediately off a cruise ship, even after conferring with your first world cruise ship doctor, who may know that the care in that port is inadequate. They specify that you must be admitted to a hospital (potentially the kiss of death). They told me on the phone that it's usually three days before they can arrange for an evacuation. So, actually, you are not in your hospital of choice, and you may have a doctor at that hospital that doesn't speak English, requiring a translator plus your time difference, hindering your ability to get a timely transfer home or to the nearest good hospital. There are plenty of excellent hospitals in foreign countries and that may be your first stop until you can be appropriately stabilized for a long air flight home. But they may be no where near your port of call.

A helicopter can be lifesaving in many cases. And you would have to pay for that out of pocket.

A helicopter from an accident site to a hospital may (or may not) be covered under your medical policy. For example, we are insured with the annual GeoBlue Global Trek policy which covers the first 70 days of any trip we take during the policy year. That policy gives us $250,000 or medical coverage (this drops to $100,000 at age 70) plus $500,000 of Medical Evac (including for pre existing conditions). The medical part of the policy covers emergency ground or air ambulance to transport to a hospital.

Medical Evacuation policies will generally only grant coverage from a hospital. Even Medjetassist requires that a patient be medically stable before transport...and the only way to prove medical stability is to have an attending physician make such a determination. We are not aware of any policy that would simply transport a patient....without first receiving medical clearance from the attending.

Hank

Read your policy is number one.

All three policies that I have used in the past cover medically necessary evacuations, by ambulance, private medjet, and helicopter. The two times that I have used them, we were transported to the hospital of our choice in the set countries, and also hospital to hospital transportation. In one case, birth took us home to our front door.

Of ourse it has to be medically necessary, this is not a taxi service or a private jet.

I would not spend my money to by half a policy that does not cover all contingencies.

In my case it would have been a two day trip over dangerous roads (main east west road in Bhutan is under construction). By then, I could have been dead. Medjet would have been too late.

Sounds like a shill for MedJet's competitor.

Steve is right - there is a lot of good information on this website forum. And I think most of us would agree that most policies evac to nearest medical facility. Most do not let you pick your destination. Ask him.

I buy my insurance from Steve.