Medical and evacuation insurance advice/suggestions needed

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spncity

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Seeking advice.

I did try searching the forum...

Looking for coverage for two people who will be driving around Alaska in a van sight-seeing/camping for a couple of weeks. Actually the sight-seeing & travel is just over a week. The other week is taken up with doing volunteer construction/handyman work in one place. No health issues, so only guarding against something like a freak accident.

One person has Medicare and Medigap. The other has CareFirst with a $2400 deductible (co-pays along the way).

Guessing the policies should have helicopter rescue/transport to needed medical expertise.

What do you advise?

Thank you in advance!
 
I buy Nationwide's annual Travel Pro Plan upgraded to Deluxe:

https://travel.nationwide.com/

Emergency Medical expenses:

$20,000 per person/per trip

Emergency Medical evacuation
/ repatriation:

$250,000 per person/per trip
 
Unless you're going to be mountain climbing or hiking hazardous mountain trails, I wouldn't worry about evacuation insurance or additional medical coverage.

Driving around in a van, you're not necessarily going to be in a dangerous situation. And since you're going to be in the U.S., your health insurance will be valid.

In reality, there are very, very few times that an injured or ill person cannot fly home commerical--even if it requires flying in the first class cabin.
 
Trust me take the insurance. We were in Alaska in 2019 and I slipped and fell down a wooden stairs breaking my shoulder. We were in Wasilla and they had a local hospital. 100% of my expenses were covered. If this happened in Denali the nearest hospital is in Fairbanks, about 3 hours away. I would have had to be airlifted which is costly.


Enjoy your trip, you'll love Alaska!
 
DektolMan said:
Trust me take the insurance. We were in Alaska in 2019 and I slipped and fell down a wooden stairs breaking my shoulder. We were in Wasilla and they had a local hospital. 100% of my expenses were covered. If this happened in Denali the nearest hospital is in Fairbanks, about 3 hours away. I would have had to be airlifted which is costly.
Click to expand...

Similar thing. We were with a small group in the middle of Denali when one of us had his back go out on him, suddenly and unexpectedly. He needed a helicopter to evacuate him to Anchorage. Fortunately, he had evacuation insurance that paid for it, because that would have been several tens of thousands of dollars otherwise.

Situations like that are extremely rare, but they can happen. I have similar insurance and it only costs a few hundred dollars a year. Good for peace of mind.
 
DektolMan said:
Trust me take the insurance. We were in Alaska in 2019 and I slipped and fell down a wooden stairs breaking my shoulder. We were in Wasilla and they had a local hospital. 100% of my expenses were covered. If this happened in Denali the nearest hospital is in Fairbanks, about 3 hours away. I would have had to be airlifted which is costly.


Enjoy your trip, you'll love Alaska!
Click to expand...

Which insurance are you suggesting? For your shoulder, didn't your standard medical insurance cover it since it was an emergency situation?

I do understand about what it could have cost you to be airlifted without evacuation coverage, however.
 
PaunchyPirate said:
Which insurance are you suggesting? For your shoulder, didn't your standard medical insurance cover it since it was an emergency situation?

I do understand about what it could have cost you to be airlifted without evacuation coverage, however.
Click to expand...


I was on the Affordable Care Act coverage with a $6000 deductible. Also I was out of network. My trip insurance reimbursed me around $3,500. Also the reimbursed me for the day I missed part of our tour. I will never travel without trip insurance again.
 
(We do not climb mountains, so that's a difference.) Our habit is to buy evacuation insurance when we travel to countries where the health care infrastructure might be iffy. Ethiopia and Myanmar, for example, but not Norway or Greece. Although footing the cost would be a hurt, my main reason is to have the insurer's organization as a resource for making choices and for making arrangements.

For Alaska and our fairly ordinary way of traveling, I would not spend the money. Your volunteer construction organization should have coverage for you, too, so belts and suspenders during that portion. Check. Stay off of roofs.
 
Thanks for the comments.

One person suggested Nationwide.

Any other companies to check?
 
We use MASA for evacuation insurance.

You can look at their website here: MASA Assist

You can also get their coverage at a substantial discount by belonging to one of a number of organizations (shown on their site).

There are other similar companies but we've been happy with MASA for a number of years.
 
We are interested in this subject, as we will also be going to Alaska.
Normally we have trip insurance for Europe / etc..

We checked with our BCBS and they only cover LAND ambulances...

When I tried at insuremytrip.com and put in traveling to the USA (Alaska) , it said coverage was not available within the USA. I suppose this is to stop people from not getting ACA coverage and just buy trip insurance for at home.
 
We carry MedJet for evacuation type insurance. I think that is very good to have, especially if you do any international travel. A medical jet from Asia back to the USA can easily run $100k to $200k.
 
check Allianz. But also, search under trip insurance and you will see threads on this.
 
My Medicare Supplement covers $50,000 in overseas health expenses in an emergency. There is also a 20% co-pay. I have a MedJet policy that covers emergency evacuation to hospital near my home (not just the nearest hospital in the USA). I figure that covers me pretty well.
 
FWIW, anyone buying should be aware that not all the companies offering evacuation "insurance" are actually regulated insurance companies. If you see words like "membership" and the company carefully avoids using the word "insurance" that is a key. Not that a non-insurance company is necessarily bad, but with that ilk you do not have the protections that come with a real insurance company.

Lately we have been using Travelex Insurance, primarily because of their huge international presence, though the fact that they are an actual insurance company is a plus, too. https://www.travelexinsurance.com/ We have never had a claim, so we really cannot say whether we are happy with the company or not. We do expect to be happy.
 
Last edited:
OldShooter said:
FWIW, anyone buying should be aware that not all the companies offering evacuation "insurance" are actually regulated insurance companies. If you see words like "membership" and the company carefully avoids using the word "insurance" that is a key. Not that a non-insurance company is necessarily bad, but with that ilk you do not have the protections that come with a real insurance company.

Lately we have been using Travelex Insurance, primarily because of their huge international presence, though the fact that they are an actual insurance company is a plus, too. https://www.travelexinsurance.com/ We have never had a claim, so we really cannot say whether we are happy with the company or not. We do expect to be happy.
Click to expand...

Just so other folks know, I called them after checking the website. They offer only per trip insurance, and not year long multi-trip insurance.
 
ncbill said:
I buy Nationwide's annual Travel Pro Plan upgraded to Deluxe:

https://travel.nationwide.com/

Emergency Medical expenses:

$20,000 per person/per trip

Emergency Medical evacuation
/ repatriation:

$250,000 per person/per trip
Click to expand...

For year long multi-trip coverage.
This one looks good except in reading the details of medical evacuation it doesn't seem to cover the situation of hurt out in the wilds of Alaska. Only covers air transport after being in a hospital to another hospital.

"
EMERGENCY EVACUATION​
The Company will pay benefits for Covered Expenses incurred, up to the Maximum Benefit shown on the Confirmation of Coverage, if an Accidental Injury or Sickness commencing during the course of the Trip results in Your or a Traveling Companion’s necessary Emergency Evacuation. An Emergency Evacuation must be ordered by a Physician who certifies that the severity of Your, or a Traveling Companion’s, Accidental Injury or Sickness warrants Your, or a Traveling Companion’s, Emergency Evacuation.
Emergency Evacuation means:
(a) Your, or the Traveling Companion’s, medical condition warrants immediate Transportation from the hospital where You, or the Traveling Companion, are first taken when injured or sick to the nearest Hospital where appropriate medical treatment can be obtained;
(b) after being treated at a local Hospital, Your, or the Traveling Companion’s, medical condition warrants Transportation to the United States where You, or the Traveling Companion, resides to obtain further medical treatment or to recover; or
(c) both (a) and (b), above......"
 
For our Alaska trip, I opted to go with a single trip coverage by Berkshire Hathaway Travel Protection.
It offered evacuation from where injured vs from a hospital, so would apply if a bear eats my leg in Alaska.

It was a couple of dollars cheaper than the insurance the AA site persuaded DW to buy, but this covers a lot more issues than just the plane ride.
DW phoned and got a refund on the impulse travel insurance. :)
 
Look at Dan Boater for medical evacuation...about $100/year for the family. This is NOT medical insurance, or trip insurance, but does cover Medevac when more than 50 miles from home.
 
Sunset said:
For year long multi-trip coverage.
This one looks good except in reading the details of medical evacuation it doesn't seem to cover the situation of hurt out in the wilds of Alaska. Only covers air transport after being in a hospital to another hospital.

"
EMERGENCY EVACUATION​
The Company will pay benefits for Covered Expenses incurred, up to the Maximum Benefit shown on the Confirmation of Coverage, if an Accidental Injury or Sickness commencing during the course of the Trip results in Your or a Traveling Companion’s necessary Emergency Evacuation. An Emergency Evacuation must be ordered by a Physician who certifies that the severity of Your, or a Traveling Companion’s, Accidental Injury or Sickness warrants Your, or a Traveling Companion’s, Emergency Evacuation.
Emergency Evacuation means:
(a) Your, or the Traveling Companion’s, medical condition warrants immediate Transportation from the hospital where You, or the Traveling Companion, are first taken when injured or sick to the nearest Hospital where appropriate medical treatment can be obtained;
(b) after being treated at a local Hospital, Your, or the Traveling Companion’s, medical condition warrants Transportation to the United States where You, or the Traveling Companion, resides to obtain further medical treatment or to recover; or
(c) both (a) and (b), above......"
Click to expand...

Most (including Medjet Assist) are indeed hospital to hospital.

For rescue from out in the wilderness you'll want something much more expensive (e.g. $300+, per person) like an annual plan from Global Rescue or Ripcord Rescue.

Note both of those are membership-based.

https://expeditionportal.com/buyers-guide-travel-insurance-rescue-and-medical-evacuation-services/

https://www.forbes.com/advisor/travel-insurance/medical-evacuation-coverage/
 
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Thank you everyone. So very helpful. I love this forum!
 
Allianz and TravelGuard are similar, and I have used both. If you want cancel any time insurance, you have only a 2 week window for getting your insurance once you have booked the nonrefundable part of the trip. Both are affordable and have a generous benefit for medical transport. If you need transport say, with full medical staff while on a ventilator, it can be very expensive, more than $100K, from what I have been told.
 
OldShooter said:
FWIW, anyone buying should be aware that not all the companies offering evacuation "insurance" are actually regulated insurance companies. If you see words like "membership" and the company carefully avoids using the word "insurance" that is a key. Not that a non-insurance company is necessarily bad, but with that ilk you do not have the protections that come with a real insurance company.
Click to expand...

When I went to S. America last year I got both- evacuation coverage from MedJet Assist and a separate insurance policy for medical expenses. Unfortunately the trip was cut short after a week in Bolivia due to COVID. I learned from the experience of a friend's brother, who had a transient ischemic attack while on a Caribbean cruise. He had travel insurance but that just got him to a hospital in St. Kitts. My friend finally got down the after his brother had been in there 4 days. He pretty much got a bed and 3 squares a day in the hospital- no phone, TV, radio, Internet and no physical therapy- and with strokes, the earlier you intervene the better. He's still not recovered enough to drive and doesn't read as well as he used to.

I'm headed to Alaska as well next month and better get working on coverage. I use insuremytrip.com.
 
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