<p>Do any parents (or students?) have experience with the insurance programs that offer medical evacuation and such to travelers overseas? If so, any recommendations regarding a program?</p>
<p>DD will be in Bolivia for the summer, which is not a place noted for the quality of its medical care. She is healthy, but things happen...</p>
<p>Thanks,</p>
<p>I always use InsureMyTrip.com. It's probably the most commonly used starting point for trip insurance. When you get a quote on there, just make sure that you indicate you want that coverage (medical evacuation), and then read the fine print of all the quotes they give you. I've ended up with Travelex a lot.</p>
<p>Edit: Actually, get a quote on there and then scroll down and you'll see the medical evacuation policies. When you check the boxes it will compare them. So maybe do a mix of prices. Note that these Insurers are rated on there too. (A+ etc).</p>
<p>We arranged for medical insurance/evacuation through <a href="http://www.medexassist.com/%5B/url%5D">http://www.medexassist.com/</a> when our son went to China. Fortunately, we did not need to utilize their services, but it provided a lot of peace of mind for us.</p>
<p>I've never used this, but I found in a National Geographic magazine (here's the link to the blurb in NG: <a href="http://www.nationalgeographic.com/adventure/adventure-travel/lifetime/reason.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.nationalgeographic.com/adventure/adventure-travel/lifetime/reason.html</a></p>
<p>Here's the company's link: <a href="http://www.medjetassist.com/default.asp?partner=%5B/url%5D">http://www.medjetassist.com/default.asp?partner=</a></p>
<p>A friend has purchased this for her daughter this summer, but hasn't had to use it yet.</p>
<p>IES abroad program uses CISI (just google it; I think it is culturalinsurance.com, or something like that). Dd also used it for Nicaraguan trip, and was able to sign up, pay and get confirmation online all within 2 days. I think it was $73 for two months.</p>
<p>My father uses medjetassist. It will fly you twice in a year over 150 miles.</p>
<p>Peter Greenberg, the travel editor on the Today Show, addressed this issue a couple of months ago. He recommended medjetassist and TravelGuard.</p>
<p>Harvard uses SOS International
<a href="http://vpf-web.harvard.edu/rmas/4_insurance/Intnlsos.html%5B/url%5D">http://vpf-web.harvard.edu/rmas/4_insurance/Intnlsos.html</a></p>
<p>Son just left for 7 weeks in Tibet to do his senior field research. His school required all students to take additional insurance offered through the school for just this purpose.</p>
<p>Son is in China teaching for a year and needed medical evacuation insurance and health insurance coverage for pre-existing conditions. Several companies I googled said they would provide coverage for pre-existing conditions but when I went to enroll, they refused. I found a broker at
<a href="http://www.insurancequest.com%5B/url%5D">www.insurancequest.com</a> and spoke with him several times re: which types of insurance to purchase. Ended up purchasing travel medical insurance through LIAISON International and MedJetAssist insurance. Another kid is in Nepal for a month so bought his short term LIAISON.</p>
<p>We are expats living in Asia. Our company uses SOS International. (SOS has clinics in many places- in Jakarta, for example, you don't need to be a member to see a doctor.) </p>
<p>It is a good idea to have some sort of evacuation insurance when you travel. Whatever you get, read the fine print- some will evacuate to the nearest city/country with 'high quality' care. Some will evacuate you back to the U.S.</p>
<p>My D is about to head to Paris for a job this summer. When she got a visa to study abroad in Italy last fall, she only needed proof of medical insurance overseas. But for this particular visa for France to be an intern, she needed a specific statement from our insurance carrier that she was covered for medical evacuation to her home country, as well as medical insurance overseas. I had to make many calls to the insurance agency both in state and nationally but was able to get someone who could put in writing that we are covered for medical evacuation. While I was waiting to get this statement, I did look online for travel insurance that would cover this, if I could not secure such a statement from our insurer which D needed for her Visa. There are plans available online where you can even get a quote on a calculator online by giving the age and the dates and it wasn't too expensive....It was one hundred something dollars for the summer and we were going to do that if we could not get a statement from our insurance. But since we did get a statement that they cover this, there was no need for me to purchase even more insurance. So, first investigate if your current health insurance will cover medical evacuation, as well as health care overseas.</p>
<p>The healthcare is so bad where I live that I have two evacuation policies -- one through my regular medical insurance carrier and one through SOS. Most expats in my area use SOS. I've never had to use it, but it's been close on several occasions and I have many friends who have been evacuated for both minor -- broken ankle -- and major -- malaria, motorcycle accidents -- health issues.</p>
<p>The key is to find the service with the best access to airplanes, as I understand it varies widely, and to find out where they will actually take you.</p>
<p>Thank you all. This has been most useful.</p>
<p>Just to be clear, we're interested in the evacuation insurance. Our med policy covers the actual cost of care, within usual policy limits and restrictions of course, but what good is reimbursement if the care is so poor?</p>
<p>So for this insurance, one should watch out for pre-existing condition restrictions? Thanks for the tip.</p>
<p>Did you look at the medical evacuation policies on InsureMyTrip? You should really pick a few of them to compare and then read what they cover. It will only bring up policies that cover South America, if that's what you put in as a starting point.</p>
<p>All this website does is allow you to compare many policies from different companies, and it gives you ratings for the companies.</p>
<p>I've actually had to arrange and manage emergency evacuation services for a fortune 200 company, and did extensive research on the pros and cons of the different services available.</p>
<p>As someone else mentioned, the primary concern is evacuation to a friendlier environment. This may mean simply getting the heck out of Dodge real quickly because of impending danger, or getting to expert medical care as quickly as possible.</p>
<p>One of the absolute best resources for access to emergency evacuation and a medical network is SOS International. Online tools for advance planning and top notch medical network.</p>
<p>Frequently what you are buying is the ACCESS to a predetermined network of professionals, NOT the actual delivery of insurance-based services. The basis of this arrangement is that the buyer of the ACCESS agrees to indemnify the service provider (e.g., SOS, etc.) for the expense incurred in the event an emergency arises.</p>
<p>In my humble opinion, I would be circumspect of so-called "travel insurance policies" without reading the fine print very carefully. Very often the reimbursements or access to services is limited at best, and not what you would truly want for your loved one who might find themselves in a very bad situation. I'd rather owe someone some money for getting my kid out of Indonesia ASAP, than have to deal with the results of subpar treatment in a local medical facility.</p>
<p>Don't overlook the need for kidnap and ransom insurance within these packages, either. "Wealthy-looking" American students with their various electronics hanging from their pockets are obviously prime targets. Some of the services provide access to professional negotiators and trained "responders" who can work to get your kid out of the hands of kidnappers and get them back to you or their school. No guarantees w/kidnapping 'cause that's life as we know it now. But, it might be a smart move to think of things like this if you son/daughter is headed off to some exotic location. BTW, I have a friend who was accosted and nearly raped in broad daylight standing on the steps to a public institution in Portugal. Other friends who were pickpocketed in Russia. Not everything happens in what we frequently consider the harsher environments.</p>
<p>I hate talking about this stuff 'cause i have an 18-yr old daughter heading off to college. She's trained in karate, and has had to hold her own against bullies in high school. But I still think that's not sufficient awareness for the potential exposures of foreign travel. She's going premed so (thankfully) her travel abroad opportunities might be limited at least for awhile!</p>
<p>On to a happier subject...</p>
<p>D is going to Spain and the consulate requires proof of med insurance at certain rates. My ins co was going to take too long to get us the info, so I went online to InsureMyTrip.com and compared and compared, and compared, and just got confused, so finally I called. The lady was most helpful. She told me that or anyone who has to just get that visa approved policy, you can go to insuremyvisa.com and get it there. Or, she could process it for me over the phone. Total cost around $106.00. I had her do it. The letter necessary for the Spanish visa was sent to my e-mail address within 20 minutes and we had everything we needed for the visa application.</p>
<p>I had this issue for 5000 mile medvac problem</p>
<p>Covered by Blue Cross and Blue Shield. Was fortunate -- they are best for overseas protection.</p>
<p>Other things to look at:</p>
<p>First, do you have American Express? Many of their cards provide for flight back by medvac and ohter travel isnurance if tickets bought with them. This is for tourist travel and student may be different.</p>
<p>Second, for about $100 a friend obtained medvac insurance for trip to China.</p>
<p>Third, as a side note (we had bad car accident) your car insurance is no good over there. So, I would highly recommend that you purchase such insurance if intending on driving. This really hurt as "unisured covereage" did not work overseas.</p>
<p>Lastly, if treated abroad, get e-mail and print it out (or fax) from carrier to foreign hospital entitled "Letter of Assurance" or "Letter of Insurance" which tells hospital that your bills are covered. Internet helped greatly on this for us.</p>
<p>Hope your travels overseas are better than my 10 days of 13-day vacation in hospital two years ago.</p>