I am curious and interested to know fellow riders that have Air Med Transportation plans in case of an accident. Comments are welcome. Thanks
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Air Med Transport Plans
- Thread starter marcelsouza
- Start date
My interest is to know about existing plans that are available and reviews / experiences riders may had with them.
A very good question…..
The only med transport service I’ve been offered was local to my lake house, the benefit there being fast transportation to a bigger city / hospital.
( The local hospital ain’t much )
I’ve never heard of one that would cover a region or national.
Be interesting to hear from others..
The only med transport service I’ve been offered was local to my lake house, the benefit there being fast transportation to a bigger city / hospital.
( The local hospital ain’t much )
I’ve never heard of one that would cover a region or national.
Be interesting to hear from others..
Emergency Assistance Plus is what Doug mentioned.
For several years I bought Med Jet evacuation insurance for our bike trips to Mexico to keep the wife happy. Only later did I learn that Med Jet will not evacuate from any location that the US State Department deems to warrant a level 4 travel advisory - currently 6 of the 32 states in Mexico. Thankfully we never found out the hard way but we were without coverage when we thought we had coverage. We now use Sky Med which will evacuate from all locations regardless of State Department warning.
Years ago a couple we met in Mexico (unmarried couple) were playing in the waves on a beach in Puerto Vallarta when a wave knocked the young woman down. She didn't get up. Although Mexico has some fine hospitals doctors recommended the woman be transported back to the US for back surgery - a price tag of over $30,000 (just for the transport) in the late 1990's. The man called his friends back home and got the $30,000 together to have his girlfriend flown back to the US. She came through the surgery fine but I never wanted to put me or my wife in that horrible position.
Tootling around in the US that Sky-Med insurance will transport us back to our familiar hospital near home. If one has ever needed medical attention on the road in an unfamiliar area it's not easy or particularly good.
Years ago a couple we met in Mexico (unmarried couple) were playing in the waves on a beach in Puerto Vallarta when a wave knocked the young woman down. She didn't get up. Although Mexico has some fine hospitals doctors recommended the woman be transported back to the US for back surgery - a price tag of over $30,000 (just for the transport) in the late 1990's. The man called his friends back home and got the $30,000 together to have his girlfriend flown back to the US. She came through the surgery fine but I never wanted to put me or my wife in that horrible position.
Tootling around in the US that Sky-Med insurance will transport us back to our familiar hospital near home. If one has ever needed medical attention on the road in an unfamiliar area it's not easy or particularly good.
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Sounds like Chuck Norris may use these guys.
My mom got a medevac from BG KY to Nashville about 20 minutes airtime . Little over 68k.. Between MC and Tricare, there was no out oif pocket cost.
Murph
Yep, My helo ride for heart attack was about 30 minutes and $27k (after insurance adjusted it). My part was a bit over $5k with BC/BS. BTW, it was the worst flight I've ever been on. No movies, no drinks, no peanuts... just tie down straps and claustrophobia.
Secondary insurance or a rider on an existing healthcare policy is a MUST. Please allow me to explain why these costs are so high.
I work at a critical access hospital on a mountain that must fly critical patents out to larger facilities once we stabilize them and I also know one of the owners of our primary air service company. The cost info he has shared with me is astronomical. The aircraft start around 7 million, but those are so small they can only carry light loads at or near sea level. The more capable aircraft are 10-12 million EACH and they must purchase and maintain a fleet of them. Next is paying/training/certifying crews, operational expenses, and insuring everything. And like our health insurance, the fixed costs just keep going up.
One major difference with these folks is, they are looking for skilled labor in multiple shortage fields. Just one example, finding nurses has gotten so bad that most facilities are resorting to sponsoring trained staff from Asia and Eastern Europe. Now complicate that with needing find folks willing to be on an air crew and you are suddenly looking for hot pink unicorns - and that's just the nurses! Most aircraft have a crew of 3, nurse, EMT, and pilot and then they need to have a staff large enough to cover shifts 24/7/365 - it's a small army for most of those regional providers. I have no idea how they pull it off and you would be surprised how many simply fold or sell out to competitors.
So those high costs get passed on to the patients using the services, and most insurers don't cover aircraft services AT ALL! And insurers that do have a very low negotiated rate that may have worked on the Wright Flyer back in the early 1900's, but definitely not now!
I work at a critical access hospital on a mountain that must fly critical patents out to larger facilities once we stabilize them and I also know one of the owners of our primary air service company. The cost info he has shared with me is astronomical. The aircraft start around 7 million, but those are so small they can only carry light loads at or near sea level. The more capable aircraft are 10-12 million EACH and they must purchase and maintain a fleet of them. Next is paying/training/certifying crews, operational expenses, and insuring everything. And like our health insurance, the fixed costs just keep going up.
One major difference with these folks is, they are looking for skilled labor in multiple shortage fields. Just one example, finding nurses has gotten so bad that most facilities are resorting to sponsoring trained staff from Asia and Eastern Europe. Now complicate that with needing find folks willing to be on an air crew and you are suddenly looking for hot pink unicorns - and that's just the nurses! Most aircraft have a crew of 3, nurse, EMT, and pilot and then they need to have a staff large enough to cover shifts 24/7/365 - it's a small army for most of those regional providers. I have no idea how they pull it off and you would be surprised how many simply fold or sell out to competitors.
So those high costs get passed on to the patients using the services, and most insurers don't cover aircraft services AT ALL! And insurers that do have a very low negotiated rate that may have worked on the Wright Flyer back in the early 1900's, but definitely not now!
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