Cost of Medical Evacuation?

I am beginning to research travel insurance policies for Canada/New England next year. My tendency is not to "over insure"--never insure anything if you could financially bear the loss. If we had to cancel our cruise at the last minute would we wince with pain if we lost our entire cruise fare....of course we would. Would it kill us financially.....of course not.

That being said, there are some aspects of the cruise that I feel need to be insured, the most notable being medical evacuation which I'm sure could be a very big ticket item if needed and this is the main reason we have always carried travel insurance for our cruises. However, in comparing 3 plans side by side I am seeing two plans that will cover medical evacuation up to $10,000 and one plan that will cover up to $1 million. That's a huge difference! Does anyone have experience with medical evacuation who could tell me if $10,000 is enough coverage? I have no clue what it would cost to airlift someone from a cruise ship but I'm sure it would be far more than the cost of the cruise. Any help would be appreciated.

I have no personal experience with medical evacuations, but if you should have to be evacuated from a foreign country via air ambulance, the $10,000 probably won't be sufficient for the down payment!

I don't believe that the US Coast Guard is charging for their rescue services (yet), but don't whether or not foreign Coast Guards charge.

Medical evacuations of course differ in price depending on how close to shore the ship is. I suspect "New England color cruises" for example, would be on the "cheap" side; transatlantic cruises the more expensive. They also would vary depending on where in the world you are, and getting you safely to a modern hospital. Generally the prices I've seen start at around $30,000 and go up...significantly. I don't think the $10,000 would cover much of anything.

My great aunt died on a cruise about 9 years ago and it cost $10,000 to get her home from Jamaica and it took 2 weeks. Can't imagine what it would cost for a real medical evac from a far off country.

We carry year round insurance (DH travels quite a bit on business) thru Medjet Assist. The cost is about $375 for a family for the year.

I would say $25-$50K.

It depends on where you are needing medical evac?

Think between here and Hawaii would cost quite a bit compared to being on a ship within a few hours of Florida.

We carry year round insurance (DH travels quite a bit on business) thru Medjet Assist. The cost is about $375 for a family for the year.

Medjet is just plain awesome! It will get you to your home hospital! Most of us wouldn't be too thrilled to be brought to the closest Mexican Hospital or Haitian Hospital for medical services.

I would say $25-$50K.

Princess standard travel insurance includes $25k for emergency medical evacuation. The platinum plan covers up to $50K. I book my cruises on my AMEX gold card which also covers $25K for emergency medical evacuation.

Looks like you live in CA, and the cruise is in or close to US hospitals, so while $10k might not be quite enough to get you home on this trip, the Princess $25k standard probably would be.

If you are planning on doing some traveling really outside the US, Medjet Assist is a great option on top of basic travel insurance.

As soon as DH retires, and we start going farther afield, the Medjet Assist annual policy will be one of our first purchases. For now, the higher level of Princess coverage suffices for us.

Medical evacuation insurance is not for "lifting" you off a cruse ship. The US Coast Guard does not bill for this, other countries it may be that do bill. Med evacuation inusrance is used when you need to go to a facility that can treat your illness or condition. You may not even be at sea. Say you are at a port, or maybe you are not on a cruise but on a land tour of some country and have a major accident/illness and get taken to a local hospital, they are not equipped to treat your condition. You are transferred to a hospital that can handle your needed treatment. You pay for the transfer in some way. If you have Med. Evacuation Insurance it will pay for the transfer to the better facility. if you have enough insurance and you need to be transferred to a hospital in your city, it would pay for that. The transfer stateside would have to be called for by a stateside Drs., perhaps you own.

We were on a Mexican Rivera cruise last may and my son was in a jet ski accident in Cabo. Between the Mexico hospital bill of 14,000 for the 5 or 6 hours he was there and the Life flight from Cabo to San Deigo $31,000 for a total of $46,000. I know that the life flight was based on mileage so depending on where you are cruising you could burn up 10,000 really fast.

For Antarctic cruise, people usually get $500,000 but that is

pretty remote (obviously). I don't think medivac would be too

pricey from your destination, however.

We always take the plan with $500,000 of coverage for medical evacuation. That is the first thing I check out when deciding which insurance plan to purchase.

There are at least 2 important choices to be made when it comes to Medivac limits.

1. Where will the insured party be taken? Unless you are careful and understand the coverage, it is likely you may well opt for a lower cost option. Typically that means the insurer can transfer to the facility of THEIR choice which they deem meets the medical needs, in their opinion. There is definitely coverage available for being transfered to the medical facility of YOUR choice. It costs more and you might decide it's worth it to be returned to the US rather than to a location in say Russia or Uruguay or wherever.

2. If you choose to have the option in your hands, then the limits need to high enough to have transport from a remote location back to the states (most CC readers are probably in the US).

If you want to have the choice in your hands my guess is, and it's only a guess, that you would need at least $100,000 of coverage and better yet, $250,000.

If you have to be evacuated from Europe, you will probably be bankrupt without this insurance. Ask yourself: how much can I afford to pay out-of-pocket?

We were on a Mexican Rivera cruise last may and my son was in a jet ski accident in Cabo. Between the Mexico hospital bill of 14,000 for the 5 or 6 hours he was there and the Life flight from Cabo to San Deigo $31,000 for a total of $46,000. I know that the life flight was based on mileage so depending on where you are cruising you could burn up 10,000 really fast.

Huh? That sounds really expensive! Was he treated surgically in Cabo? What's the mileage between Cabo and San Diego? Something doesn't sound right here, but I don't know. Did you have trip insurance? Hope your son is OK.

I am beginning to research travel insurance policies for Canada/New England next year. My tendency is not to "over insure"--never insure anything if you could financially bear the loss. If we had to cancel our cruise at the last minute would we wince with pain if we lost our entire cruise fare....of course we would. Would it kill us financially.....of course not.

 

That being said, there are some aspects of the cruise that I feel need to be insured, the most notable being medical evacuation which I'm sure could be a very big ticket item if needed and this is the main reason we have always carried travel insurance for our cruises. However, in comparing 3 plans side by side I am seeing two plans that will cover medical evacuation up to $10,000 and one plan that will cover up to $1 million. That's a huge difference! Does anyone have experience with medical evacuation who could tell me if $10,000 is enough coverage? I have no clue what it would cost to airlift someone from a cruise ship but I'm sure it would be far more than the cost of the cruise. Any help would be appreciated.

So much depends upon where you are cruising and where you are being evacuated to.

If you google "cost of cruise ship medical evacuation" or some such, there is a lot of information, some first person experiences, some insurance info.

I think a lot would depend upon who evacuates also. If the Coast Guard handled it, the cost probably wouldn't be as high as if a Medical Evacuation unit from another country might be.

While it has been awhile since I have read policies but most medi vac policies will only evac you to the closest hospital that can provide service. That is why med jet assist seems impressive. They will take you from anywhere they can physically get (local hospital, etc...) and evac you to any hospital where a doctor is willing to admit you (IMO - home).

Smartblonde - I would be curious about some more details - first, I hope your son is ok. Who provided the medi vac to San Diego and who paid for it - what type of insurance did you have?

Maybe someone can give you better info. for a Canadian cruise, but if they have to airlift you to a major city for treatment ....

I had to be airlifted from the out islands of the Bahamas to Nassau and the jet ride alone would have been $30 K without insurance ....

My great aunt died on a cruise about 9 years ago and it cost $10,000 to get her home from Jamaica and it took 2 weeks. Can't imagine what it would cost for a real medical evac from a far off country.

 

We carry year round insurance (DH travels quite a bit on business) thru Medjet Assist. The cost is about $375 for a family for the year.

Never mind far off country. It costs in the neighborhood of $15,000.00 to go 3-500 miles and that is for NON-emergency aeromed-evac. As a case manager who often does repatriations, if you budget for $50K or more, you are being a wise person.

1993: $50K Chicago-PDX

Never mind far off country. It costs in the neighborhood of $15,000.00 to go 3-500 miles and that is for NON-emergency aeromed-evac. As a case manager who often does repatriations, if you budget for $50K or more, you are being a wise person.

Karen - Do you have any factual info on what the Coast Guard does (and doesn't) do, where they go 9don't go) and charge (don'tcharge)??? thanks - ken

2pbears, I always look at the evacuation coverage first and go for the one with $500,000. It may sound like alot, but I would rather have more, than not enough. A typical policy for a 9 day Caribbean cruise costs about $140.00-$150.00 total for me and my husband. We are both in our mid 50's. Hope this helps.

There seems to be some confusion about Medjet Assist. I just started getting this two years ago. I buy annual family policies (to cover all trips for the year), and as an AARP member, I believe the total cost is less than $300. (I don't recall exactly how much)

This is the only insurance I buy. I figure that if I can afford the cost of a cruise, I can also afford to lose that amount and not cruise, and currently my Blue Cross - Blue Shield medical coverage through my employer is worldwide. Since I have traveled to more than 100 countries and never had to cancel, I figure financially I am far ahead so far. And, yes, I realize I am playing roulette.

Medjet Assist does not pay to evacuate by helicopter off a ship. It is a wonderful policy which pays to evacuate from any hospital worldwide to any hospital of your choice in the U.S. Clearly, you have to get to the first hospital at your own cost. That is usually not terribly expensive, unless you are a mountain climber, jungle explorer, or on a cruise ship in need of immediate evacuation.

So why, as a frequent cruiser, am I not concerned with the helicopter evacuation off a ship? Because it is so extremely rare. In twenty some cruises I have never seen this happen. That is probably around 40,000 passengers who have cruised without needing a ship to shore evacuation. I have certainly experienced delays and port cancellations because a cruise ship needed to get to port to evacuate a sick individual, but never a ship to shore evacuation. I suppose one can argue that I am gambling perhaps up to $50K that this remote possibility will not happen to me, but we make far more severe gambles all the time. Like driving from VA to NJ on the day before Thanksgiving to be with my family. That gamble is with my life, given how many accidents there are on that day, not to mention driving on New Years eve and numerous other holidays. So, we all do gambles based on cost-benefit analysis, and, in my mind, the obscure possibility of a helicopter evacuation does not warrant a much more expensive policy (Remember, I get annual family policies to cover all trips for the year for my wife and me).

IMHO, anyway.

Bill

Karen - Do you have any factual info on what the Coast Guard does (and doesn't) do, where they go 9don't go) and charge (don'tcharge)??? thanks - ken

Don't think the CG puts out a public cost sheet.