Major Medical Evacuations And Travel Insurance
Article by Josh Harrison
Many people have thoughts about what happens to them or their family members if they should become ill or have an accident while they are travelling, especially if their trip takes them overseas. If you have family travel insurance, you should check to see if it includes major medical evacuations. If by chance you and your family are considering a holiday without the benefit of travel insurance, you should definitely reconsider! If something untoward should take place while you are away, the costs can add up very quickly, and they can be astronomical.The main question people want the answer to is ?How will I/we get home?? The travel industry calls this ?repatriation?, which means that you or your ailing loved one would return home in an air ambulance, charter plane, or sometimes a commercial air flight, and be accompanied by a medical assistance team because of an illness or an accidental injury so serious that you would be better off in a hospital that is local to you. Normally, the rest of the family, except one member who may opt to accompany the sick or injured person, will be transported home in the most cost-efficient way, normally by commercial air.Why couldn?t you just stay in hospital wherever you happen to be? First of all, not every country has medical care of the quality that is available to you in Australia. Second, it can be a lot more expensive to be a patient in a foreign hospital than you might imagine. Repatriation is not cheap, either, but the rates charged to foreign patients in some countries for hospital care can outweigh the cost of an evacuation. It is better all around to get that patient back to his or her native land and into hospital there.The cost for an air ambulance transport back to Australia can be as much as ,000 to 0,000. This amount has to be paid up front before the transport can begin ? no exceptions. How many people do you know who would be able to come up with this kind of money in an emergency medical situation? Thankfully, with insurance for travel, you need not worry about a situation like this. If the unthinkable should happen, and you or a family member should die from an accident or an illness while you are on holiday, your travel insurance will also pay to return the mortal remains of the insured to your home city.Repatriation is not an easy job. Assistance companies take on the job of transporting the injured and sick insured for the various insurance travel insurers. They must know how to read medical reports and speak to foreign doctors, so that they can assess whether or not it is safe for a patient to fly home. They need the ability to shift their thinking and be an amateur psychologist, as oft-times the patient, the patient?s doctors, nurses, or relatives all have different ideas about whether or not the patient is well enough to be transported home.The assistance company must definitely know whether or not the patient has an infection that is contagious. Many airlines will not allow a patient with an infectious disease on a commercial flight, nor will they get through border controls. This makes it quite difficult to find any means of transportation other than a chartered air ambulance in order to get the ailing traveller home. No matter what means of travel is selected, there is a lot of paperwork to be completed before take-off can occur. These companies are vitally dedicated to their work.Having family travel insurance means that you and yours can travel with no worries about what the outcome will be if one or all of you becomes ill or has an unexpected accident.
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Source: http://www.compareinsurance-rates.com/major-medical-evacuations-and-travel-insurance
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