The purpose of emergency medical evacuation is to transport you to appropriate medical facilities when you experience a serious illness or injury while traveling in places with limited medical resources.

When facing a medical emergency in a remote location or where local medical facilities cannot adequately treat your condition, this coverage arranges and pays for your transportation to the nearest suitable medical facility. This might involve an air ambulance, helicopter transport, or a specially equipped jet with medical staff.

The core purpose is straightforward: ensuring you receive potentially life-saving care when local facilities cannot provide the treatment you need.

Most comprehensive travel insurance policies will include medvac coverage as a standard benefit. So while there are plans that are only created for medical evacuation, it’s a better deal to get a travel insurance plan.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, even the simplest emergency evacuation can cost upwards of $100,000. If you're in a very remote area, costs can easily exceed $250,000.

Anyone traveling overseas should have emergency medical evacuation insurance. With an emergency medical evacuation plan, the insurance plan provider arranges the transportation so you don't have to worry about the details. Plus, you won't have to pay for an expensive emergency medical evacuation out of pocket.

Without medevac coverage:

• You'll need to organize your own emergency transportation
• You'll pay the entire cost out-of-pocket
• You might face dangerous delays getting proper care

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Emergency medical evacuation is recommended for:

• Individuals and families traveling to remote destinations. Because many places in the world don't have easy access to medical care, purchasing medical evacuation insurance is important in protecting your health. This is especially important for missionaries and other foreign aid workers.

• Older travelers and seniors face higher chances of needing emergency care during trips. Especially if you have a health history and face a medical emergency related to your pre-existing conditions, you can request medical evacuation back home so your primary physician can treat you.

• Business travelers working abroad. If you're working abroad, you may have access to the foreign country's healthcare system. But if something happens that requires you to be transported home, you won't be adequately covered.

• Cruise-goers. Generally, the medical facilities on a cruise ship are very limited. If you face an emergency, you will need to be medically evacuated to the nearest port or hospital.

• Adventure travelers participating in high risk activities, such as hiking, climbing, diving, or even safari trips, should have high medical evacuation coverage since you will have higher injury risk and limited access to medical facilities.

Modern cruise ships typically feature updated medical facilities that are staffed by doctors and nurses (independent contractors) and equipped to treat minor injuries and illnesses. Some ships have digital X-ray machines, cardiac life support systems, and telemedicine systems to communicate in real-time with specialists on shore, but remember you will be charged for everything the medical staff does to help you get well.

For every serious condition, such as a stroke or heart attack, the cruise medical staff will arrange to have the patient evacuated off the cruise ship to the nearest hospital on shore as quickly as possible. Many modern cruise ships have helipads specifically for this reason but for ships without a helipad, these situations are stressful, dangerous, difficult and costly

Cruise ship ‘protection plans’ have little coverage for emergency medical transportation because they are sold by the cruise companies and heavily weighted in their favor.

Here are a few cruise ship facts that you may not be aware of:

• The ship’s doctor will determine if you need to disembark for medical treatment. If this happens, you will need to disembark, either at the next port or by evacuation.


• No matter where the ship is registered, medical care falls under ACEP guidelines and has no connection to the flag the ship is flying.


• The cruise ship captain and crew have no responsibility to get a sick passenger to a safe harbor to find medical care – no matter how sick they are.


• The cruise ship’s medical staff are independent contractors and free to charge whatever they want.


• Your account will have to be settled at the conclusion of your cruise. This includes medical charges.

Read the fine print in your cruise documents to understand your financial responsibilities.

Travel medical insurance companies have representatives with foreign language skills and can make necessary arrangements to airlift you to the nearest medical facility. Investing in travel insurance can help you stay safe and protected on your next cruise.

When it comes to planning a trip overseas, one major detail that many travelers overlook is the amount of potential risks that come with visiting a foreign land or exploring an unfamiliar area. Getting sick or injured on an international trip is a traveler's worst nightmare. Medical emergencies can completely derail your vacation plans, and it's also stressful.

How will you find a doctor? Can the local hospital provide high-quality healthcare? How much will treatment cost?

Should an unfortunate event occur, such as a natural disaster, a severe and unexpected illness or injury in a remote area, or even a situation of political unrest, it’s possible that you may need emergency medical care. With emergency medical transportation benefits you can be evacuated to safety or airlifted to a medical facility for proper treatment.

In terms of evacuation however, it’s important to note that there are different kinds based on the specific situation at hand

As stated above, medical evacuations focus mainly on providing transportation, often via air, to the nearest equipped medical facilities upon the occurrence of a severe and unexpected medical emergency requiring immediate care. Having medical evacuation coverage with some insurance policies will provide you with the treatment needed in a timely manner while protecting you from financial despair due to the high medical costs in foreign countries. Should the nearest medical facility be ill-equipped to treat you based on your condition, or becomes unable to handle the influx of patients brought in due to a catastrophic event, the insurance company will provide you with the coordination in your transportation to a facility that can provide you with the care and treatment needed.

Emergency evacuations are primarily for the evacuation of travelers from threatening or hazardous situations such as catastrophic weather conditions or large-scale accidents where their overall safety is potentially at risk. Such a situation could occur in the event of an accident on a cruise ship, during a hurricane while visiting a tropical island, or even a terrorist attack while visiting an unfamiliar country. When it comes to emergency evacuations, injury is not necessarily involved but having coverage for this will mean that the insurance company is responsible for your swift and safe removal from the situation at hand, rather than having to navigate the situation individually.

A political evacuation entails the evacuation of individuals in cases of crisis due to political unrest or military action. Much like emergency evacuation, having coverage for political evacuation can provide you with a safe removal from catastrophic situations where your safety and well-being is at risk. In the event of an emergency while traveling in a foreign country, the travel insurance company will arrange for you and your insured dependents to be evacuated immediately to a safer place.