Safety and planning for Adventure trips

[Chitza]

For those who have traveled out of country on adventure trips, did/do you make provisions for health insurance, ambulance/jet service or towing?

I found MedJet at $240 temporary coverage for a 30 day trip. Pretty much all inclusive. I plan to call my health insurance provider and find out what is covered and expect to need a rider policy. Anyone with experience on this topic?

[Brian A]

for the money SPOT is nearly unbeatable. If for nothing more than knowing that in 99% of circumstances, your position can be pinpointed and one of a few different messages can be delivered, via e-mail and/or SMS Text, to friends/family (you sent those up). The SPOT "911" function will serve to get notification to local EMS, but from that point on you are at the mercy of whatever local EMS is available. Far better than nothing, but still sketchy in some areas (especially outside the US).

http://www.findmespot.com/en/#


A great value benefit to add to SPOT is GOES service. GOES is a completely different company but uses your SPOT account and info to provide their service to you. In the event of a more serious emergency incident, they will go the next step and coordinate local rescue if needed and, as I read it, sort of be a liaison between friends/family/S&R.

Also, they offer medical repatriation reimbursement insurance. It's so inexpensive, it is a no-brainer.

http://www.geosalliance.com/

A full "ICE" document on your person is important.
Emergency contacts.
Medical conditions, drug allergies, etc. etc.
Doctor at home info.
Insurance info.
everything you can think to cram on it.

Computers are ubiquitous and I have read of people carrying an ICE thumb drive with all medical and emergency info on it.
I will probably do that prior to Alaska. You never know and I figure it is far better to have and not need than to need and not have.

Also, a very good first aid kit is a must. But I'm guessing you know that already.

[jrobinson]

Unless it has changed, MedJet only covers hospital to hospital transport. This won't help if you are in the boonies and need to be flown to a hospital.

http://www.huntsvillemedflight.com/Huntsville_MedFlight/LifeShield_Alliance_Insurance.html
offers insurance for air medical transport.

[Chitza]

Looks good, Johnny. I don't see international coverage in their plan but I will call later to find out. Thanks.

[jrobinson]

BTW, Air medical transport insurance is good for everybody, even more so when riding a motorcycle. In Jackson County, Helicopter is put on ground standby for ALL motorcycle accidents as soon as the call comes into the 911 center. First Responders and/or Paramedics make the call to launch or stand-down when they arrive on scene. I've heard cost to fly is in $15,000 range.

We'll put you on a helo whether you have insurance or not.

To me $69 a year is pretty good insurance. The link I posted covers any air medical transport. Some of the insurance only cover their own fleet.

[Gam]

In spite of all the research I did, I can't remember who I finally wound up using, but I got medical insurance just for that and evacuation insurance, and I made sure for a fact that the coverage was good in Costa Rica, it seems like some of those policies only reimbursed after the smoke had cleared, others paid right then and there, you don't want to be denied treatment because you can't pay right then. The guy I was with cracked his ankle and eventually broke it good (it's a long story and why I never really posted much about that trip), lucky for him a visit to the closest clinica was $35.00 including x-rays and later on a big pain shot in the @ss was less than that.

Oh yeah, make sure the insurance does not have an exclusion for motorcycles, better yet make sure it covers motorcycles.