I just learned of the existence of medical emergency evacuation insurance through a contact who traveled to Africa with his wife and severely allergic daughter. I found it very reassuring to learn that this coverage exists, as I had never heard of it before, and it makes the prospect of long distance travel with my son with life threatening food allergies more appealing.
Some tour companies supply coverage automatically, when you travel through them. For example, the company @BeyondAfrica says on their website that:
“We strongly recommend that you take out adequate travel insurance when confirming your booking. This should cover any medical situation (such as hospitalization), as well as cancellation or curtailment of arrangements and loss of your baggage. When you travel with &Beyond, you are automatically covered by our emergency evacuation insurance. This provides emergency medical services / evacuation to hospital should you suffer either severe illness or injury at one of our lodges. As this is for emergency evacuation only, it does not cover the cost of treatment once in hospital and in no way replaces your normal travel insurance, which must be purchased prior to travel.”
Source: http://www.andbeyondafrica.com Accessed June 11, 2012
If you are not booking with a tour company that provides this coverage, you may purchase emergency medical evacuation insurance independently for any trip through companies like Global Rescue. A Global Rescue medical evacuation membership provides:
- 24/7 medical advice and support from world class physicians at Johns Hopkins Medicine
- Medical evacuations from anywhere in the world to your choice of home-country hospital, any time you are more than 160 miles from home and need hospitalization
- Field rescues for medical emergencies requiring hospitalization in the event you are in a remote location and cannot get to a hospital on your own
- Lost medication [imagine losing all your EpiPens], visa and passport assistance, legal referrals, and more
Source: https://www.globalrescue.com/plans.cfm Accessed June 11, 2012
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Thanks for posting this information!!!