Here at Medjet, 2018 saw some of our most complicated (and most expensive, ever) retrievals of members from all over the world. We actually welcome more of them in 2019, because that’s what we do ~ get our ill or injured
members back home. If you’ve ever had an emergency while traveling, I’m sure you can relate to the value of having someone, who treats you like a member, not a claim number, to call for help. We know
that many of our members purchase Medjet for the big international trip, but we do a LOT of domestic transports too, so don’t forget that it works ANY time you are more than 150 miles from home. You never know when an illness or injury could
happen!
We transported members from countries all over the world, including Singapore, Thailand, Japan, Australia, Portugal, Spain, Chile, and more. Of course, we also did lots of domestic transports, from North Carolina, California, Virginia, Texas, and everywhere
in between. If you’ve ever wondered how our transports work, we have an excellent team of people who handle the entire process. There’s no paperwork trying to prove the transfer is “medically necessary” or that
the hospital you’re unhappy being stuck in is not an “acceptable facility”… all a hospitalized Medjet member has to do is pick up the phone and call us. Our transport team then consults with
the current hospital’s attending physician and our Consult Physician to ensure the patient is stable for transport, that there will be a hospital bed available upon arrival, and decide whether to transport via air ambulance or
business class commercial airline, with a Medical Escort Nurse attending.
The illnesses and injuries that we saw were all over the board as well. Some of the reasons for hospitalization included broken bones, several adventure-related injuries (remember, we don’t exclude adventure travel!), skiing accidents, respiratory
issues, stomach illnesses, motorcycle accidents, and many more. It’s cruise season, and each year we deal with a LOT of slip and fall injuries, so please remember to be extra cautious when embarking and disembarking the ship!
We also did several mortal remains transports. These are the saddest transports we have to do, but it is a service we provide to all of our members if they expire while traveling. The last thing a family should have to deal with while grieving a loved
one is coordinating their transport back home.
To give you a better idea of the massive value of your Medjet membership, the cost of these transports can be very expensive! Remember, we pay for the entire cost of transport, the member pays nothing! We had one injury (motorcycle
related) where the member had paid $140 for short-term protection that saved the member $140,000. Other record breakers this year included $175,899 from Palanpur, India, $155,686 from Addu City, Maldives, and $132,800 from Chang Rai,
Thailand. We regularly see transports in the 6-figure range internationally and in the 5-figure range domestically.
Not a day goes by that we aren’t communicating with and helping our members, around the clock. Emergencies don’t wait, and as we always say--we hope you never need us, but we’re here when you do.
We wish you a happy, healthy and adventurous New Year!
Highest Regards,
John Gobbels, COO