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What is emergency medical evacuation insurance and why do expats need it? We cover everything you need to know about emergency medical evacuation insurance if you work or live abroad.
Qian Huang
International Claims Manager
Emergency medical evacuation – also known as medevac – is when a person is transported to a hospital or clinic, generally by air, as a result of becoming very ill or suffering an injury overseas. The reason why emergency medical evacuation may be required is if the treatment required is not available at the local hospital.
Emergency medical evacuation insurance is important for expats as healthcare systems in some countries may not meet the same standards as you would expect to receive in your home country. Medical evacuation ensures safe and efficient transport should you suffer a serious illness or injury to a suitable hospital.
Emergency medical evacuation coverage is part of every international health insurance plan here at William Russell, but levels of cover can vary. All our plans come with Medevac Basic as standard, which:
Talk to William Russell about making sure you have the right level of emergency medical evacuation insurance to suit you and your family.
As mentioned earlier, emergency medical evacuation is included in all of our plans with Medevac Basic. You can also add on an optional higher level of cover for emergency medical evacuations with Medevac Plus which gives you additional benefits, at a higher premium.
Here’s a breakdown of what is covered with Medevac Basic and Medevac Plus:
(Cover limits per policy year unless otherwise stated)
It’s important that you know what isn’t covered with our Medevac benefit. If you have any questions about coverage, please call one of our policy advisors for help.
Here are some medical expenses we do not cover under our Medevac benefit:
Most international health insurance plans, including ours, offer medical evacuation as standard cover. How much your international insurance plan costs will depend on your circumstances and the level of cover you choose. But not having medical evacuation cover can be very expensive. Without insurance, you could face the practically impossible situation of organising a medical evacuation when you have a serious medical condition or critical accident.
The table below gives a rough idea of what transportation by air ambulance could cost in some popular vacation destinations, although costs will vary depending on individual cases and needs.
Step 1
A member (or their representative) calls our 24/7 emergency medical assistance helpline to notify us of an emergency.
Step 2
Our operations team assesses the situation on the ground, while our medical team establishes the particulars of the member’s medical condition.
Step 3
We organise the evacuation destination and the means of transport that best suit the member’s interests. We take several criteria into account, including severity of the member’s medical condition and air ambulance availability.
Step 4
With the member’s admission secured at a destination hospital, we dispatch transport. We collect the member from their medical team on the ground and get them to an air ambulance.
Emergency medical evacuations can be daunting. Rest assured that with William Russell you will have 24/7 access to our rapid response teams who are trained professionals available to help with all aspects of your claim, including:
We’ve made it as easy as possible for you to claim for an emergency medical evacuation, and you can call one of our policy advisors at any time for help. To claim, simply tell us by following these steps:
Download our claims form by clicking on the link below.
Complete the form and send it back to us at claims@william-russell.com.
Once we have assessed your claim, we’ll be in touch to confirm the next steps.
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The quickest way to reach us is by email.
Still got questions about emergency medical evacuation? We want to provide you with an insurance policy you can rely on, so it is important that you fully understand the scope of the cover we provide. Answers to the most common questions on emergency medical evacuation are here, but feel free to get in touch and speak to our team. We’d be glad to help.
Expats, digital nomads and those working abroad may need medical evacuation insurance. This can be especially true if you’re in a country where the healthcare system doesn’t offer the best quality.
Medevac insurance may also be important if you live or work in remote locations with limited healthcare facilities and transport infrastructure. Read a story from our member about how emergency medical evacuation helped their child in Mauritius.
It may make sense to have medical evacuation insurance if you’re:
For travellers on short-term trips, you may want to have a travel insurance policy with medical evacuation cover.
For anyone planning to live or work overseas for 6+ months, you may want an international health insurance plan that covers medical evacuation.
It depends on your travel insurance company or your international health insurance provider. If your insurance policy covers evacuation, in many cases, it’s the insurance company’s decision.
They will base their judgement on the medical information you provide and your unique circumstances. A licensed doctor can also make the request, but the final decision may lie with your insurer.
It will usually be your insurance company’s medical team who will evaluate your unique medical circumstances. They will find the best and closest medical facility that’s reachable by air or ground transport.
They will also collaborate with the medical facility they choose for your medical needs before your arrival. This way, a specialist medical team will be ready upon your arrival.
It will always depend on your specific insurance policy, with its unique coverage and exclusions.
With William Russell, if you have COVID-19 and, as a result, develop a life-threatening condition requiring urgent care that you can’t receive in your local area, then you’ll have coverage for medical evacuation.
Look for full coverage for transportation costs to the nearest medical facility in even the most basic travel or international health insurance policies.
Extra coverage may include:
Travel insurance plans may include medevac. But you may need more than just international travel insurance when living overseas. As well as insurance coverage for illness or injury abroad, our international health insurance gives you 24/7 access to our specialist support team, who can help you navigate unfamiliar hospital settings and language barriers.
In health insurance language, a domestic evacuation is when you have emergency transportation to an appropriate hospital or medical facility within the same country. This could be by road, sea or air with life-saving medical equipment in the vehicle. If you become seriously ill or injured while working on a remote island, for example, you may be flown by air ambulance or private plane to a hospital in the nearest city on the mainland.
International evacuation is like domestic insurance, but you’ll cross national borders to access the best hospitals. Domestic health insurance policies don’t typically include international evacuation.
Repatriation insurance covers you for transportation back to your home country for ongoing or emergency medical treatment. It’s often an option to add it on to your international health insurance.
Medically necessary repatriation can vary in cost, depending on whether you are able to board a commercial flight, but – without cover – the average cost can be around US$25,000.
The key difference is that repatriation insurance covers your transportation to your home country, whether you finished your treatment in the location we evacuated you to or you still need ongoing medical care.
There are a number of reasons why repatriation could be necessary, with the key reason being access to specialist care that is not available in the country where you became ill.
Some people actually choose repatriation as they would prefer to be cared for at a familiar hospital with friends and family close by. If this sounds like you, make sure you choose an international health insurance plan that covers repatriation.
You can purchase local medevac cover alongside the cover you get from your William Russell plan. We appreciate that local providers might be quicker and have lower thresholds for evacuation. We only ask that, if you need a medevac, you decide between using the William Russell medevac service or your local provider’s service. If you choose to go with the local provider, but it doesn’t work out, we can step in—provided your medical situation is eligible.
All the benefits on this webpage are per member per policy year, unless we state otherwise. We show the benefit limits in US dollars, but we can also denominate your policy in pounds sterling or Euros. You won’t find complete information for our plans on this webpage, nor the full T&Cs, limitations, and exclusions that would apply if you purchase a health insurance policy. You can find complete information in the plan agreement, which we suggest you read together with this webpage. We work hard to ensure the information we provide on this webpage is accurate and up-to-date, but inaccuracies are possible. We rectify errors as soon as we become aware of them. The T&Cs that apply to your policy are those found in your plan agreement.
At William Russell, we have over 30 years’ experience of helping expatriates move abroad and settle into their new lives overseas by providing world-class international health insurance.
Joe Holden Global Relationship Manager
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