Does anyone have air ambulance insurance (supplimental to health insurance)?

[LoveBWVVBR]

Our high deductable health plan only covers 4K/person in the event of an air ambulance emergency ride. Since these can run in excess of 20K/person, this gap in coverage scares me. I've read that you can buy supplimental insurance for like $50/year, but I can't seem to find any reliable info on these policies. Does anyone have this and, if so, can you please recommend carriers to check out? Thanks!

 

[amyjo920]

I've never heard of the air ambulance insurance other than through the company itself. If that is the case, find out if you have more than one life flight in your area. A lot of people around here have bought a subscription to one or the other, but in the case that they need one, they do not necessarily end up transported by the same one. When it comes to needing airlifted, we call the one with the closest response whether you have subscriptions or not.
If you are at the point that we have to fly you, you need to get there the quickest way possible. Also, are you in a rural area or in the city? That makes a big difference. If you are in a city with a trauma center, burn center, large selection of doctors, then you will likely never need to be transported by life flight (going by most city standards). By the time they responded,landed, and got you loaded back up, you could be almost to the hospital.

 

[tammymacb]

It's included in my DAN insurance. ( Divers Alert Network ) it's inexpensive and covers being airlifted out of countries that don't have the medical facilities an injured diver would need.

I don't know if there is a non diver DAN policy.

 

[LoveBWVVBR]

I've never heard of the air ambulance insurance other than through the company itself. If that is the case, find out if you have more than one life flight in your area. A lot of people around here have bought a subscription to one or the other, but in the case that they need one, they do not necessarily end up transported by the same one. When it comes to needing airlifted, we call the one with the closest response whether you have subscriptions or not.
If you are at the point that we have to fly you, you need to get there the quickest way possible. Also, are you in a rural area or in the city? That makes a big difference. If you are in a city with a trauma center, burn center, large selection of doctors, then you will likely never need to be transported by life flight (going by most city standards). By the time they responded,landed, and got you loaded back up, you could be almost to the hospital.

We do have a trauma center here but sometimes they also life-flight people to Orlando. I was actually thinking more of when we drive between here (Melbourne area) and Orlando. If you're mid-way in between on 528 a life flight would be faster than trying to get to the trauma center in either city by regular ground ambulance. I see air ambulances coming into our trauma center regularly, so I just figured that it was a possibility. I hate not to be insured for this. It seems like we lost a lot of coverages when DH's company switched to this kind of health insurance.

Is it possible to buy a suppliment through the health insurance company itself when the plan is done through work? Maybe that is a possibility?

 

[amyjo920]

That probably depends on the health insurance itself if they have a supplement. That makes sense for them to do it in between the two cities. I actually live and work in the middle of nowhere so we use it all the time. When I worked in the city where we had everything available, I think I used them 1 time in 3 years and that was for something like you just described. It's one of those things that I see as a waste of money. That is, unless you end up needing it. Then you are thankful to have it. If you can find it for $50-$100/year, I think it would be worth it for the peace of mind.

 

[bettymae1121]

Maybe see if your insurance company offers a high deductable plan that fully covers it, you may find you also get other coverages that are worth the higher premium.

 

[johnsontrio]

It's included in my DAN insurance. ( Divers Alert Network ) it's inexpensive and covers being airlifted out of countries that don't have the medical facilities an injured diver would need.

I don't know if there is a non diver DAN policy.

We have the family DAN coverage but I assumed that it only covers dive related injury or illness. If you are out of the country and experience a non-dive related event, are you still covered?

 

[CowboyCO]

Our high deductable health plan only covers 4K/person in the event of an air ambulance emergency ride. Since these can run in excess of 20K/person, this gap in coverage scares me. I've read that you can buy supplimental insurance for like $50/year, but I can't seem to find any reliable info on these policies. Does anyone have this and, if so, can you please recommend carriers to check out? Thanks!

It's very smart to look into it. When my first son was born, DW had to be airlifted to Denver from Wyoming. Called the insurance and they said we were covered for air ambulance. Afterwards we found out the benefit was capped at $500. For a helicopter. It was $50,000.

I hate government insurance plans...

 

[Evi]

My insurance only covers 1k. But I know it can be expensive my friend and her husband have this option on their insurance but then again they travel all over the world for work. I know they pay about $800 each a month on medical insurance. So I'd say unless you really need it I wouldn't opt for it. I think its the kind of thing you can add on for when you travel or if you were going for a particular activity. Unless you live far from a large medical facility I wouldn't pony up for it.