Allianz Annual Travel Insurance Plan & Emergency Medical Evac

The main difference is that MedJet will take you to the hospital of your choice after you are stabilized. With most insurance, the insurance provider takes you to the nearest acceptable hospital. The insurance company decides when to repatriate you. Some people want the additional assurance that they could be treated at the hospital of their choice.

The coverage you describe would be sufficient for me, especially for European travel.

I have Medjet, but that is because I only needed evacuation coverage. My employer-provided health care plan covers me overseas. When I become medicare age, I will probably go with a plan like Allianz.

https://www.allianztravelinsurance.com/find-a-plan/alltrips-executive.htm
I have this, I keep it in force. The cost for a year seems extremely reasonable to me. The coverage is extensive.

This is what my Allianz plan states:

Emergency Evacuation (Transporting you to the nearest appropriate hospital)
If you become seriously ill or injured or develop a medical condition while on your trip and we determine that the local medical facilities are unable to provide appropriate medical treatment:
1. Our medical team will consult with the local doctor;
2. We will identify the closest appropriate hospital or other appropriate facility, make arrangements to transport you there, and pay for that transport; and
3. We will arrange and pay for a medical escort if we determine one is necessary.

Medical Repatriation (Getting you home after you receive care)
If you become seriously ill or injured or develop a medical condition while on your trip and our medical team confirms with the treating doctor that you are medically stable to travel, we will:
1. Arrange and pay for you to be transported via a commercial transportation carrier in the same class of service that you originally booked (unless otherwise medically necessary) for the return leg of your trip, less available refunds for unused tickets. The transportation will be to one of the following:
a. Your primary residence;
b. A location of your choice in the U.S.; or
c. A medical facility near your primary residence or in a location of your choice in the U.S. In either case, the medical facility must be willing and able to accept you as a patient and must be approved by our medical director as medically appropriate for your continued care.
2. Arrange and pay for a medical escort if our medical team determines that one is necessary.

SO they will FIRST take you to the nearest appropriate facility and THEN take you home or wherever you prefer to go. This seems totally reasonable to me. In most cases, even with Medjet, you would need to go somewhere local during the height of the emergency before going back to the US once medically stable.

GLeeful, I had the Allianz Premier All-Trips last year that covered two trips to Europe and Medjet Horizon annual plan. Fortunately I did not need to file a claim with either. Timing for this year's trip and next year's did not work within a year and I did not keep last year's plan enforce. If Allianz's coverage for over 70 y/o was $500k, I would have done so, but it drops to $50K. I bought Allianz because of the good reviews on the forum.
I posted this thread a few months about about evac insurance that may be helpful for you https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/general-europe/evacuation-insurance-why-to-buy
Kathy

I have both....and annual Allianz policy and a Medjet policy.

Allianz will fly you home on a commercial flight if medically necessary. But what if you are too ill to fly commercial? Medjet Assist will arrange for an air ambulance to get you home if they, and the doctor treating you, deems its necessary. This will be no extra charge to you. With just Allianz you would have to pay for the plane. And they are not cheap.....somewhere between $7500 to $10,000 per flight hour.

That's the difference.

I have an Allianz expat policy. So far they have paid 100% of what I have sent them. I have medjet, but never used it .... yet.

In my previous reply, I cut some of the language that is included in my annual policy. Note that it states that they will pay for the same class of commercial air service as originally booked “unless otherwise medically necessary.” Later in the policy it states (this is the part I left out):

The following conditions apply:
a. Special accommodations must be medically necessary for your transportation (for example, if more than one seat is medically necessary for you to travel).
b. You or someone on your behalf must contact us, and we must make all transportation arrangements in advance. If we did not authorize and arrange the transportation, we will only pay up to what we would have paid if we had made the arrangements.

So they will pay for other arrangements if medically necessary (elsewhere they say that they will also pay for a medical escort if necessary, as well as flying in a family member or friend if you are hospitalized for 48 hours or more). So you will not be stuck paying for special accommodations if medically necessary and arranged n advance.

Horsewoofie - My Allianz annual plan (All Trips Executive) covers $250,000 in medical evacuation expenses. I am 73 years old. They don’t seem to take age into account for annual plans. I tried getting a quote for a 50-year-old and it was exactly the same as my policy.

Renee, my bad. I should have clarified the $50k was medical, not med evac. I misread the question. Thanks for correcting my mistake.

One of the major differences is that Medjet assist has you or your family in control of when and where you go (once stable) versus the hospital and insurance company. I have Medjet assist so that my family doesn't have to figure out how to manage my medical txment, etc for two or three weeks before transfer, and have to put pressure on the travel insurance company. No one will have to drop everything to come to my bedside. (My daughter has a young family, work, etc. which is enough, IMO, without me burdening her when I can avoid it.) My coverage is as much to make it easier on my family as it is for me...if I know what is happening.

My medicare will cover 25K abroad so sometimes I will also buy Geo Blue and sometimes I won't. $25K might not be much in the US, but it will cover more abroad, enough to get me stable, IMO.

I generally just self insure my trip coverage: theft, cancellation, etc.