August 9, 2023 • 37 mins
What if travel insurance could do more than just cover your medical bills? Imagine having the freedom to choose your hospital, unrestricted by geographical location. Join me on this enlightening episode as we host Bill Miller and Paul Goodall from MedJet, a company offering a high-touch service for travelers around the globe. Together, we unravel the many benefits of a MedJet membership, which includes the ability to transport members to their hospital of choice, regardless of their home city.
Ever wondered about the security measures in place for travelers? We delve into the Horizon Plan, a comprehensive coverage policy covering various aspects that typical insurance might miss, such as terrorism, kidnapping, wrongful detention, pandemics, and natural disasters. We’ll also share a compelling story about a couple in Paris during the Yellow Vests Uprising and how MedJet came to their aid in a time of need. The application process for individuals over 75 isn't as daunting as you might think. The application for that is just 12 health-based questions and an annual physician's statement. For those under age 75 there is a flat fee and no application requirements.
Best of all, we explore how MedJet gives power back to the member, allowing you to make decisions based on your needs rather than a physician's direction. Imagine needing surgery and being able to get from one hospital to another in less than 24 hours. That's the kind of service MedJet offers. And for the budget-conscious travelers, we’ll share how AARP members can take advantage of a special discount on their MedJet membership. So, buckle up and join us on this journey into the world of high-touch travel services with MedJet.
Thanks for joining us on today’s episode of The Intrepid Traveler podcast! If you enjoyed today’s episode, please rate and review our show to help us reach even more aspiring travelers. Don’t forget to check out our website, visit us on Facebook, Instagram or follow us on LinkedIn to stay up-to-date on our latest epic travel adventures!
Use the following links when planning your own travel!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
Have you ever wondered how the pros put
together epic tailor-made traveladventures?
Welcome to the IntrepidTraveler Podcast.
I'm your host, robin Klein, andI'm going to explain to you
just how that is done during myconversation with today's guest.
When it comes to luxuryadventure and expedition travel,
the possibilities are endless.
(00:29):
In each episode, you'll hearfrom an expert in his or her
field about how theseexperiences, and more, are
created.
This episode of the IntrepidTraveler is brought to you by
Klein Co Travel Consultingaluxury adventure and expedition
travel planning companyspecializing in un-Googleable
experiences.
(00:49):
You can find us on the web atKleinandcoattravelcom.
On Instagram, at Klein CoTravel, we have a private
Facebook group you are welcometo join.
You can find us on LinkedIn orcatch the video version on
YouTube.
With that said, let's welcometoday's guest.
Today, I am really excited tobring you a couple of guests
(01:12):
from a company that I think youguys are going to find very
interesting as listeners.
We are going to talk todayabout MedJet and the differences
in travel insurance and aMedJet membership, and why you
might want a MedJet membershipin addition to your travel
insurance Actually, not mightwant.
(01:33):
You do want why you do want one.
So I'm really happy to haveBill Miller, who is the Chief
Sales and Marketing Officer withMedJet, and Paul Goodall, who
is the travel agency salesdirector, with us today.
Welcome, gentlemen, thank you.
Thank you, robin.
Yeah, absolutely so, bill.
(01:53):
You have actually been in thetravel industry in a variety of
roles, including the insurancepart of this, for 36 years now,
and in your current role forseven years with MedJet, correct
?
Speaker 2 (02:07):
That's right.
Yes, I've worked for somebrands like American Airlines
and CWT, and I've worked for acouple travel insurance
companies Travel Guard runningthe retail sales group, and then
Berkshire Halfway TravelProtection running the global
sales group.
I've been here at MedJet forseven years now.
Speaker 1 (02:25):
Okay, so you're like the walking talking dictionary
of travel insurance and addedlayers of protection.
So we're going to we can't waitto dive in on this and so and
Paul would probably be bestdescribed as like my guardian
angel when it comes to thesekind of things.
So, travel advisors as traveladvisors, we need some support
(02:47):
at times with figuring thesethings out like we're going to
talk about today, and, paul, yousupport people like me in
helping with making sure thatour clients get the right
product for what they need andeducating us about that and
servicing those all of thosethings, correct or correct me.
Speaker 3 (03:09):
That's exactly right.
I'm working on my 17th yearhere at MedJet and currently my
role for the last five years hasto be to do exactly what you
said, which is to help traveladvisors, just like you, get the
right MedJet membership fortheir clients and, of course,
help them understand and teachthem the differences between us
and travel insurance and kind ofeverything that brings value to
(03:31):
what we have here at MedJet.
Speaker 1 (03:33):
Yeah, great, Great.
You know I was going to ask youabout the history of the
company first, but I think let'sswitch it up.
Actually, first just go withthe why is MedJet not insurance?
But start with that.
Speaker 3 (03:47):
When I tell my travel advisors, when I'm working with
them all the time, I probablypromoted as much travel
insurance as I have MedJetmembership, because you really
do need both.
As a traveler, there's a lot ofbenefit to what travel insurance
provides, even as it relates tomedical evacuation, which is
what we kind of play into on theback end once they become an
(04:08):
impatient, if required,continued impatient care.
So to draw the distinctionbetween the two where travel
insurance policy may get aperson from their point of
injury to a hospital for care,where that travel insurance
company may pay or help pay forthose medical bills within that
facility, both of those, ofcourse, are really valuable
(04:30):
benefits that a traveler needs.
What we do here is kind of ahigher touch.
So around here we say thattravel insurance is the cake and
MedJet is kind of the icing onthe cake.
So all of those things thatcome along with the travel
insurance policy tripcancellation, medical bills, et
cetera all great things.
But once one is hospitalizedand they need continued and
(04:54):
patient care, it would be MedJetwho would get your client or
you back to your home countryhospital of choice for continued
care, and those things do nottend to be the case with the
travel insurance policy, ifthere is a repatriation there,
oftentimes would be conductedafter that member has been, or
that insured has been,discharged from the hospital.
(05:14):
So the idea here for us is togo ahead and make that transfer
while they're still an impatientand, of course, all the way
back to their home countryhospital of choice.
Speaker 1 (05:22):
Right, okay, and that is that that key words there.
Hospital of choice Right, right, right, right, and I understand
it A lot of times you will gettaken to the nearest hospital
which may not be the besthospital or the hospital you
want, and then it's like goodluck, you know you're on your
(05:44):
own.
We did our thing, and I do wantto say that may have sounded a
little flippant there, so I'mnot ever going to say that
regular travel insurance is notvery important.
I mean, I absolutely think yougot to have it.
I think that this is that extralayer that is that is really,
really necessary.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
Right, yeah, robin, a good example on the hospital
choice could be somebody livingin New York City and actually
needing to be transported.
They're overseas somewhere andthey have a heart attack.
They can.
They can choose to be taken tothe Cleveland Heart Clinic and
that's where we would take them,even though that's not their
home city.
Speaker 1 (06:23):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
So that's how, that's how deep the hospital of choice
means to us.
Okay, okay.
Speaker 1 (06:30):
Well, I'm going to just tell you guys real quickly
about something that the peoplelistening might be interested
here.
So my father had to have apacemaker put in when he was in
France and he did not have a medjet policy.
This was before I knew aboutmed jet, or you know.
Maybe he did, maybe he didn't,but at any rate, I look back on
all of that now and what we wentthrough and the hoops we jumped
(06:52):
through and everything else andhis hospitalization there and
everything, and I think his lifecould have been made a lot
easier at that time had he had amed jet policy.
So let's talk about a littlebit of the history of the
company then and, bill, this isprobably your area.
So who thought of okay, we needsomething more than travel
(07:17):
insurance, and how did it cometo be?
Speaker 2 (07:20):
This model of service really originated, my
understanding, years ago inEurope.
Med jet as a company is a 30year old company and it's very
probably held.
Our current owners took controlof the company in 1998.
And at the time prior ownershipowned aircraft.
(07:40):
We quickly got out of owningthe aircraft business because
that's not good business, and wenow work with what we call
affiliates and it's a network ofair ambulance companies
throughout the world and ourmembership services, our members
, with those affiliates.
So, for instance, we might havesomebody here in the US Nobody
really realizes it, but almosthalf of our transporters are
(08:03):
just here in the US.
Yeah, most people buy it forthe big international trip,
right, and so we've got a goodnetwork here in the US.
We can easily get to people.
But we've got somebody inEurope, we've got somebody in
South America, we got differentplaces where we can more
strategically and quickly andmore efficiently get to a member
should they need help.
So that was a very smart moveof ownership when they took it
(08:23):
over in 1998.
Along the way we got larger,you know, we took on some large
distribution partners like AARP.
We've got a lot of corporationsnow that that use our services.
They buy it for theirexecutives, or they make it a
benefit for all their, all oftheir partners, or whatever it
may be.
And so we built up a nice largemembership base.
(08:46):
Ownership has pretty much givenmanagement us the ability to
operate the way we want.
We really have not deviated fromthe original charter, which is
to provide hospital to hospitalcare and transport for our
members anywhere in the world,right, and along the way we've
had lots of companies come to usand say, hey, you've got a
(09:08):
large membership base.
You know, sell them bagtracking services or sell them
travel insurance.
Right, and we haven't done itRight.
In 2015, we did add on asecurity risk product, so you
can.
That's called Medjet Horizon.
Yeah, so Medjet Assist is thecore hospital to hospital.
Medjet Horizon adds on 10security and risk components
(09:32):
kidnapping, terrorism, wrongfuldetention, things like that.
Pandemic pandemic came in quitehandy, yeah, and so you can add
that on for an additional fee tothe base membership, and then
you're covered for that as well.
And and that's really a bigdriver of sales for us today, we
(09:52):
continue to grow.
The pandemic obviously hurteverybody in travel, hurt us to,
sure, but we're very privatelyheld, have incredibly solid
balance sheet, no debt.
We are backed by Lloyds ofLondon, and so we go to the
Lloyds of London market once ayear.
If there is, you know, acatastrophe with a private
airplane and everybody survives,everybody needs to be
(10:14):
transported.
That's why we have that kind ofcoverage, right, we don't use
it often.
It's there when we need it.
Speaker 1 (10:20):
Well, and for the record, I have a Medjet Horizon
membership for five, I think afive year policy or membership.
I'm really glad I do not that,you know.
Hopefully we'll never need it,but it really makes me feel
better when I travel knowingthat I do have it.
Speaker 3 (10:37):
So that's one of the best ways to use it, of course,
is to never use it, because ifyou're using it, something
terrible is half.
Speaker 1 (10:44):
Well, that's, that's exactly right.
And you know, I have thisconversation occasionally with
with people and they'll say ohwell, I'm always pot insurance
and I've never used it, and I'mlike, and there's no problem
with that.
These are going well.
That's the ideal scenario.
It's like car insurance or anyother kind of insurance for your
(11:05):
house that burns down orwhatever.
You don't want to.
You don't want to have to useit.
Speaker 3 (11:10):
So that's that, of course, when they do need it, we
certainly step up and get itdone.
And so for those who don't getto use it, good for them, those
who need it, good, good.
Speaker 2 (11:19):
Yeah, exactly.
And, robert Robin, what I tellpeople is is you know, look,
you're taking two or threeinternational trips, yet alone
domestic trips.
You're spending 30, 40, $50,000a year on travel easily.
Yeah, $315 a year for MedJetcan save you.
You know, a chunk of yournetwork.
Why not Right?
Speaker 3 (11:38):
Right.
Another thing I mentioned,robin, is that a lot of people,
as Bill mentioned, do purchase aMedJet membership for a large
international trip, right.
As he also noted, half of ourtransports do end up being
domestic, so clients and members, of course, are covered as soon
as long as they're 150 miles ormore away from home.
Right, that can even apply to astudent who's away at school,
(12:00):
and so it's not necessarily forthose big trips only, though of
course we understand that's whymost people do purchase the
membership, but in the end, inthe end it does half of the time
get used right here at home.
Speaker 1 (12:11):
Yeah, exactly Exactly , and I've said that to people
too, you know that are going on,you know skiing trips or hiking
trips or rafting trips, or youknow, you know it doesn't, you
don't have to be, you know goingparagliding in Paraguay or
wherever you know to need this.
There's a lot of things we doevery day, just like you've, you
(12:33):
know, just pointed out, soanyway, so okay, we've got.
We've got that point drivenhome.
I think that's good.
What about the differencebetween?
So you know, bill, you alreadyclarified between what the
horizon membership and theregular membership is.
But then there is kind of athird option in terms of you can
(12:56):
buy it just for one trip if youreally want to.
Right, correct.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
You can purchase by the trip.
We sell eight day, 15 day, 21day, 30 day and the eight day is
$99.
Speaker 1 (13:08):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly.
So it's not like you have tohave it for a year.
I mean, I think there's morebang for your buck if you do it
for a year or more, but thereare those options.
So that is definitely good toknow.
Who would you think who shouldhave a membership?
Oh wow.
Speaker 3 (13:32):
We noted a while back if I'm not mistaken, bill, we
thought that our member basetrended a little older, and I
think there's some truth to that.
But certainly over time, asfolks start to do solo travel,
single female travel, studenttravel, those demographics do
appear to be getting a littleyounger.
So of course, those folks whotravel and are more established
(13:52):
are going to be more likely topick up something like MedJet,
but we certainly see within ourdatabase that there's plenty of
other folks in there as well whoare traveling more and more
over time.
I think our younger folks rightnow are much more prone to
these days to buy experiencesinstead of things, and so
there's definitely value for notonly your more established
frequent travel but even youryounger folks who are getting
(14:16):
out and about more often thesedays, especially post pandemic,
where everybody's trying to getgoing Right.
Speaker 2 (14:21):
Yeah, well, and Robin , here's another differentiator
also between MedJet and travelinsurance is this question you
just asked and for anybody under75, they can come and buy
MedJet?
There's no questions that weask If you're going to buy
travel insurance.
A lot of times there'spreexisting conditions that they
have to maneuver around, right.
(14:42):
And you know, if you buy travelinsurance within 14 days of
buying your trip, you can getthat wave, but if not, then that
comes into play, right.
And so another differentiatoranybody under 75 can buy MedJet
membership and they're coveredfor anything, including, like
adventure sports.
You mentioned paragliding andparagliding.
We got you covered.
Most travel insurance does not.
(15:03):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (15:04):
Yeah, well, I mean, and that's one of the more
reasons I mean I have apropensity for liking to do some
adventurous kind of things andI, you know, I just don't want
to have to go down the list andbe like, okay, well, if I get on
my horse and I go ride here, amI covered or not, or whatever.
You know that to have thosethings, certainly you know
(15:26):
available.
The other thing so you know,you mentioned the age of 75.
What should somebody who is 75or older do?
How should they?
I mean because they can stillget covered, correct.
Speaker 2 (15:38):
Oh, absolutely.
Medjet memberships areavailable for people over 75.
There's an application process.
Yeah, and I think Paul can giveyou the details of that because
he lives in that every day.
I don't.
Speaker 3 (15:48):
Yeah, yeah.
It's an application and it has12 health-based questions,
survey style.
Anything that they answer yesto, they would give a brief
description of that and thenthere's a very, very short
physician statement that theywould submit annually as well.
That's reviewed on our end foradmittance to the program.
What I don't want to leavepeople to believe is that we
(16:10):
will use that application, oncetaking our members' money, to
find reasons to not transport inthe future.
What we will do is review thatapplication and it would
obviously either be approved,declined or approved with an
exclusion.
So if the applicant, forexample, had a heart attack
within the last year or so,there's a possibility it's not
(16:31):
guaranteed, but there is apossibility that application
would be accepted with thatspecific exclusion for cardiac
events, but of course everythingelse would still be covered.
That's something I do like toclean up because I know you know
folks do like to liken us toinsurance and we're not in the
business of looking for reasonsto not transport our members.
So just because 1 is 75 nowdoes not mean that we're going
(16:55):
to use that application as atool to decline transport once
they're in it, right?
Speaker 1 (16:59):
No, that makes good sense.
Well, you know, and we'retalking a lot about transport,
for obvious reasons, becausethat's the bulk of what you do,
but going back to the horizonWould be the other layer.
With that comes with horizonbill.
Talk to me a little bit moreabout that, a value of that, and
what kind of scenarios mighthappen where you might need some
(17:19):
of those things.
Speaker 2 (17:21):
Sure, there's 10 specific things we cover
terrorism, kidnapping, wrongfuldetention, pandemic, natural
disaster, things like that.
An example would be well, it'sa real example.
We actually have a couple thatwas in Paris a few years ago
when they were having the yellowvest uprisings and they got
(17:42):
caught up in that and they gotnervous.
They called and the servicethat we use to provide this for
our members Happened to know thesecurity manager, one of the
hotels close by, called them,gave a description of a couple,
told the couple to move, youknow, trying to get to that
hotel.
They did.
They pulled them inside thehotel and they sheltered in
place, yeah, until it, until itpassed right.
(18:04):
So there's, there's no oneconcrete example we can point to
and say here's what we'll dofor you, like we can hospital, a
hospital transport.
Each situation is different,but it's a more scary world out
there.
People came back from thepandemic and said we're ready to
travel, but it makes us nervous.
Yeah, you know, because youknow of everything they heard
and saw.
You know there's a feeling thatit might be a little bit more
(18:26):
violent out there.
Yeah, and so it.
You know it gives them somecomfort that they had that back
up to if they need it rightright.
Speaker 1 (18:35):
Okay and yeah and that they're very good segue
there.
So I get that question a lotbecause I have a tendency to
book travel that is made more onthe adventurous side might be
in destinations that most people, that a lot of people wouldn't
always consider, and a questionI will get a lot of times when I
(18:57):
suggest one of thesedestinations, the first thing
somebody says is is it safe?
That's usually my, you know.
My response is like well, it'sprobably a lot safer than you
think.
And but secondly, I mean let'sjust say somebody goes someplace
in, there is a terrorist attack.
(19:17):
So you mentioned terrorism.
What In a terrorist Attacksituation?
How would, where does my jetcome into play there?
Speaker 2 (19:28):
But that's one of the closest example I can draw is
we actually had somebody thatwas down in Mexico on our
teaching assignment, okay, andthere was some Cartel activity
that was getting closer andcloser to the village where this
person was okay and you know wewould characterize that as
terrorist activity.
(19:48):
And so we contacted that personand moved, got them moved to the
village a couple hundredkilometers away, just as it as a
precaution.
Everything was fine and so thatwas a pretty simple case.
Cut and dried again.
Every situation we can't saywell sure.
Terrorists.
Speaker 1 (20:07):
Here's exactly what happens right, well, yeah, if
the terrorists gave us theirplaybook, yeah, then we could
run a week, we could definitelycome up with a plan, but we have
experience with.
That is what I'm saying andthat's how we handle it right
and in the same, if there's somesort of you know, natural
disasters I guess does, doesthat come into play if you're in
(20:28):
Hawaii and the volcano eruptsand you, or is that just a
travel insurance thing?
Speaker 2 (20:34):
and I'm sorry, I'm just sort of playing like I'm
just here that I think peoplemight be thinking about no
natural disaster is listed as aHorizon coverage item.
Okay, so if something were tohappen, we would deal with that.
Yeah, in some way.
Speaker 1 (20:51):
And did, do I remember correctly, on the
horizon and you know I'm this isall a little bit for two, it's
just right now because I'mdefinitely reminding myself
about some of the things that Ihave access to.
If you have some sort oftrouble with, like I mean, I
think it was you know theft ormoney or needed money in some
(21:12):
way that it does that come intoplay in this or not?
Am I confusing?
It was something else.
Speaker 3 (21:16):
You might be thinking of the $60,000 of cash advance
that's Associated with theMedjot Horizon upgrade.
That's not on the crisisassistance side.
It's a benefit that can be usedif the member ends up in a
facility which requires upfrontcash payment, which does happen,
I think, oftentimes in Mexicoin some areas and some other
(21:37):
areas around the world as well.
So in the event that thefacility were to be required an
upfront cash payment, we couldwire those funds over to the
facility and and they would.
The member would just agree topay those back at a certain
point After they return homeright, okay, okay.
Speaker 1 (21:52):
Well, I'm sure that's what I was what I was thinking
of.
So, and then and then, the waythat people Use if they're
traveling is the 800 number.
Speaker 3 (22:02):
They simply call in and say help, and Right, right,
we give out our local number aswell, which can be used to call
collect, if that's a, if that'sthe way the member would like to
do it as well, and, and again,that is the most important thing
to go with our telephone number.
I get I get a lot of folks whoare really worried that they've
(22:24):
lost their member card and we'regonna verify their membership
with a card and that would neverhappen.
We've got other ways to pullfolks up in our system.
So definitely most importantthing to go with once a member
is our contact information, andonce that that person ends up in
hospital heading that way, letour transport team know and
we'll get on the ball.
Speaker 1 (22:43):
Well, I know I feel a lot better having this and you
know I definitely.
My husband is a little littleolder than I.
Am not that age.
I always has something to dowith it, but you know, it's just
.
It's good to know that we'vegot this extra layer of.
Coverage, should we need it,because, like we said at the
beginning, as valuable as inchand necessary as Travel
(23:06):
insurance is you, there arecertainly plenty of things that
they will not and don't cover.
Speaker 3 (23:14):
I'm sorry to interject, Robin.
There's definitely a learningcurve, especially when it comes
to drawing distinction betweenus and travel insurance.
Certainly, once one has spent Xamount of dollars on the trip,
X amount of dollars on thetravel insurance, and then we
start talking about many folksare going to go wait a minute,
why?
So we understand that there's alearning curve there.
(23:35):
That curve tends to straightenout a little bit once folks see
why it's important.
I can give an example of twodifferent scenarios, one with
and one without a membership.
We have an example of a couplewho traveled to Tahiti for their
honeymoon and later on in thetrip the husband dove into a
(23:57):
body of water that was not deepenough and ended up in traction.
If I'm not mistaken, they hadno med jet to speak of and the
travel insurance did what itcould to get them to where they
could get the care that heneeded, but that's where he was
to stay until he was discharged.
Those folks ended up having toget a go fund me.
(24:18):
I believe the maid of honor setup a go fund me to ultimately
help that couple get homebecause they were both out of
work.
The wife was still down there.
So there's a lot of things thatneeded to be mitigated through
that circumstance.
I can compare that to anotherexample of actually a travel
agency owner out of Chicago whowas traveling in Malawi, Africa.
(24:39):
I believe she broke her femur,if I'm not mistaken, and
ultimately was transported backto Chicago by way of her med jet
membership and that particulartransport cost just under
$200,000.
I believe it was $199,000,$989,000.
So there really is a benefit toit and certainly once folks
(25:01):
kind of see the difference.
Again, no disrespect to travelinsurance, they do what they do
and they do well.
But if you're looking to gethome once hospitalized, that's a
med jet function.
Speaker 1 (25:13):
Yeah, absolutely.
Well, I mean med jet isn't?
I mean it's not a cancellationpolicy, it's not.
You know, any of those thingsare not going to be covered,
which is what you need, one ofthe biggest reasons that you
need a regular travel insurancepolicy.
I mean, most people don'tunderstand that the bulk of the
premium in a regular travelinsurance policy is for
(25:35):
cancellation.
Speaker 2 (25:36):
Right About 70% of it .
Speaker 1 (25:38):
Yeah, and so these kind of things are.
I mean, I'm not I don't want tosay they're secondary, because
they're very important still,but where we, I think, have a
tendency to go to well, if I,you know, got sick or I was an
accident or whatever, those arethe things we tend to think
about more instead of you know,the what if the trip got you
(26:00):
know, canceled at the lastminute.
You know that kind of thing,because we have this attitude of
, oh, I'm going, no matter what,and then oh, life, bill, tell
me some things that stick out inyour mind as far as some things
that have happened over theyear that, like you would use
for examples If somebody said,eh, you know, I don't know, I
(26:22):
don't know if I really need thisor not, like what's some big
things that have happened thatyou can think of, that that
Benchett has covered.
Speaker 2 (26:29):
Well, here's one, and it's actually.
It's actually a testimonial onour website, so you can go to
our website and look at ourtestimonials and you can see it.
The gentleman's name is ToddJones, hi, and he's a former
major league pitcher.
He pitched for the DetroitTigers for several years and he
and his wife bought the MedJetmembership for a trip down to
(26:51):
for Safari to Africa that theywere on to take.
But they were down in Miamiseveral months before that, just
vacationing on a long weekend,and Todd slipped by the pool and
he popped a quad in his leg.
He tried to catch himself andhe popped the other quad so he
couldn't walk.
I mean he's sitting on his buttby the pool and he can't move.
And you know he's no, he's nostranger to injury.
(27:14):
I mean you've got to crosssports, right, yeah?
And so he.
You know they got into thehospital there locally and they
said you know we're going tohave to perform surgery on both
legs and you're not going to bewalking for several weeks as you
go through rehab.
And he said you know time out,you know he lived.
He actually lived not too farfrom Birmingham.
He lived in a town called PellCity and he said well, I don't
(27:39):
want to do my rehab in Miami, Iwant to do it back home, where
family's around, and I'm closeto home my wife's, you know,
we'll be comfortable in ourhouse.
And so we transported themhospital to hospital and that's
a perfect example of a domesticone and we made it happen
literally within about 24 hours,as I recall it was pretty quick
because we had some craftavailability that we could take
hold of.
(27:59):
That's a real live example ofhow it benefits a member.
Speaker 1 (28:05):
Well, and on a trip like that, who?
I mean very, very few peoplewould have regular travel
insurance right.
You know, because you'redomestic so you figure your
medical is covered and all that.
But then I mean, I know, evenjust getting like a ambulance to
transport you from where I livein Lexington, from Louisville
to Lexington, you know what thatcan cost.
(28:27):
So yeah, you start talkingabout that in different cities.
Speaker 2 (28:30):
Well, we have another recent, a more recent transport
story.
Todd Jones is a couple of yearsold.
There's a couple out of Idahothe last name is Kamo K K A M O
they're a testimony on our sitealso and he's a professional
motorcycle rider Okay, off,off-road.
And so they bought a familymembership because they travel
all over the world, literally,and you know he's racing
(28:52):
motorcycles.
Speaker 1 (28:53):
It's like no stranger to danger this guy, right.
Speaker 2 (28:57):
They have a young son who's I don't know, four or
five, six years old and theywere actually in California and
he was racing and the son gotlike an infection in his eye and
it got worse and worse.
They took him to the hospitalin Sacramento.
The doctor's there, it's just aregular hospital.
The doctor said oh, you know,we need to go in and perform
surgery and do this and this.
(29:18):
And the mother, the wife of theyou know the member, you know
as a family membership, she saidI'm real uncomfortable with
that diagnosis.
I want to get home to ourchildren's hospital and get a
real children's doctor lookingat it for a diagnosis.
Yeah, so we transported himfrom Sacramento back to Idaho
and the children's doctor therewe diagnosed it and said wait a
(29:38):
second, we can, we can cure thiswith antibiotics.
And they did.
A couple weeks later everythingwas fine, no surgery, and, you
know, the young boy just went onwith his life.
Speaker 3 (29:48):
Wow.
That's a really great examplebecause it shows how MedJet
moves at the option of themember and not at the direction
of a physician or by way ofmedical necessity.
They chose to be moved andthat's important.
And that's the piece that a lotof folks who say well, I don't
need anything or I'm just happykeeping my travel insurance,
(30:09):
don't see that travel insuranceis oftentimes, even if you see
the word repatriation- built inis going to either be after
discharge or at the direction ofthe physician, and if the
physician doesn't say it'snecessary to do so, there's a
more than likely chance that itwon't.
So real important, a realimportant point regarding what
(30:30):
Bill just spoke about it was attheir option and that's
important.
I'm a dad.
I want that option.
Speaker 1 (30:35):
Yeah, no, that's, that's a.
That's a very, very good point.
And speaking of being a dad andI am, you know, I have my own,
my own two sons who are adultsnow, 22 and 23.
But you know, we bought, uh wehad a policy that had them on it
when they were, you know, partof the household when we went to
Costa Rica one year.
But I have the option now whereI can buy them a MedJet
(30:58):
membership.
I can give it to, I can put thatin their Christmas stocking or
their birthday card, or justbecause, um, anytime, and so,
for people that are listening,this is something I think makes
a great gift like you got thatperson.
You don't know what to buy forthem and they travel 150 miles
or more from home.
Speaker 2 (31:18):
Get a MedJet membership and we actually
haven't talked a lot of dollarson this particular podcast.
So Paul mentioned the $198,000transport.
Yeah, we, we bore the burden ofthat entire cost.
So the member never got acopayment, never got a
deductible right, never got anykind of papers from us saying
you know, hey, you need to fillthis out, we just paid it.
Yeah, our basic membership foran individual is $315, for a
(31:42):
family it's $425.
It's very reasonably priced,you know, if you're somebody
who's traveling all over theworld and have that that kind of
income and net worth, to travela few hundred dollars a year,
it's a I mean most people willspend way more than that on a
breakfast dinner, nice hotel andto tag on to that, robin, to
(32:05):
add the MedJet Horizon to afamily membership is only an
additional $189 for an entireyear.
Speaker 3 (32:11):
Yeah, and the $159 for an individual membership if
the additional that would bepaid.
So it's not.
It's not a huge expense to evenadd that added protection that
we were speaking about earlier,right?
Speaker 1 (32:22):
right now.
Well, I, I think it's a, Ithink it's a no-brainer and your
website is super, super easy touse.
I can get people a link.
I have a link and I keep it onmy at the end of the it'll be at
the show notes at the end ofthis podcast here so you know,
people can get and can get thismembership through the travel
(32:44):
advisor, through the website.
You just said there's an AARPdiscount.
Is it a discount or is it justan affiliation that you have?
Speaker 2 (32:51):
with AARP members do get a little discount.
Speaker 1 (32:54):
Yes, so there's a lot of ways that you can go about
getting one of these, and it isone of the least painful
processes you could ever do on awebsite, you know, to get
something of this kind of value,I think right and and and never
forget to use your, your traveladvisors like Robin, as a
reference, because they tend tobe really knowledgeable about it
(33:16):
, and if they don't know,they'll ask me well, that's
right, that's exactly right, andthat's why we need people like
you, because when we don't knowwhat to say or how to phrase it,
or how to explain why this isso valuable, that's that's when
we come to you and need yourhelp, for sure.
Yeah, is there anything that youguys feel like we've missed,
that we should cover, or youfeel like we've got kind of
(33:38):
touched on all the importantpoints?
Speaker 3 (33:42):
I'd speak to just just kind of.
So maybe we understand, or ourlisteners understand, kind of
the structure maybe of justwhat's a family membership,
because there's so much valuethere.
It can actually include up toseven people, so you can include
on family membership a primarymember and a spouse or domestic
partner, so they don't need tobe married, they just need to
share a residence.
(34:02):
That's a family membership.
Now, as a courtesy, we'llinclude up to five dependent
children under the age of 19, orunder the age of 23 if they're
full-time students.
So again to that, folks thathave kids in school piece, even
if your child is off at school.
I live here in Birmingham,alabama.
If my son were to be at schoolin Vanderbilton, nashville,
which I believe is three and ahalf hours away, he'd be covered
(34:25):
while he was up there.
So if something were to happenwe could get him back here to a
hospital here in Birmingham, asopposed to me and my wife trying
to scurry up there, leave lifehere and figure it all out on
the other end.
Speaker 2 (34:37):
It's a great value that's a very good point yeah
hey Robin, one other thing, andit's it's it's little talked
about and, quite frankly, notused very often, but we do see
it happen several times a year.
Is we do transport mortalremains okay, and so if that
word unfortunately happened,then we're gonna handle that and
it's just a burden off of themembers themselves to have to
(34:59):
deal with.
We would take care of all thosecoordinations.
Speaker 1 (35:02):
Yeah well that that is really good to know and
unfortunately, I have friendsthat that happened to, yeah, and
we're traveling without anykind of insurance.
I mean, it was an ordealthere's a lot, especially if
you're overseas.
Speaker 2 (35:17):
There's a lot of paperwork and a lot of you know,
clearing of customs, and wehandle all of that yeah, and if
you guys handle that, oh my gosh.
Speaker 1 (35:25):
That's just I mean, because everybody knows, when
something like that happens,you're really in no mental
capacity to be to be dealingwith it anyway even if you knew
where to start right right,exactly, even if you, even if
it's what you did, you know, didevery day.
It's not something you either,you know, want to be doing or
probably in a mental state to bedoing.
So, yeah and it's no.
(35:46):
Those things are no fun to talkabout, but and unfortunately we
hear these stories all the day,all the time.
And you know, I tell people,you know, when they want to
refuse travel insurance and youknow, in particular, they say
something like oh, my medicalinsurance is fine, or whatever.
I'm like as well.
If you're going to be drivingthat road on the Amalfi coast in
(36:09):
the rental car, just rememberthat car accidents do happen in
Italy and Italy too, you know Imean it's it's not.
You know you don't want to sendpeople off on their vacation,
afraid, but at the same time youknow it's.
It'd be lovely if everythingwas an always an Instagram
moment, wouldn't it right, right, right, right.
(36:31):
So, anyway, well, well, I thinkthat is great.
I think that is going to bereally helpful for people.
To anybody that's listening, weare here to help you.
We want to make sure that thatwhen you do travel or you know
anywhere you know, not even outof the United States that you do
so in a way that you have havewhat you need should the
(36:52):
unforeseen come to be.
So yeah, so well.
Thank you both so much.
I appreciate it.
We'll get this out to to thepublic as fast as we can thank
you so much for having us thatwraps up today's episode of the
intrepid traveler.
Thank you for tuning in andthank you to today's guests for
(37:12):
joining me.
I'll be back again in two weekswith another exciting episode
featuring another guest with astory that is sure to pique your
interest.
Please subscribe to theintrepid traveler on your
favorite listening channel andgive us a review.
Once again, today's episode hasbeen brought to you by Clining
Co Travel Consulting, a luxuryadventure and expedition travel
(37:34):
planning company specializing inungoogleable experiences.
Have you ever wondered how the pros put
together epic tailor-made traveladventures?
Welcome to the IntrepidTraveler Podcast.
I'm your host, robin Klein, andI'm going to explain to you
just how that is done during myconversation with today's guest.
When it comes to luxuryadventure and expedition travel,
the possibilities are endless.
(00:29):
In each episode, you'll hearfrom an expert in his or her
field about how theseexperiences, and more, are
created.
This episode of the IntrepidTraveler is brought to you by
Klein Co Travel Consultingaluxury adventure and expedition
travel planning companyspecializing in un-Googleable
experiences.
(00:49):
You can find us on the web atKleinandcoattravelcom.
On Instagram, at Klein CoTravel, we have a private
Facebook group you are welcometo join.
You can find us on LinkedIn orcatch the video version on
YouTube.
With that said, let's welcometoday's guest.
Today, I am really excited tobring you a couple of guests
(01:12):
from a company that I think youguys are going to find very
interesting as listeners.
We are going to talk todayabout MedJet and the differences
in travel insurance and aMedJet membership, and why you
might want a MedJet membershipin addition to your travel
insurance Actually, not mightwant.
(01:33):
You do want why you do want one.
So I'm really happy to haveBill Miller, who is the Chief
Sales and Marketing Officer withMedJet, and Paul Goodall, who
is the travel agency salesdirector, with us today.
Welcome, gentlemen, thank you.
Thank you, robin.
Yeah, absolutely so, bill.
(01:53):
You have actually been in thetravel industry in a variety of
roles, including the insurancepart of this, for 36 years now,
and in your current role forseven years with MedJet, correct
?
Speaker 2 (02:07):
That's right.
Yes, I've worked for somebrands like American Airlines
and CWT, and I've worked for acouple travel insurance
companies Travel Guard runningthe retail sales group, and then
Berkshire Halfway TravelProtection running the global
sales group.
I've been here at MedJet forseven years now.
Speaker 1 (02:25):
Okay, so you're like the walking talking dictionary
of travel insurance and addedlayers of protection.
So we're going to we can't waitto dive in on this and so and
Paul would probably be bestdescribed as like my guardian
angel when it comes to thesekind of things.
So, travel advisors as traveladvisors, we need some support
(02:47):
at times with figuring thesethings out like we're going to
talk about today, and, paul, yousupport people like me in
helping with making sure thatour clients get the right
product for what they need andeducating us about that and
servicing those all of thosethings, correct or correct me.
Speaker 3 (03:09):
That's exactly right.
I'm working on my 17th yearhere at MedJet and currently my
role for the last five years hasto be to do exactly what you
said, which is to help traveladvisors, just like you, get the
right MedJet membership fortheir clients and, of course,
help them understand and teachthem the differences between us
and travel insurance and kind ofeverything that brings value to
(03:31):
what we have here at MedJet.
Speaker 1 (03:33):
Yeah, great, Great.
You know I was going to ask youabout the history of the
company first, but I think let'sswitch it up.
Actually, first just go withthe why is MedJet not insurance?
But start with that.
Speaker 3 (03:47):
When I tell my travel advisors, when I'm working with
them all the time, I probablypromoted as much travel
insurance as I have MedJetmembership, because you really
do need both.
As a traveler, there's a lot ofbenefit to what travel insurance
provides, even as it relates tomedical evacuation, which is
what we kind of play into on theback end once they become an
(04:08):
impatient, if required,continued impatient care.
So to draw the distinctionbetween the two where travel
insurance policy may get aperson from their point of
injury to a hospital for care,where that travel insurance
company may pay or help pay forthose medical bills within that
facility, both of those, ofcourse, are really valuable
(04:30):
benefits that a traveler needs.
What we do here is kind of ahigher touch.
So around here we say thattravel insurance is the cake and
MedJet is kind of the icing onthe cake.
So all of those things thatcome along with the travel
insurance policy tripcancellation, medical bills, et
cetera all great things.
But once one is hospitalizedand they need continued and
(04:54):
patient care, it would be MedJetwho would get your client or
you back to your home countryhospital of choice for continued
care, and those things do nottend to be the case with the
travel insurance policy, ifthere is a repatriation there,
oftentimes would be conductedafter that member has been, or
that insured has been,discharged from the hospital.
(05:14):
So the idea here for us is togo ahead and make that transfer
while they're still an impatientand, of course, all the way
back to their home countryhospital of choice.
Speaker 1 (05:22):
Right, okay, and that is that that key words there.
Hospital of choice Right, right, right, right, and I understand
it A lot of times you will gettaken to the nearest hospital
which may not be the besthospital or the hospital you
want, and then it's like goodluck, you know you're on your
(05:44):
own.
We did our thing, and I do wantto say that may have sounded a
little flippant there, so I'mnot ever going to say that
regular travel insurance is notvery important.
I mean, I absolutely think yougot to have it.
I think that this is that extralayer that is that is really,
really necessary.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
Right, yeah, robin, a good example on the hospital
choice could be somebody livingin New York City and actually
needing to be transported.
They're overseas somewhere andthey have a heart attack.
They can.
They can choose to be taken tothe Cleveland Heart Clinic and
that's where we would take them,even though that's not their
home city.
Speaker 1 (06:23):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
So that's how, that's how deep the hospital of choice
means to us.
Okay, okay.
Speaker 1 (06:30):
Well, I'm going to just tell you guys real quickly
about something that the peoplelistening might be interested
here.
So my father had to have apacemaker put in when he was in
France and he did not have a medjet policy.
This was before I knew aboutmed jet, or you know.
Maybe he did, maybe he didn't,but at any rate, I look back on
all of that now and what we wentthrough and the hoops we jumped
(06:52):
through and everything else andhis hospitalization there and
everything, and I think his lifecould have been made a lot
easier at that time had he had amed jet policy.
So let's talk about a littlebit of the history of the
company then and, bill, this isprobably your area.
So who thought of okay, we needsomething more than travel
(07:17):
insurance, and how did it cometo be?
Speaker 2 (07:20):
This model of service really originated, my
understanding, years ago inEurope.
Med jet as a company is a 30year old company and it's very
probably held.
Our current owners took controlof the company in 1998.
And at the time prior ownershipowned aircraft.
(07:40):
We quickly got out of owningthe aircraft business because
that's not good business, and wenow work with what we call
affiliates and it's a network ofair ambulance companies
throughout the world and ourmembership services, our members
, with those affiliates.
So, for instance, we might havesomebody here in the US Nobody
really realizes it, but almosthalf of our transporters are
(08:03):
just here in the US.
Yeah, most people buy it forthe big international trip,
right, and so we've got a goodnetwork here in the US.
We can easily get to people.
But we've got somebody inEurope, we've got somebody in
South America, we got differentplaces where we can more
strategically and quickly andmore efficiently get to a member
should they need help.
So that was a very smart moveof ownership when they took it
(08:23):
over in 1998.
Along the way we got larger,you know, we took on some large
distribution partners like AARP.
We've got a lot of corporationsnow that that use our services.
They buy it for theirexecutives, or they make it a
benefit for all their, all oftheir partners, or whatever it
may be.
And so we built up a nice largemembership base.
(08:46):
Ownership has pretty much givenmanagement us the ability to
operate the way we want.
We really have not deviated fromthe original charter, which is
to provide hospital to hospitalcare and transport for our
members anywhere in the world,right, and along the way we've
had lots of companies come to usand say, hey, you've got a
(09:08):
large membership base.
You know, sell them bagtracking services or sell them
travel insurance.
Right, and we haven't done itRight.
In 2015, we did add on asecurity risk product, so you
can.
That's called Medjet Horizon.
Yeah, so Medjet Assist is thecore hospital to hospital.
Medjet Horizon adds on 10security and risk components
(09:32):
kidnapping, terrorism, wrongfuldetention, things like that.
Pandemic pandemic came in quitehandy, yeah, and so you can add
that on for an additional fee tothe base membership, and then
you're covered for that as well.
And and that's really a bigdriver of sales for us today, we
(09:52):
continue to grow.
The pandemic obviously hurteverybody in travel, hurt us to,
sure, but we're very privatelyheld, have incredibly solid
balance sheet, no debt.
We are backed by Lloyds ofLondon, and so we go to the
Lloyds of London market once ayear.
If there is, you know, acatastrophe with a private
airplane and everybody survives,everybody needs to be
(10:14):
transported.
That's why we have that kind ofcoverage, right, we don't use
it often.
It's there when we need it.
Speaker 1 (10:20):
Well, and for the record, I have a Medjet Horizon
membership for five, I think afive year policy or membership.
I'm really glad I do not that,you know.
Hopefully we'll never need it,but it really makes me feel
better when I travel knowingthat I do have it.
Speaker 3 (10:37):
So that's one of the best ways to use it, of course,
is to never use it, because ifyou're using it, something
terrible is half.
Speaker 1 (10:44):
Well, that's, that's exactly right.
And you know, I have thisconversation occasionally with
with people and they'll say ohwell, I'm always pot insurance
and I've never used it, and I'mlike, and there's no problem
with that.
These are going well.
That's the ideal scenario.
It's like car insurance or anyother kind of insurance for your
(11:05):
house that burns down orwhatever.
You don't want to.
You don't want to have to useit.
Speaker 3 (11:10):
So that's that, of course, when they do need it, we
certainly step up and get itdone.
And so for those who don't getto use it, good for them, those
who need it, good, good.
Speaker 2 (11:19):
Yeah, exactly.
And, robert Robin, what I tellpeople is is you know, look,
you're taking two or threeinternational trips, yet alone
domestic trips.
You're spending 30, 40, $50,000a year on travel easily.
Yeah, $315 a year for MedJetcan save you.
You know, a chunk of yournetwork.
Why not Right?
Speaker 3 (11:38):
Right.
Another thing I mentioned,robin, is that a lot of people,
as Bill mentioned, do purchase aMedJet membership for a large
international trip, right.
As he also noted, half of ourtransports do end up being
domestic, so clients and members, of course, are covered as soon
as long as they're 150 miles ormore away from home.
Right, that can even apply to astudent who's away at school,
(12:00):
and so it's not necessarily forthose big trips only, though of
course we understand that's whymost people do purchase the
membership, but in the end, inthe end it does half of the time
get used right here at home.
Speaker 1 (12:11):
Yeah, exactly Exactly , and I've said that to people
too, you know that are going on,you know skiing trips or hiking
trips or rafting trips, or youknow, you know it doesn't, you
don't have to be, you know goingparagliding in Paraguay or
wherever you know to need this.
There's a lot of things we doevery day, just like you've, you
(12:33):
know, just pointed out, soanyway, so okay, we've got.
We've got that point drivenhome.
I think that's good.
What about the differencebetween?
So you know, bill, you alreadyclarified between what the
horizon membership and theregular membership is.
But then there is kind of athird option in terms of you can
(12:56):
buy it just for one trip if youreally want to.
Right, correct.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
You can purchase by the trip.
We sell eight day, 15 day, 21day, 30 day and the eight day is
$99.
Speaker 1 (13:08):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly.
So it's not like you have tohave it for a year.
I mean, I think there's morebang for your buck if you do it
for a year or more, but thereare those options.
So that is definitely good toknow.
Who would you think who shouldhave a membership?
Oh wow.
Speaker 3 (13:32):
We noted a while back if I'm not mistaken, bill, we
thought that our member basetrended a little older, and I
think there's some truth to that.
But certainly over time, asfolks start to do solo travel,
single female travel, studenttravel, those demographics do
appear to be getting a littleyounger.
So of course, those folks whotravel and are more established
(13:52):
are going to be more likely topick up something like MedJet,
but we certainly see within ourdatabase that there's plenty of
other folks in there as well whoare traveling more and more
over time.
I think our younger folks rightnow are much more prone to
these days to buy experiencesinstead of things, and so
there's definitely value for notonly your more established
frequent travel but even youryounger folks who are getting
(14:16):
out and about more often thesedays, especially post pandemic,
where everybody's trying to getgoing Right.
Speaker 2 (14:21):
Yeah, well, and Robin , here's another differentiator
also between MedJet and travelinsurance is this question you
just asked and for anybody under75, they can come and buy
MedJet?
There's no questions that weask If you're going to buy
travel insurance.
A lot of times there'spreexisting conditions that they
have to maneuver around, right.
(14:42):
And you know, if you buy travelinsurance within 14 days of
buying your trip, you can getthat wave, but if not, then that
comes into play, right.
And so another differentiatoranybody under 75 can buy MedJet
membership and they're coveredfor anything, including, like
adventure sports.
You mentioned paragliding andparagliding.
We got you covered.
Most travel insurance does not.
(15:03):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (15:04):
Yeah, well, I mean, and that's one of the more
reasons I mean I have apropensity for liking to do some
adventurous kind of things andI, you know, I just don't want
to have to go down the list andbe like, okay, well, if I get on
my horse and I go ride here, amI covered or not, or whatever.
You know that to have thosethings, certainly you know
(15:26):
available.
The other thing so you know,you mentioned the age of 75.
What should somebody who is 75or older do?
How should they?
I mean because they can stillget covered, correct.
Speaker 2 (15:38):
Oh, absolutely.
Medjet memberships areavailable for people over 75.
There's an application process.
Yeah, and I think Paul can giveyou the details of that because
he lives in that every day.
I don't.
Speaker 3 (15:48):
Yeah, yeah.
It's an application and it has12 health-based questions,
survey style.
Anything that they answer yesto, they would give a brief
description of that and thenthere's a very, very short
physician statement that theywould submit annually as well.
That's reviewed on our end foradmittance to the program.
What I don't want to leavepeople to believe is that we
(16:10):
will use that application, oncetaking our members' money, to
find reasons to not transport inthe future.
What we will do is review thatapplication and it would
obviously either be approved,declined or approved with an
exclusion.
So if the applicant, forexample, had a heart attack
within the last year or so,there's a possibility it's not
(16:31):
guaranteed, but there is apossibility that application
would be accepted with thatspecific exclusion for cardiac
events, but of course everythingelse would still be covered.
That's something I do like toclean up because I know you know
folks do like to liken us toinsurance and we're not in the
business of looking for reasonsto not transport our members.
So just because 1 is 75 nowdoes not mean that we're going
(16:55):
to use that application as atool to decline transport once
they're in it, right?
Speaker 1 (16:59):
No, that makes good sense.
Well, you know, and we'retalking a lot about transport,
for obvious reasons, becausethat's the bulk of what you do,
but going back to the horizonWould be the other layer.
With that comes with horizonbill.
Talk to me a little bit moreabout that, a value of that, and
what kind of scenarios mighthappen where you might need some
(17:19):
of those things.
Speaker 2 (17:21):
Sure, there's 10 specific things we cover
terrorism, kidnapping, wrongfuldetention, pandemic, natural
disaster, things like that.
An example would be well, it'sa real example.
We actually have a couple thatwas in Paris a few years ago
when they were having the yellowvest uprisings and they got
(17:42):
caught up in that and they gotnervous.
They called and the servicethat we use to provide this for
our members Happened to know thesecurity manager, one of the
hotels close by, called them,gave a description of a couple,
told the couple to move, youknow, trying to get to that
hotel.
They did.
They pulled them inside thehotel and they sheltered in
place, yeah, until it, until itpassed right.
(18:04):
So there's, there's no oneconcrete example we can point to
and say here's what we'll dofor you, like we can hospital, a
hospital transport.
Each situation is different,but it's a more scary world out
there.
People came back from thepandemic and said we're ready to
travel, but it makes us nervous.
Yeah, you know, because youknow of everything they heard
and saw.
You know there's a feeling thatit might be a little bit more
(18:26):
violent out there.
Yeah, and so it.
You know it gives them somecomfort that they had that back
up to if they need it rightright.
Speaker 1 (18:35):
Okay and yeah and that they're very good segue
there.
So I get that question a lotbecause I have a tendency to
book travel that is made more onthe adventurous side might be
in destinations that most people, that a lot of people wouldn't
always consider, and a questionI will get a lot of times when I
(18:57):
suggest one of thesedestinations, the first thing
somebody says is is it safe?
That's usually my, you know.
My response is like well, it'sprobably a lot safer than you
think.
And but secondly, I mean let'sjust say somebody goes someplace
in, there is a terrorist attack.
(19:17):
So you mentioned terrorism.
What In a terrorist Attacksituation?
How would, where does my jetcome into play there?
Speaker 2 (19:28):
But that's one of the closest example I can draw is
we actually had somebody thatwas down in Mexico on our
teaching assignment, okay, andthere was some Cartel activity
that was getting closer andcloser to the village where this
person was okay and you know wewould characterize that as
terrorist activity.
(19:48):
And so we contacted that personand moved, got them moved to the
village a couple hundredkilometers away, just as it as a
precaution.
Everything was fine and so thatwas a pretty simple case.
Cut and dried again.
Every situation we can't saywell sure.
Terrorists.
Speaker 1 (20:07):
Here's exactly what happens right, well, yeah, if
the terrorists gave us theirplaybook, yeah, then we could
run a week, we could definitelycome up with a plan, but we have
experience with.
That is what I'm saying andthat's how we handle it right
and in the same, if there's somesort of you know, natural
disasters I guess does, doesthat come into play if you're in
(20:28):
Hawaii and the volcano eruptsand you, or is that just a
travel insurance thing?
Speaker 2 (20:34):
and I'm sorry, I'm just sort of playing like I'm
just here that I think peoplemight be thinking about no
natural disaster is listed as aHorizon coverage item.
Okay, so if something were tohappen, we would deal with that.
Yeah, in some way.
Speaker 1 (20:51):
And did, do I remember correctly, on the
horizon and you know I'm this isall a little bit for two, it's
just right now because I'mdefinitely reminding myself
about some of the things that Ihave access to.
If you have some sort oftrouble with, like I mean, I
think it was you know theft ormoney or needed money in some
(21:12):
way that it does that come intoplay in this or not?
Am I confusing?
It was something else.
Speaker 3 (21:16):
You might be thinking of the $60,000 of cash advance
that's Associated with theMedjot Horizon upgrade.
That's not on the crisisassistance side.
It's a benefit that can be usedif the member ends up in a
facility which requires upfrontcash payment, which does happen,
I think, oftentimes in Mexicoin some areas and some other
(21:37):
areas around the world as well.
So in the event that thefacility were to be required an
upfront cash payment, we couldwire those funds over to the
facility and and they would.
The member would just agree topay those back at a certain
point After they return homeright, okay, okay.
Speaker 1 (21:52):
Well, I'm sure that's what I was what I was thinking
of.
So, and then and then, the waythat people Use if they're
traveling is the 800 number.
Speaker 3 (22:02):
They simply call in and say help, and Right, right,
we give out our local number aswell, which can be used to call
collect, if that's a, if that'sthe way the member would like to
do it as well, and, and again,that is the most important thing
to go with our telephone number.
I get I get a lot of folks whoare really worried that they've
(22:24):
lost their member card and we'regonna verify their membership
with a card and that would neverhappen.
We've got other ways to pullfolks up in our system.
So definitely most importantthing to go with once a member
is our contact information, andonce that that person ends up in
hospital heading that way, letour transport team know and
we'll get on the ball.
Speaker 1 (22:43):
Well, I know I feel a lot better having this and you
know I definitely.
My husband is a little littleolder than I.
Am not that age.
I always has something to dowith it, but you know, it's just
.
It's good to know that we'vegot this extra layer of.
Coverage, should we need it,because, like we said at the
beginning, as valuable as inchand necessary as Travel
(23:06):
insurance is you, there arecertainly plenty of things that
they will not and don't cover.
Speaker 3 (23:14):
I'm sorry to interject, Robin.
There's definitely a learningcurve, especially when it comes
to drawing distinction betweenus and travel insurance.
Certainly, once one has spent Xamount of dollars on the trip,
X amount of dollars on thetravel insurance, and then we
start talking about many folksare going to go wait a minute,
why?
So we understand that there's alearning curve there.
(23:35):
That curve tends to straightenout a little bit once folks see
why it's important.
I can give an example of twodifferent scenarios, one with
and one without a membership.
We have an example of a couplewho traveled to Tahiti for their
honeymoon and later on in thetrip the husband dove into a
(23:57):
body of water that was not deepenough and ended up in traction.
If I'm not mistaken, they hadno med jet to speak of and the
travel insurance did what itcould to get them to where they
could get the care that heneeded, but that's where he was
to stay until he was discharged.
Those folks ended up having toget a go fund me.
(24:18):
I believe the maid of honor setup a go fund me to ultimately
help that couple get homebecause they were both out of
work.
The wife was still down there.
So there's a lot of things thatneeded to be mitigated through
that circumstance.
I can compare that to anotherexample of actually a travel
agency owner out of Chicago whowas traveling in Malawi, Africa.
(24:39):
I believe she broke her femur,if I'm not mistaken, and
ultimately was transported backto Chicago by way of her med jet
membership and that particulartransport cost just under
$200,000.
I believe it was $199,000,$989,000.
So there really is a benefit toit and certainly once folks
(25:01):
kind of see the difference.
Again, no disrespect to travelinsurance, they do what they do
and they do well.
But if you're looking to gethome once hospitalized, that's a
med jet function.
Speaker 1 (25:13):
Yeah, absolutely.
Well, I mean med jet isn't?
I mean it's not a cancellationpolicy, it's not.
You know, any of those thingsare not going to be covered,
which is what you need, one ofthe biggest reasons that you
need a regular travel insurancepolicy.
I mean, most people don'tunderstand that the bulk of the
premium in a regular travelinsurance policy is for
(25:35):
cancellation.
Speaker 2 (25:36):
Right About 70% of it .
Speaker 1 (25:38):
Yeah, and so these kind of things are.
I mean, I'm not I don't want tosay they're secondary, because
they're very important still,but where we, I think, have a
tendency to go to well, if I,you know, got sick or I was an
accident or whatever, those arethe things we tend to think
about more instead of you know,the what if the trip got you
(26:00):
know, canceled at the lastminute.
You know that kind of thing,because we have this attitude of
, oh, I'm going, no matter what,and then oh, life, bill, tell
me some things that stick out inyour mind as far as some things
that have happened over theyear that, like you would use
for examples If somebody said,eh, you know, I don't know, I
(26:22):
don't know if I really need thisor not, like what's some big
things that have happened thatyou can think of, that that
Benchett has covered.
Speaker 2 (26:29):
Well, here's one, and it's actually.
It's actually a testimonial onour website, so you can go to
our website and look at ourtestimonials and you can see it.
The gentleman's name is ToddJones, hi, and he's a former
major league pitcher.
He pitched for the DetroitTigers for several years and he
and his wife bought the MedJetmembership for a trip down to
(26:51):
for Safari to Africa that theywere on to take.
But they were down in Miamiseveral months before that, just
vacationing on a long weekend,and Todd slipped by the pool and
he popped a quad in his leg.
He tried to catch himself andhe popped the other quad so he
couldn't walk.
I mean he's sitting on his buttby the pool and he can't move.
And you know he's no, he's nostranger to injury.
(27:14):
I mean you've got to crosssports, right, yeah?
And so he.
You know they got into thehospital there locally and they
said you know we're going tohave to perform surgery on both
legs and you're not going to bewalking for several weeks as you
go through rehab.
And he said you know time out,you know he lived.
He actually lived not too farfrom Birmingham.
He lived in a town called PellCity and he said well, I don't
(27:39):
want to do my rehab in Miami, Iwant to do it back home, where
family's around, and I'm closeto home my wife's, you know,
we'll be comfortable in ourhouse.
And so we transported themhospital to hospital and that's
a perfect example of a domesticone and we made it happen
literally within about 24 hours,as I recall it was pretty quick
because we had some craftavailability that we could take
hold of.
(27:59):
That's a real live example ofhow it benefits a member.
Speaker 1 (28:05):
Well, and on a trip like that, who?
I mean very, very few peoplewould have regular travel
insurance right.
You know, because you'redomestic so you figure your
medical is covered and all that.
But then I mean, I know, evenjust getting like a ambulance to
transport you from where I livein Lexington, from Louisville
to Lexington, you know what thatcan cost.
(28:27):
So yeah, you start talkingabout that in different cities.
Speaker 2 (28:30):
Well, we have another recent, a more recent transport
story.
Todd Jones is a couple of yearsold.
There's a couple out of Idahothe last name is Kamo K K A M O
they're a testimony on our sitealso and he's a professional
motorcycle rider Okay, off,off-road.
And so they bought a familymembership because they travel
all over the world, literally,and you know he's racing
(28:52):
motorcycles.
Speaker 1 (28:53):
It's like no stranger to danger this guy, right.
Speaker 2 (28:57):
They have a young son who's I don't know, four or
five, six years old and theywere actually in California and
he was racing and the son gotlike an infection in his eye and
it got worse and worse.
They took him to the hospitalin Sacramento.
The doctor's there, it's just aregular hospital.
The doctor said oh, you know,we need to go in and perform
surgery and do this and this.
(29:18):
And the mother, the wife of theyou know the member, you know
as a family membership, she saidI'm real uncomfortable with
that diagnosis.
I want to get home to ourchildren's hospital and get a
real children's doctor lookingat it for a diagnosis.
Yeah, so we transported himfrom Sacramento back to Idaho
and the children's doctor therewe diagnosed it and said wait a
(29:38):
second, we can, we can cure thiswith antibiotics.
And they did.
A couple weeks later everythingwas fine, no surgery, and, you
know, the young boy just went onwith his life.
Speaker 3 (29:48):
Wow.
That's a really great examplebecause it shows how MedJet
moves at the option of themember and not at the direction
of a physician or by way ofmedical necessity.
They chose to be moved andthat's important.
And that's the piece that a lotof folks who say well, I don't
need anything or I'm just happykeeping my travel insurance,
(30:09):
don't see that travel insuranceis oftentimes, even if you see
the word repatriation- built inis going to either be after
discharge or at the direction ofthe physician, and if the
physician doesn't say it'snecessary to do so, there's a
more than likely chance that itwon't.
So real important, a realimportant point regarding what
(30:30):
Bill just spoke about it was attheir option and that's
important.
I'm a dad.
I want that option.
Speaker 1 (30:35):
Yeah, no, that's, that's a.
That's a very, very good point.
And speaking of being a dad andI am, you know, I have my own,
my own two sons who are adultsnow, 22 and 23.
But you know, we bought, uh wehad a policy that had them on it
when they were, you know, partof the household when we went to
Costa Rica one year.
But I have the option now whereI can buy them a MedJet
(30:58):
membership.
I can give it to, I can put thatin their Christmas stocking or
their birthday card, or justbecause, um, anytime, and so,
for people that are listening,this is something I think makes
a great gift like you got thatperson.
You don't know what to buy forthem and they travel 150 miles
or more from home.
Speaker 2 (31:18):
Get a MedJet membership and we actually
haven't talked a lot of dollarson this particular podcast.
So Paul mentioned the $198,000transport.
Yeah, we, we bore the burden ofthat entire cost.
So the member never got acopayment, never got a
deductible right, never got anykind of papers from us saying
you know, hey, you need to fillthis out, we just paid it.
Yeah, our basic membership foran individual is $315, for a
(31:42):
family it's $425.
It's very reasonably priced,you know, if you're somebody
who's traveling all over theworld and have that that kind of
income and net worth, to travela few hundred dollars a year,
it's a I mean most people willspend way more than that on a
breakfast dinner, nice hotel andto tag on to that, robin, to
(32:05):
add the MedJet Horizon to afamily membership is only an
additional $189 for an entireyear.
Speaker 3 (32:11):
Yeah, and the $159 for an individual membership if
the additional that would bepaid.
So it's not.
It's not a huge expense to evenadd that added protection that
we were speaking about earlier,right?
Speaker 1 (32:22):
right now.
Well, I, I think it's a, Ithink it's a no-brainer and your
website is super, super easy touse.
I can get people a link.
I have a link and I keep it onmy at the end of the it'll be at
the show notes at the end ofthis podcast here so you know,
people can get and can get thismembership through the travel
(32:44):
advisor, through the website.
You just said there's an AARPdiscount.
Is it a discount or is it justan affiliation that you have?
Speaker 2 (32:51):
with AARP members do get a little discount.
Speaker 1 (32:54):
Yes, so there's a lot of ways that you can go about
getting one of these, and it isone of the least painful
processes you could ever do on awebsite, you know, to get
something of this kind of value,I think right and and and never
forget to use your, your traveladvisors like Robin, as a
reference, because they tend tobe really knowledgeable about it
(33:16):
, and if they don't know,they'll ask me well, that's
right, that's exactly right, andthat's why we need people like
you, because when we don't knowwhat to say or how to phrase it,
or how to explain why this isso valuable, that's that's when
we come to you and need yourhelp, for sure.
Yeah, is there anything that youguys feel like we've missed,
that we should cover, or youfeel like we've got kind of
(33:38):
touched on all the importantpoints?
Speaker 3 (33:42):
I'd speak to just just kind of.
So maybe we understand, or ourlisteners understand, kind of
the structure maybe of justwhat's a family membership,
because there's so much valuethere.
It can actually include up toseven people, so you can include
on family membership a primarymember and a spouse or domestic
partner, so they don't need tobe married, they just need to
share a residence.
(34:02):
That's a family membership.
Now, as a courtesy, we'llinclude up to five dependent
children under the age of 19, orunder the age of 23 if they're
full-time students.
So again to that, folks thathave kids in school piece, even
if your child is off at school.
I live here in Birmingham,alabama.
If my son were to be at schoolin Vanderbilton, nashville,
which I believe is three and ahalf hours away, he'd be covered
(34:25):
while he was up there.
So if something were to happenwe could get him back here to a
hospital here in Birmingham, asopposed to me and my wife trying
to scurry up there, leave lifehere and figure it all out on
the other end.
Speaker 2 (34:37):
It's a great value that's a very good point yeah
hey Robin, one other thing, andit's it's it's little talked
about and, quite frankly, notused very often, but we do see
it happen several times a year.
Is we do transport mortalremains okay, and so if that
word unfortunately happened,then we're gonna handle that and
it's just a burden off of themembers themselves to have to
(34:59):
deal with.
We would take care of all thosecoordinations.
Speaker 1 (35:02):
Yeah well that that is really good to know and
unfortunately, I have friendsthat that happened to, yeah, and
we're traveling without anykind of insurance.
I mean, it was an ordealthere's a lot, especially if
you're overseas.
Speaker 2 (35:17):
There's a lot of paperwork and a lot of you know,
clearing of customs, and wehandle all of that yeah, and if
you guys handle that, oh my gosh.
Speaker 1 (35:25):
That's just I mean, because everybody knows, when
something like that happens,you're really in no mental
capacity to be to be dealingwith it anyway even if you knew
where to start right right,exactly, even if you, even if
it's what you did, you know, didevery day.
It's not something you either,you know, want to be doing or
probably in a mental state to bedoing.
So, yeah and it's no.
(35:46):
Those things are no fun to talkabout, but and unfortunately we
hear these stories all the day,all the time.
And you know, I tell people,you know, when they want to
refuse travel insurance and youknow, in particular, they say
something like oh, my medicalinsurance is fine, or whatever.
I'm like as well.
If you're going to be drivingthat road on the Amalfi coast in
(36:09):
the rental car, just rememberthat car accidents do happen in
Italy and Italy too, you know Imean it's it's not.
You know you don't want to sendpeople off on their vacation,
afraid, but at the same time youknow it's.
It'd be lovely if everythingwas an always an Instagram
moment, wouldn't it right, right, right, right.
(36:31):
So, anyway, well, well, I thinkthat is great.
I think that is going to bereally helpful for people.
To anybody that's listening, weare here to help you.
We want to make sure that thatwhen you do travel or you know
anywhere you know, not even outof the United States that you do
so in a way that you have havewhat you need should the
(36:52):
unforeseen come to be.
So yeah, so well.
Thank you both so much.
I appreciate it.
We'll get this out to to thepublic as fast as we can thank
you so much for having us thatwraps up today's episode of the
intrepid traveler.
Thank you for tuning in andthank you to today's guests for
(37:12):
joining me.
I'll be back again in two weekswith another exciting episode
featuring another guest with astory that is sure to pique your
interest.
Please subscribe to theintrepid traveler on your
favorite listening channel andgive us a review.
Once again, today's episode hasbeen brought to you by Clining
Co Travel Consulting, a luxuryadventure and expedition travel
(37:34):
planning company specializing inungoogleable experiences.
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