Covac Global

What Covac Global is

Covac Global sells evacuation and repatriation memberships, not insurance. The FAQ describes the company as "The premier provider of medical evacuation and repatriation membership programs, and the pioneer in pandemic evacuation assistance," and says it "provides fully indemnified evacuation and repatriation memberships for medical emergencies, Covid-19, and security crisis." The homepage headline is "The Complete Medical + Security Evacuation Membership No Hospitalizations. No Nearest. No Excuses." Covac does not own aircraft: the FAQ says "We maintain a network of vetted air ambulance providers and resources around the world" and "We are not beholden to our own fleet." It arranges "ambulances, air ambulances, aviation, and ground logistics," with "a flight doctor and any other medical staff needed" on medical flights. A membership pays for getting a member home; it is not cover for hospital bills abroad.

The homepage lays out the process in four steps: "Step 1 Buy a membership Step 2 Register trip Step 3 Travel the world Step 4 Get Home Safe."

The memberships and their limits

The site sells a Medical Membership, a Global Covid-19 Membership and a Security Membership Upgrade. The FAQ states the limits: "Medical Evacuation Membership: $1,000,000 per individual. COVID-19 Evacuation Membership: $1,000,000 per individual. Security Membership Upgrade: $250,000 per individual." It adds "Search and Rescue included in Medical and Security memberships: $25,000 per individual."

The Medical Membership, marked "Most popular," promises "No inpatient hospitalization at point of illness or injury required for evacuation benefits," and also states "Inpatient hospitalization in home country required to activate transport." The FAQ explains the trigger: "Members must be admitted for in-patient care, treatment, observation or testing at their home hospital of choice. There is no requirement the member be hospitalized at place of injury or illness." So the admission that triggers transport happens at the home hospital, not at the place of injury. The FAQ says Covac will arrange transport "all the way back to the member's home or hospital of choice."

The Global Covid-19 Membership lists "No hospitalization required," availability "for domestic and international travel," and a "Quarantine monitoring Service (Quarantine Stipend of $500/day up to 10 days)." Its trigger is a "Positive PCR test administered by a medical professional" where it is "Medically prudent to avoid hospitalization," with symptoms evaluated by "a local licensed attending physician and our medical director." The broker page lists "No hold period" for this membership.

The Security Membership Upgrade can be added to either the medical or Covid-19 membership. The FAQ says members "will be repatriated back to their home in the case of government advised evacuation, civil unrest, natural disaster, war, terror or if they are in risk of imminent harm." The homepage says its teams of "military special operations, intelligence and law enforcement veterans are available 24/7," and describes Remote Rescue as covering "search, locating, rescue and evacuation of those in perilous environments." The site claims Remote Rescue "is the only one in the market that covers Search and Rescue."

To frame the price of going without, the homepage prints its own averages: "$180,000 Average cost of international medical evacuation back home," "$65,000 Average cost of security extraction and repatriation" and "$200,000 Average cost of international Covid-19/contagious disease evacuation back home," set against "$0.00 Cost to Covac Global Member." The homepage also calls Covac an "Explorers Club Exclusive Provider," and its press page lists coverage headlined "Forbes 2023 - Here Are The Best Travel Memberships Of 2023."

Eligibility, restrictions and pre-existing conditions

The FAQ is specific on who can join. An individual membership needs a buyer aged "18. Individuals under the age of 18 can be included on a family plan when the primary family member is over 18," and the maximum age is "85 years old." The FAQ answers "No" to whether pre-existing conditions are excluded and "No" to whether the member must be hospitalized, and says of a stroke patient that "the patient must be fit-to-fly as judged by our flight doctor, but we do not discriminate based on pre-existing conditions." Memberships are "Open for all nationalities, however at this time we must exclude French nationals."

The program covers "international and domestic trips (more than 300 miles from your home)." On countries, the FAQ says "No blanket country restrictions (excluding Iran and North Korea)" for medical and security memberships, while the separate restricted countries page lists Afghanistan, Cuba, Iran, Iraq, North Korea, Somalia, Sudan and Ukraine. The Covid-19 membership excludes countries under "an active government mandated stay-at-home order" and cruises longer than 15 days, while "Medical and Security Memberships remain available for cruises without limit." The FAQ refers buyers to the membership service agreement ("See MSA for full details").

Buying, trip registration and refunds

Memberships come in "15 days," "30 days" or "Annual" terms. The FAQ says "15- and 30-day memberships are good for a single trip," while "Annual memberships are valid for multiple trips with a maximum single trip length of 90 days." A membership "can be purchased up to the departure date, prior to departure." To activate it for a trip, members send travel dates to the membership team or use "Register a Trip" on the site "to make sure you receive benefits on that trip." The enrollment form asks for a home address with the note "Home must be your Repatriation Address," and the membership price appears only once options are chosen in the form.

On family members, the FAQ says Covac will transport others in the party "99% of the time" when space and safety allow. It answers "Yes" to whether a membership is refundable if someone dies before the trip, and says memberships "are not trip dependent," so a buyer whose trip is canceled can use it on a later one. If a second or third family member falls ill days after the first evacuation, the FAQ says Covac brings them home too, and it answers "Yes" for clients on safari at a remote lodge. Brokers can resell memberships "via custom web-based portals." Direct contact is +1-561-418-3435 or members@covacglobal.com.

Who it suits

Covac Global fits a traveler aged 18 to 85 who wants to be flown home to a chosen hospital rather than stabilized at the nearest one, including travelers with pre-existing conditions, which the FAQ says are not excluded. The Security Upgrade suits trips where civil unrest, disaster or remote terrain is the main worry. French nationals are excluded, and the restricted countries list applies.