Medjet

What Medjet is

Medjet is a membership program, not an insurance policy, and its own pages say so repeatedly. The resources page states, "Medjet is a medical transport membership program," and the AARP partner page puts it more bluntly: "WE'RE NOT INSURANCE." A membership buys a service: a medical transport home. The legal entity named in the privacy policy is "MEDJET Assistance, L.L.C. d/b/a MedjetAssist." The about page says the company was "the first to implement the air-medical transport membership concept in the United States in 1991" and that "Medjet is a privately held U.S. company."

Medjet does not fly its own planes. The site footer states that Medjet "utilizes the services of licensed Part 135 air carriers" and "does not own, lease or operate any aircraft." It contracts for the flights in its own name and coordinates the medical side of each transport.

It sells two tiers built on the same transport benefit. MedjetAssist is the medical transport membership. MedjetHorizon, per its page, "comes with all the air medical transport benefits of MedjetAssist plus access to 24/7 global security and crisis response services."

The transport benefit

The core promise, in the site's comparison table, is "Global Hospital to Hospital Medical Transfer for member regardless of Medical Necessity," with the line "Members determine which Medical Facility in their home country they'd like to be moved to." The table also lists all-expenses-paid air medical transport in the United States and internationally, travel medical emergency referrals, monitoring, telephone interpretation and message relay, and transfer of mortal remains. The site states that membership "Covers both business and personal travel."

The plan pages repeat the same short list of terms: "No health questions, deductibles or claim forms," "No preexisting conditions or adventure travel exclusions," and "No dollar limit on cost of transport." The condition that triggers a transport is stated with them: "Air medical transport services require that you be hospitalized as an inpatient and need hospitalization upon reaching your destination." On the AARP page, Medjet's medical department consults the local attending physician on whether the member is stable for transfer, and "If you meet the criteria for transport and are medically stable, the decision is yours." If the transport is by commercial airline, the member flies "first or business class with a medical escort," and one traveling companion can come along in economy at no additional cost, subject to seats.

MedjetHorizon, the security tier

MedjetHorizon adds "24/7 Travel Security Response and Evacuation Services due to Political Threat, Terrorism, Natural Disaster, Pandemic and Violent Crime," plus 24/7 crisis response to kidnap for ransom, disappearance, wrongful detention, blackmail and extortion, trip intelligence and e-alerts, and legal referrals. The security services are provided through a partner the page names, MS RISK, "Subject to the MS RISK Rules & Regulations," and the page says MedjetHorizon "does not depend on hard triggers, like government-issued evacuation mandates" to act.

Horizon also carries extra medical services. A medical cash advance: "Based on an approved repayment guarantee, Medjet will provide access up to $60,000 USD to take care of any immediate medical needs," marked for U.S. residents only. Specialty hospital transfer for members "through age 74" who need care found only at a specialty hospital more than 150 miles from their home hospital. And ground ambulance transfer when hospitalized less than 150 miles from home, back to the member's home hospital of choice.

Membership types and who can buy

Memberships are for residents of the U.S., Canada and Mexico. The membership options page lists:

• Short-Term: "8, 15, 21 or 30 day memberships. Under age 75 only." Benefits "begin at 12:01 AM morning of effective date and expire 11:59 PM evening of expiration date," and the membership "must be activated prior to departure from your primary residence."
• Regular Annual: "Individual or Family (2 adults + up to 5 children)," up to age 75, for international trips of less than 90 consecutive days and unlimited domestic travel over 150 miles from home.
• Diamond Annual: ages 75 to 84, for travelers "in good health." Diamond "May not be purchased online," requires a general health questionnaire and medical statement form completed by the applicant and their physician, and is "Limited to one medical transport per membership year."
• Collegiate: students and faculty up to age 75 at programs outside their home country, for "up to 20 consecutive weeks per individual trip"; longer than 140 consecutive days needs an Expatriate membership.
• Expatriate: Expat180 and Expat365, priced on uninterrupted time outside the home country, activated before departure.
• Domestic: MedjetAssist for members up to age 75 living in and traveling within the 48 contiguous states.
• Motorcycle: an add-on that "provides for up to $3,500 USD for the return of the enrolled motorcycle" to a shop or dealership of choice in the home country.

The rules and regulations page also lists a Platinum membership "(ages 85+)" in both tiers, and the AARP page says Platinum is exclusively available to AARP members, by phone, "Not available online." The same page sets a refund policy: memberships "are refundable up until effective date listed on membership."

What it costs

The main membership options page loads its prices through a calculator. The AARP partner page prints them. For MedjetAssist it lists regular prices of $99 for short-term, $315 for Annual (under age 75) and $470 for Diamond (age 75 to 84); for MedjetHorizon, $189, $474 and $629. The AARP starting prices shown beside them are $85, $275 and $430 for MedjetAssist and $175, $434 and $589 for MedjetHorizon, with the page headline "AARP Members Save up to 20% on Select Medjet Memberships." The page does not say which short-term length or family size each "starting at" figure belongs to.

The site's framing of why this matters: the resources page says a transport can cost "up to $30,000 for a domestic medical transport, and up to $180,000 for an international transport," and the about page lists example transports with their real cost beside "COST TO MEMBER $0," including Cape Town to Ringwood, New Jersey at $223,887 and Bali to Yardley, Pennsylvania at $251,617. These are Medjet's examples of transport costs, not benefit limits.

Who it suits

By its own terms, Medjet fits a U.S., Canadian or Mexican resident who wants a transport home to a hospital of their choice after an inpatient admission far from home, with no health questions or pre-existing condition exclusions under age 75. Diamond and the AARP-only Platinum extend it to older travelers, with a health questionnaire and a one-transport limit on Diamond. Horizon adds a security and crisis response line for travelers who want one. The membership pays for the transport, not for treatment abroad: apart from Horizon's cash advance, which is repaid under a guarantee, none of its pages list a medical expense benefit.