Global Rescue

Global Rescue (a Global Rescue Company) has been in the emergency evacuation business since 2004. They provide integrated medical, security, travel risk and crisis management services, delivered by teams of critical care paramedics, physicians, nurses, and military special operations veterans. Their mission is – to be there when it matters most.

Be aware that membership with Global Rescue does not insure your trip costs, cover lost baggage, trip interruption, trip delay or any of the other benefits associated with a regular travel insurance policy. It is an emergency evacuation program only.

The quoting system on the site is very easy to use. When you click on the various options chosen, they turn red so it’s easy to see at a glance the chosen item.

You can select whether you’re traveling solo or with family (you and others).

Next, select the length of your trip for coverage. For short term trips the choices are 7, 14, or 30 days only. Any longer and you’ll have to switch to an annual policy. Annual choices are 45, 90, 180 or 365 days.

Add-ons include a “Security Package” and a “High Altitude” package. The Security Package states, “Our military special operations veterans will extract our members in danger of bodily harm from war, civil unrest, natural disasters, government evacuation orders and other security emergencies.”

From the description, this package would ensure your rescue and evacuation from tense and/or dangerous situations that may cause grave bodily harm.

If you will be traveling in a high-altitude area, you can opt to add the “High Altitude Evacuation” option. This benefit states, “Provides services to members who travel above 15,000 feet (4600 meters) during any part of their trip (excluding airplane travel) and who require emergency transport due to illness or injury.”

For our example quote we selected Family, Short Term for just one trip of 14-days, and opted out of the add on packages, bringing our total to $329.

If we want to include the High-Altitude Package, the additional cost is $795. Adding the Security Package would add $326 to our quote.

Adding both packages to our base cost of $329 brings the total for our 14-day trip to $1450.

For travelers aged 75-84 or 85-99 a medical evaluation form must be completed, and a physician must provide a medical verification. If you choose the ‘Family’ option, the system assumes a spouse and up to 6 dependent children, but adults must be under the age of 75.

Once we’ve decided on the options we want, the checkout process is very straightforward:

At this point in the checkout process we have another option to choose from: Travel or TotalCare. Travel is the standard membership. This option gives you Field Rescue and Medical Evaluation, Medical Advisory services, Destination reports and advisories, and Transport to a home hospital of choice.

The other option available is Total Care. This option includes all benefits from the Travel option but adds Virtual Consultations 24/7/365 with physicians, Urgent and Specialty consultations, and Prescriptions, Labs, and Imaging.

Choosing Total Care  nearly triples the cost of the membership to $3460 for our 14-day trip. However, it automatically includes the Security Evacuation package in the cost.

You can choose the term for the plan of 1 year up to 5 years and you can pay in monthly installments or in full. Auto renewal is the final option available.

Is Global Rescue worth the price?

As mentioned earlier, Global Rescue’s main function is to evacuate you for medical emergencies and when in dangerous situations. It does not cover your trip costs, lost baggage, trip delays or interruptions. While robust for medical or mandatory evacuations, it is lacking in other areas that travelers may want to include when looking for trip insurance.

Travel insurance plans also include a medical evacuation component and can also evacuate you when a mandatory evacuation order is given by local or government authorities. However, these policies include a wider variety of coverages such as trip cancellation, trip interruption, trip delay, lost baggage, medical emergency coverage and can even cover pre-existing medical conditions in some cases.

Travel policies are generally much less expensive than the Global Rescue memberships and will cover more trip concerns that a traveler may need.

Before purchasing a Global Rescue membership for your trip, shop the open market through sites like TripInsure101 to see what other options are available. Compare prices and coverages in one place. If you have any questions, our licensed agents are happy to help.

Please stop by and chat with us, send an email, or give us a call at +1(650) 397-6592.

Safe travels!