Travel Smart
Medical Evacuation Coverage: MedJet Assist vs. Global Rescue
Standard travel insurance evacuates you to the nearest hospital, not home. Here is how MedJet Assist and Global Rescue close that gap, and which one fits your honeymoon.
Every comprehensive travel insurance policy lists medical evacuation as a headline benefit, and that line item reassures couples enough that they rarely read further. But the coverage contains a limitation most policyholders discover only from a hospital bed abroad: a standard policy evacuates you to the nearest adequate medical facility, not to your home country and not to the hospital of your choice. Once you are stabilized locally, the policy's evacuation obligation is satisfied. Getting home, for continued treatment, for recovery near family, for surgery under your own physicians, is either not covered or becomes a fraught, case-by-case negotiation.
Two membership programs exist specifically to close that gap: MedJet Assist and Global Rescue. Neither is an insurance policy. Both are worth understanding before a long-haul or adventure honeymoon.
What MedJet Assist guarantees
Founded in 1991, MedJet operates as a membership assistance program with one firm promise. Per MedJet's own description of its service, if a member is hospitalized as an inpatient anywhere more than 150 miles from home, domestically or internationally, MedJet arranges bedside-to-bedside air medical transport to the home-country hospital of the member's choice, with no requirement that the transport be medically necessary.
That last clause is the whole product. You do not have to prove the local facility is inadequate. You simply need to be admitted as an inpatient and want to come home. There are no claim forms, no deductibles, no out-of-pocket transport bills, no cap on the flight cost, and no pre-existing-condition or adventure-travel exclusions. The membership is backed by Lloyd's of London and carries an A+ (Superior) AM Best rating.
What Global Rescue adds: field rescue
Founded in 2004, Global Rescue's model adds a capability MedJet does not offer. Per Global Rescue's comparison of insurance versus evacuation services, its military-trained paramedics and physicians are dispatched to the point of illness or injury, not just the nearest hospital, and extract the patient from the field before transport to a facility.
This matters in genuinely remote territory. A hiking accident in a distant mountain range, a dive injury on a far reef, a medical event deep on a multi-day safari, each can require field extraction before any conventional evacuation can even begin. Once the member reaches a facility, Global Rescue assists in transferring them to their home hospital, though it does not guarantee availability the way MedJet guarantees hospital-of-choice transport.
Side-by-side comparison
| Dimension | MedJet Assist | Global Rescue |
|---|---|---|
| Model | Membership assistance program | Membership assistance program |
| Core guarantee | Bedside-to-bedside transport to home hospital of choice, no medical-necessity test | Field rescue from incident site + transfer to home hospital (not guaranteed) |
| Trigger | Inpatient admission >150 miles from home | Illness/injury at point of incident |
| Individual annual | $315 | From $375 |
| Family annual | $425 | From $670 |
| Short-term | 8/15/21/30-day plans | 7-day from $139 |
| Upgrade tier | MedjetHorizon (security/crisis) $474 individual / $614 family | Security + high-altitude evacuation add-ons |
| Claims model | No claims, no deductibles, arranged directly | No claims, no deductibles, arranged directly |
Pricing per MedJet's membership options and Global Rescue, all figures as of 2026 and worth confirming at purchase. Note MedJet's operational limits: evacuation must be arranged through MedJet (self-arranged transport is not reimbursed), air medical services are capped at two separate flights per membership year, and the member must be admitted as an inpatient at both the originating and destination hospital.
Which one fits your honeymoon
Choose MedJet if your honeymoon is centered on a resort, a cruise, or a city, destinations where reaching a hospital is not itself the challenge. MedJet's hospital-of-choice guarantee is the more directly applicable product, and its lower individual and family pricing reflects that narrower, cleaner scope.
Choose Global Rescue if your itinerary takes you meaningfully off the road network: trekking, diving from liveaboards in remote archipelagos, extended safari in areas with limited road access. Its field-extraction capability can be the difference between a viable evacuation and hours of waiting for improvised transport.
The complete coverage architecture
International medical evacuations without coverage can cost $30,000 to $300,000 depending on distance, aircraft type, and medical requirements. Standard travel insurance covers a portion, evacuation to the nearest facility, but not the full cost of returning home under physician-managed care. The right structure for a long-haul honeymoon layers both product types: comprehensive travel insurance for cancellations, lost baggage, medical bills, and local evacuation, plus a membership for the final leg home. Combined annual membership for a couple runs roughly $425 to $840, modest against the risk.
For couples still choosing the underlying policy, our guide to adventure honeymoon travel insurance covers the activity exclusions that make evacuation coverage matter in the first place, and our explainer on CFAR coverage handles the cancellation side of the equation.
Frequently asked
Doesn't my regular travel insurance already cover medical evacuation?
It covers a version of it, but with a critical limitation most policyholders never discover until they are hospitalized abroad. Standard travel insurance evacuates you to the nearest adequate medical facility, not to your home country and not to the hospital of your choice. Once you are stabilized in that local facility, the policy's evacuation obligation is satisfied. Getting home for continued treatment, recovery near family, or surgery under your own physicians is either not covered or becomes a case-by-case negotiation with the insurer's assistance team. This is precisely the gap that membership programs like MedJet Assist and Global Rescue are designed to fill, which is why the two product types are complements rather than substitutes.
What makes MedJet Assist different from an insurance policy?
MedJet Assist is a membership assistance program, not an insurance policy. Its guarantee is simple and firm: if a member is hospitalized as an inpatient more than 150 miles from home, domestically or internationally, MedJet arranges bedside-to-bedside air medical transport to the home-country hospital of the member's choice, with no requirement that the transport be medically necessary. You do not need to prove the local facility is inadequate; you simply need to be admitted as an inpatient and want to come home. There are no claim forms, no deductibles, no out-of-pocket transport bills, no cap on the transport flight cost, and no pre-existing condition or adventure travel exclusions. The membership is backed by Lloyd's of London with an A+ (Superior) AM Best rating.
What is field rescue and why does Global Rescue offer it?
Field rescue is the extraction of a patient from the point of illness or injury, not just from the nearest hospital. Global Rescue dispatches military-trained paramedics and physicians to the incident site itself and extracts the patient from the field before transport to a facility. This distinction matters in genuinely remote or rugged destinations: a hiking accident in a remote mountain range, a dive injury on a distant reef, or a medical event on a multi-day safari could require field extraction before any conventional evacuation can occur. MedJet does not offer this; its guarantee begins once you are an admitted inpatient at a hospital. For couples venturing well off the road network, field rescue can be the difference between a viable evacuation and hours of improvised transport.
How much do MedJet and Global Rescue memberships cost?
For MedJet, an annual individual membership covering multiple trips of up to 90 consecutive days each runs $315, and family coverage for two adults and up to five children is $425. The MedjetHorizon upgrade, which adds worldwide security and crisis evacuation powered by FocusPoint International, costs $474 for individuals and $614 for families. Short-term plans are available for 8, 15, 21, and 30-day periods. For Global Rescue, annual individual memberships start at $375, family plans at $670, and a 7-day short-term membership starts at $139, with security and high-altitude evacuation available as add-ons. All prices are as of 2026 and should be confirmed at purchase, as tiers and terms change.
When is a repatriation membership actually worth the money for a honeymoon?
International medical evacuations without coverage can cost $30,000 to $300,000 depending on distance, aircraft type, and medical requirements. Standard travel insurance covers a portion, evacuation to the nearest facility, but not the full cost of returning home under physician-managed care. A membership is worth it for honeymooners traveling to the Maldives, Bali, East Africa, Patagonia, or any destination more than a transatlantic flight from home. Combined annual membership for a couple runs roughly $425 to $840 depending on provider and tier, modest against the financial and logistical risk. For a resort or cruise honeymoon in a well-served destination close to home, where reaching a good hospital is not itself the challenge, the case is weaker.
Can I have both a travel insurance policy and an evacuation membership?
Yes, and for a long-haul or adventure honeymoon that is the recommended architecture. The two products are complements, not substitutes. Your comprehensive travel insurance covers trip cancellation, lost baggage, medical bills abroad, and evacuation to a local facility. The evacuation membership, MedJet or Global Rescue, covers the final leg home to the hospital of your choice under your own physicians, which insurance typically does not. Layering a membership on top of a comprehensive policy produces complete coverage from cancellation through repatriation. The combined cost is small relative to the exposure, and each product handles the scenario the other leaves open, so buying both is not redundant.