# 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.

*Published 2026-07-03 · By Dr. Elena Rossi, MD*

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](https://medjetassist.com/), 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.

MedJet's defining feature: an unconditional guarantee of transport to your chosen home hospital, with no medical-necessity test. It begins, however, only once you are an admitted inpatient, so it presumes you can already reach a hospital.

## 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](https://www.globalrescue.com/lp/travel-insurance-vs-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

DimensionMedJet AssistGlobal RescueModelMembership assistance programMembership assistance programCore guaranteeBedside-to-bedside transport to home hospital of choice, no medical-necessity testField rescue from incident site + transfer to home hospital (not guaranteed)TriggerInpatient admission >150 miles from homeIllness/injury at point of incidentIndividual annual$315From $375Family annual$425From $670Short-term8/15/21/30-day plans7-day from $139Upgrade tierMedjetHorizon (security/crisis) $474 individual / $614 familySecurity + high-altitude evacuation add-onsClaims modelNo claims, no deductibles, arranged directlyNo claims, no deductibles, arranged directly

Pricing per [MedJet's membership options](https://medjetassist.com/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](https://eraaway.com/travel-smart/travel-insurance-for-adventure-honeymoons) covers the activity exclusions that make evacuation coverage matter in the first place, and our explainer on [CFAR coverage](https://eraaway.com/travel-smart/cfar-cancel-for-any-reason-insurance-honeymoons) handles the cancellation side of the equation.

## Sources

1. [Premier Air Medical Transport and Travel Protection](https://medjetassist.com/)
2. [Medjet's Membership Options](https://medjetassist.com/membership-options)
3. [Travel Insurance vs. Evacuation Services](https://www.globalrescue.com/lp/travel-insurance-vs-evacuation-services/)

---
Source: https://eraaway.com/travel-smart/medical-evacuation-coverage-medjet-vs-global-rescue
Index: https://eraaway.com/llms.txt · Full text: https://eraaway.com/llms-full.txt