What Is Assist America?
The simple answer to this basic question is that Assist America is a provider of global emergency medical services for travelers. If a member becomes ill or injured while traveling more than 100 miles (150 kilometers) from home, we support that member with an array of services, including medical referrals, monitoring, evacuation, repatriation and much more. But beyond the concrete, there is a greater depth to what we offer:
We are life savers and problem solvers.
Assist America has been saving lives since 1990 without preset parameters around our services. On a case by case basis, we may find ourselves reuniting a pet that was displaced due to a member’s medical situation with its owner, arranging the return of a car that a member was not well enough to drive home, re-fitting an air ambulance to accommodate a special needs patient or commissioning a toboggan for transport down Mt. Kilimanjaro. We are committed to resolving the emergencies of our members —whatever it takes—and we have the talent and resources to do so.
Our main product is peace of mind.
We do not have a physical item that we package in a box and stamp with our name. Our product is something much more precious: peace of mind. Our members can travel knowing that they are connected and cared for anywhere in the world, and that their families will not be burdened with trying to extricate them from a difficult and costly situation away from home.
We are caring partners.
Although it only takes one phone call to set us in motion on behalf of any member who needs assistance, our relationship really does not start or end there. We offer pre-trip information to empower our members to be well-prepared for travel. We stay in regular communication with members and families throughout any emergency. And we encourage feedback and dialogue when an incident has been resolved. Our members feel valued and safe before, during and after any urgent situation.
Important Things to Know About Assist America
We are not an insurance company.
Assist America provides and pays for all services related to obtaining quality emergency medical care while traveling, including medical referrals, critical care monitoring, air evacuation and other support measures. Once a qualified physician or hospital has begun care, the costs of actual treatment and hospitalization are handled by a member’s health insurance plan and are subject to the policy limits of that coverage.
Our services are administered exclusively through employee benefit plans.
Assist America is efficient and affordable because we cover larger groups of people through employee benefits plans. We do not offer individual travel assistance policies for purchase by the general public. Our services are a value addition to health, life, disability or other policies administered by independent insurance companies.
Services must be arranged and provided by us.
By recommending which providers are used, we can ensure that our members use the world’s safest and most reliable resources. For this reason, we cannot honor requests for reimbursement for ambulance transport or other services arranged independently by our members.
Coverage begins when a member is 100 miles away from home, or in another country.
Whenever a member moves beyond a 100 mile (150 kilometer) radius from home or crosses the border of a different country, the Assist America shield is activated.