What is Medical Evacuation and Repatriation Cover? | TID

• Under what circumstances would I need medical evacuation?
• What's not covered?

None of us embark on a holiday or business trip expecting to injure ourselves so seriously that we may need medical evacuation. 

As the saying goes, if you can’t afford travel insurance, you can’t afford to travel. And when you take out any one of the following Travel Insurance Direct policies - The Works, The Basics and Annual Multi Trip – coverage is available for this benefit.

You must read this section together with the General exclusions as these may affect your cover.

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Under what circumstances would I need medical evacuation?

Medical evacuation may be required when you are seriously ill or injured and you need transport to appropriate facilities for treatment. For example:

• you are injured while hiking on a mountain and it is medically necessary for you to be evacuated by helicopter to the nearest hospital; or
• you are in an area with poor medical facilities, and we need to move you somewhere more suitable; or
• we may decide that bringing you back to Australia for treatment is the best option.

What should I do if I find myself in this situation?

At TID, our policies can offer cover for emergency medical expenses incurred overseas after a sudden illness or serious injury. If you become unwell during your holiday,  contact our Emergency Assistance Team who can help you navigate what to do if you can’t travel back to Australia as planned, help you access medical attention or hospitalisation if you’re sick, or talk you through options to extend your policy if you’re stuck and can’t get home.

What are the restrictions I need to be aware of?

If you do not have a return ticket at the time of the event that causes you to return to Australia, the team at TID will need to deduct from the amount we pay you the equivalent the cost of an economy ticket airfare at the carrier’s regular published rates for the return journey.

Medical expenses in Australia are excluded, even if the illness or injury was sustained overseas and we paid for the overseas medical expenses. Under the Private Health Insurance Act 2007, we are prevented from covering medical expenses in Australia.

What’s not covered

There’s a number of things our policies don’t cover. It’s important you know what they are before you set off on your adventure of a lifetime. Be sure you understand the policy exclusions around evacuation and repatriation cover, which include but are not limited to the following: 

1. There is no cover for any medical, hospital, dental or ambulance expenses you incur in Australia.
2. If you have an existing medical condition that is not automatically covered under your policies, then you won’t be covered.
3. We will not cover a loss arising from your evacuation or repatriation that is not medically necessary or that is undertaken without our consent.
4. A loss arising from an illness or injury, the signs and symptoms of which you first became aware of after you purchased your policy but before you started your trip. You must obtain a note from your medical practitioner confirming you’re fit to travel.
5. We will not pay for any expenses you incur to resume your trip after you have returned to your home in Australia.
6. For repatriation, we will not pay more than the cost of repatriation to your home in Australia.

Need a hand?

Our Customer Service team is available to help you to understand the policy, what you may be covered for and any documentation you need to pick up along the way. Our travel safety team at TID work to keep customers informed and publish information on major travel events on our website.

Worldwide Emergency Assistance 24/7

Our Emergency Assistance team are on call 24/7 to help get you back to doing the things you love. The EA team are on call 24/7 to help in any kind of medical emergency, and ready to answer urgent questions.

This is a brief summary of cover only. Cover is subject to the full terms, conditions, limitations and exclusions outlined in the Product Disclosure Statement.