Medjet vs. travel insurance: whose hospital?
Your policy’s evacuation benefit is built to get you to the nearest hospital that can treat you. A membership is built to get you to yours. On a cruise, that difference shows up in a place most people don’t expect.
A membership is an add-on to a travel policy, not a replacement for one. Medjet and Global Rescue move you to a hospital you choose in your home country. They don’t pay medical bills, and both say you have to be off the ship first.
So on a cruise the policy does the urgent work: the ship-to-shore leg and the treatment. The membership pays for the trip home when you’re stable and the local hospital is adequate but not where you want to be. If that last part doesn’t worry you, you probably don’t need one.
Nearest adequate vs. your choice
Start with the moment that matters: you’re in a hospital abroad and stable. Who decides where you go next?
Where a doctor says
Allianz OneTrip Premier describes its $1,000,000 benefit as medically necessary transportation to the nearest hospital or appropriate facility. Travel Guard Deluxe says nearest adequate facility, or home if medically required.
It also comes with an emergency medical limit that pays the hospital. The trigger is medical need, and the destination follows from it.
Where you say
Medjet’s rules promise transport to a hospital of your choice in your home country once you’re admitted as an inpatient 150 miles or more from home and stable enough to fly. Global Rescue’s threshold is 100 miles.
Neither pays the hospital. Both decide timing and method on their own medical assessment, and your destination hospital still has to accept you.
Picture a fall in a port hospital that’s clean, competent and two thousand miles from home. A policy may see no medical reason to move you.
You may see several, from your own cardiologist to a spouse who can’t stay in a hotel for three weeks.
That gap is the product a membership sells.
The membership starts at the pier
This is the part most comparison pages skip, and it matters more on a ship than anywhere else.
Medjet’s membership rules carry a section headed Cruise Ship Limitations. They say you must first be admitted to a land-based hospital before any medical transport can start.
Global Rescue’s Member Services Agreement says members who become ill on cruise ships must disembark at an accessible medical facility or port before transport.
Read together, the sequence is plain. The tender, the helicopter or the diversion to port is the policy’s job, or the cruise line plan’s.
So is the hospital bill once you land. The membership picks up the flight home after that, when you’re admitted and stable.
Buy a membership instead of a policy and that first leg is yours to pay — under Viking’s and Silversea’s U.S. ticket contracts, for example, the guest pays for the transfer.
Four moments, three products
Watch how often a membership shows $0, and then look at which moment it doesn’t.
Pick what happens
Then set the bill. The CDC puts evacuations at $25,000 to over $250,000.
Illustrative only. The policy column uses Allianz OneTrip Premier’s national limits ($1,000,000 transport, $75,000 medical) as a typical example. Medjet and Global Rescue figures follow their own published rules. Neither membership is insurance, and every program decides transport on its own medical assessment.
What each one actually buys
Read from each company’s own rules and pages on October 31, 2026. All prices are “from” figures in U.S. dollars.
| MedjetAssist | Global Rescue | Travel policy evacuation | |
|---|---|---|---|
| What it is | Membership | Membership; “not a policy of insurance” | Insurance benefit |
| Price, from about | $315 a year; short-term from $99 (regular rates) | $329 a year; family $549; 7 days $139 | Part of the premium |
| When it applies | Inpatient 150+ miles from home | More than 100 miles from home | Covered illness or injury, medically necessary |
| Destination | Home-country hospital of your choice | Home-country hospital of your choice | Usually the nearest adequate facility |
| Off a cruise ship | Must be admitted on land first | Must disembark at a port or facility first | Covers the ship-to-shore leg, up to the limit |
| Polar trips | No polar exclusion in the rules we read; still needs land admission | Excludes Antarctica below 60°S, Greenland, above 80°N | Check the plan’s exclusions |
| Pays the hospital | No | No | Yes, under emergency medical |
| Age | Under 75; Diamond 75–84, one transport a year | Extended Plan 75–84; none over 85 | Sold at older ages, priced for it |
| Buy by | From home, before you leave | Check the agreement | Usually any time; waiver within 14–21 days |
Medjet sells a second tier, MedjetHorizon, at about $474 a year at regular rates. It adds security and crisis response, for travelers who worry about unrest as much as illness.
Prices here are the starting rates each company publishes. Age, term and family size move them, so get a live quote before you compare. AARP members get Medjet at a discount.
The scorecard says buy them for different jobs
This isn’t a contest with a winner. The tally just shows where each one earns its money.
The policy pays the ship-to-shore leg, up to its limit. Both memberships say you have to reach a land hospital or port first.
The membership’s whole reason to exist. A policy moves you when medically necessary, which an adequate local hospital usually rules out.
Only the policy pays treatment. Medjet and Global Rescue both leave medical bills to you.
The policy covers the remote leg. Medjet waits for a land admission, and Global Rescue excludes Antarctica below 60°S and Greenland.
A tie, roughly. Medjet’s short-term membership starts around $99 at regular rates; Squaremouth puts the average medical-only cruise policy around $102.
Medjet’s annual membership, from about $315, covers international trips of up to 90 days each. Policies are usually bought trip by trip.
Policies are sold at older ages, priced for it. Medjet’s Diamond tier (75–84) needs a health questionnaire and allows one transport a year.
Both programs decide timing and method on their own medical assessment. Only the membership lets you name the destination.
Fit scores, not quality scores: our judgement of how well each serves someone on a cruise. The policy is judged on a $1,000,000-evacuation plan such as Allianz OneTrip Premier. Global Rescue would score close to Medjet on most rows and lower on polar trips. Rules rechecked October 31, 2026.
Permission to skip it
Most cruisers don’t need a membership. Some really do. Here’s how to tell which you are.
Your doctors are the point
Someone in the group has a cardiologist, an oncologist or a surgeon at home they’d want in charge. That’s exactly the move a policy won’t fund.
You sail or travel several times a year
An annual membership covers international trips of up to 90 days each, so the per-trip cost falls fast.
A good local hospital would do
Short Caribbean sailings, healthy travelers, no strong reason to be flown home. Spend the money on a higher medical limit instead — that’s the bill more likely to land.
You’re skipping the policy to save money
A membership can’t pay the ship-to-shore leg or the hospital. Without a policy, both land on you.
You’re headed to Antarctica or Greenland
Global Rescue excludes both. Medjet still needs a land admission. The policy’s limit carries the expedition on its own.
You’re 75 or older
Medjet’s Diamond tier needs a health questionnaire and allows one transport a year. Global Rescue’s cutoff is 85.
Buy the policy first, then the membership
The waiver window
If anyone has a health history, the policy’s waiver is the first clock to close: 14 days at Allianz, 15 at Travel Guard Deluxe, 21 at Travelex Ultimate.
Enroll from your address
Medjet requires new members to enroll while at home, effective on or before departure. Flying in a day early? Count from the flight.
Call both numbers
Call the policy’s assistance line for the evacuation, then the membership once you’re admitted. Keep both in your phone, not just your bag.
Medjet’s rules also ask members to keep home-country health insurance that covers an inpatient admission. Check yours before you rely on the flight home.
What people ask us about Medjet
Do I need Medjet if I already have travel insurance?
Only if getting home to your own hospital matters to you. A travel policy's evacuation benefit typically pays for a medically necessary move to the nearest facility that can treat you. Medjet's rules promise transport to a hospital of your choice in your home country once you're admitted as an inpatient 150 miles or more from home, even if the local hospital is adequate. The two do different jobs, and Medjet doesn't pay medical bills at all.
Does Medjet cover evacuation from a cruise ship?
Not the first leg. Medjet's membership rules have a section on cruise ships and say you must first be admitted to a land-based hospital before any transport starts. Global Rescue's agreement says members who become ill on cruise ships must disembark at an accessible medical facility or port first. The move from ship to shore is a job for your travel policy or the cruise line's plan.
How much does Medjet cost compared with Global Rescue?
Medjet's own published regular rates start at about $315 a year for a MedjetAssist annual membership, about $474 for MedjetHorizon with security services, and from about $99 for a short-term membership. Global Rescue lists annual individual memberships from about $329, family from about $549, and 7-day memberships from about $139. Prices depend on age, term and options, so check a live quote.
Is Medjet or Global Rescue insurance?
No. Both are memberships. Global Rescue's agreement says plainly that it isn't a policy of insurance of any kind. Medjet's rules describe a membership that arranges and pays for transport, while you remain responsible for choosing and paying the medical provider. Neither replaces emergency medical cover.
Does Global Rescue cover Antarctica or Greenland?
Its Member Services Agreement excludes Medical Transport while you're traveling in Greenland, in the Arctic above the 80th parallel, or on or near the Antarctic continent below the 60th parallel south. On a polar expedition, your travel policy's evacuation limit carries the risk on its own.
Can I buy Medjet once I'm already traveling?
Not as a new member. Medjet's rules say a new enrollment has to be completed while you're at home and not traveling, with an effective date on or before your first departure. Renewing an active membership can be done from anywhere.
Is there an age limit?
Yes, on both. Medjet's annual and short-term memberships are for travelers under 75. Its Diamond membership covers ages 75 to 84 with a health questionnaire and physician statement, and it allows one transport per membership year. Global Rescue offers an Extended Plan for ages 75 to 84 with an application, and its agreement excludes medical transport for members over 85.
Not sure you need both? Ask us.
Tell us the sailing, ages and anyone’s health history. We’ll tell you whether a policy alone covers the realistic risks, and when a membership earns its fee.
- Whether your policy’s evacuation limit fits the itinerary
- Which waiver window closes first
- Whether a membership adds anything for your group
No fee, no obligation. A real advisor replies, usually within one business day.
Ask about Medjet and evacuation
Answers come straight from our insurance guides.
Answers come from our guides and are general information, not advice about your policy.
Where every number came from
Membership rules and prices come from Medjet’s and Global Rescue’s own published documents; prices are starting rates and change with age and term. Policy limits are “up to” figures from each insurer’s national pages, and your plan document governs. The scores and the “who needs both” advice are our judgement.
Around the evacuation question
The cruise, the night before, and the coverage.
Most people buy these from three different websites and hope they line up. We book them together, check that the dates and the fine print agree, and stay on the hook when something changes.