There are a lot of things travel insurance can do, but one thing it won’t do is save your life.

Search around for tales of travelers who experienced a medical nightmare abroad, and you’ll commonly find stories of disappointment in their insurance carriers:

  • “My insurance company refused to help.”
  • “No one would come pick me up.”
  • “The local doctors misdiagnosed my illness, and nobody could tell me what was wrong.”

These are the refrains that lead to the sorts of questions our paramedics answer when they are asked to distinguish between a Global Rescue membership and travel insurance.

Misdiagnosis and Medical Evacuation Denials

The case of Robert Ferrari publicized in an ABC News story last year was a good example of what insurance won’t do to help.

Having been admitted to a local hospital in Italy with chest pain, Ferrari was misdiagnosed with acute gastritis. In fact, the 72-year-old’s condition was life-threatening: an undetected hole in his esophagus.

When liquid in his throat eventually leaked into his chest cavity and he got much sicker, he was rushed to an emergency room in Tuscany. In order to receive care at home he required a medical evacuation that would cost $67,000. Although the family had an insurance policy they were told would cover that cost, the insurance company refused to pay it, because, they said, he was receiving treatment in Italy. A lengthy court battle ensued.

Meanwhile, Ferrari’s wife Loretta had to find a doctor who was ready to treat him in the U.S.

“We had some recommended surgeons and we tried to make some calls, and we were unsuccessful even getting through,” said Barbara Ferrari-Shannon, Robert’s sister.

Most often, the family found itself in an endless round of phone menus without getting a human who could help.

“Someone in one case said, ‘Well, you have to get him in’ [for a consultation], and I said, ‘We can’t get him in. He’s in Italy,” Ferrari-Shannon said.

The Ferraris’ travails highlight a few important differences between a travel insurance “solution” and the benefits of a medical evacuation membership.

A Global Rescue member suffering from that same problem would have been able to call medical staff in Global Rescue’s Operations Center immediately, the case would have been reviewed by both Global Rescue doctors and Johns Hopkins specialists, and the medical evacuation would have been organized, carried out and entirely paid for by Global Rescue.

The internet is full of similar stories of insurance companies who have refused to help when their policy holders needed them most. In a highly publicized case last November, a Canadian man died from head injuries sustained by his hotel pool in the Dominican Republic after his insurance company refused to bring him home.

Help at the Point of Injury or Illness

Indeed, travel insurance is not of much help when a traveler, perhaps camping on a remote island, needs to get to a hospital. Many medical evacuation providers transport from hospital bed to hospital bed only.

[Related Reading: What Is Field Rescue?]

Here’s an illustration of how Global Rescue’s field rescue services bridge that gap. When Bela Hidvegi was camping in remote Cameroon last month, he contracted a severe bacterial infection and needed to receive first-world health care immediately. Global Rescue dispatched a helicopter to his camp, brought him to a hospital in the capital for initial stabilization, and then onward to his home in Europe for further treatment.

“Without Global Rescue and God’s help I might not have come out of Cameroon alive,” Hidvegi said.

Insurance is a wonderful tool to hedge against certain financial setbacks. On the other hand, if you are concerned about your health when traveling, Global Rescue will save your life.