Medical Travel Assist Question

[prndl]

I’m wondering, would there be an advantage to having 2 “Emergency Medical Coverage Plans”. The Plans would be 1. “FMCA Medical Emergency & Travel Assistance Program” which comes with your FMCA yearly Membership, and 2. “Good Sam TravelAssist” which has a separate cost.
About a year ago I was looking into “Roadside Assistance Coverage” for our Class C and Toad, I read a Post in a Forum (don’t remember which one) that after all was said and done – the bottom line seemed to be, was to have two Plans. The first one was with ‘Good Sam Roadside Assistance’ and the second was ‘FMCA Roadside Rescue.’ The idea is that one of the plans may offer slightly better coverage, depending on your situation.

[Ray,IN]

RV roadside assistance from any RVing source uses the same companies the vase majority of the time. RV medical assist may be from different providers, but virtually all plans are very close to the same provisions.
All medical assist plans( 3rd party providers) have regulations that must be followed to obtain benefits.Once you file a claim, GS, FMCA, are out of the loop, you deal directly with the provider only.

For the cost you can't beat FMCA's program.
Its your decision, however I dropped my other medical assist plan in favor of FMCA plan.

[MSHappyCampers]

Originally Posted by Ray,IN

RV roadside assistance from any RVing source uses the same companies the vase majority of the time. RV medical assist may be from different providers, but virtually all plans are very close to the same provisions.
All medical assist plans( 3rd party providers) have regulations that must be followed to obtain benefits.Once you file a claim, GS, FMCA, are out of the loop, you deal directly with the provider only.

For the cost you can't beat FMCA's program.
Its your decision, however I dropped my other medical assist plan in favor of FMCA plan.

X2!

[rbkane]

We had a master cylinder fail last year on a Saturday, and good Sam Towed us to a campground as all repair shops were closed. On Monday morning tow truck ca
me again and towed the MH and car trailer to a repair facility. The service was great.

[hohenwald48]

I can't imagine why you would need to have two plans. Belt and suspenders kind of thing I suppose.

You likely also have some kind of medical transportation from your health insurance provider too. So, I guess you'd actually have 3 plans. Seems excessive to me.

[Gone_Feral]

One source of confusion seems to be:

1) roadside assist is for mechanical breakdowns.

2) medical assist is specifically to transport you to the hospital via ground ambulance, fixed wing, or helicopter transport, which can cost tens of thousands and is often not covered by other insurance.

They are not the same. Read the fine print carefully and get what you really need.

I have heard some horror stories about folks who used the medical transport services without having made the requisite phone calls to Good Sam or FMCA and got charged full price. I don't know how that would work if one were, like, unconscious and needed Life Flight, so that's something to inquire about. Also check with your regular insurance to make sure you're not duplicating services that you're already paying for.

[ThePowells]

Originally Posted by Gone_Feral

One source of confusion seems to be:

1) roadside assist is for mechanical breakdowns.

2) medical assist is specifically to transport you to the hospital via ground ambulance, fixed wing, or helicopter transport, which can cost tens of thousands and is often not covered by other insurance.

They are not the same. Read the fine print carefully and get what you really need.

I have heard some horror stories about folks who used the medical transport services without having made the requisite phone calls to Good Sam or FMCA and got charged full price. I don't know how that would work if one were, like, unconscious and needed Life Flight, so that's something to inquire about. Also check with your regular insurance to make sure you're not duplicating services that you're already paying for.

The "Med Assist" plans are to transport to home from a medical facility upon discharge or to an appropriate facility near your home if you are more than 100 miles from home. The local government facilitated EMERGENCY Medical Service is the one who is responsible for transporting you from a scene to a hospital and then an affiliated service will transport you to a higher level care facility if needed. The secondary transport now is usually managed by the accepting facility either by their own ground transport or their owned or contracted air mobile service. Your insurance or medicare / aid will be responsible for those costs as medically necessary.
Any transport requiring an EMTALA will be handled between the facilities and by a transportation service with privileges at both facilities.

Getting you HOME is what these med assist plans are for.

[CWSWine]

I maintain FMCA Assist for the sole reason of them arranging getting my motorhome/pull behind home if you medically are unable to drive it home including my dog Gizmo. There is a bunch of guidelines to follow and some odd rules.


A friend had a heart attack and was transferred via ambulance to the local hospital. Our local hospital can stabilize and transfer him to a larger hospital for surgery and/or long-term care. All of it was covered under Medicare minus deductibles.

[Gone_Feral]

Originally Posted by ThePowells

The "Med Assist" plans are to transport to home from a medical facility upon discharge or to an appropriate facility near your home if you are more than 100 miles from home. The local government facilitated EMERGENCY Medical Service is the one who is responsible for transporting you from a scene to a hospital and then an affiliated service will transport you to a higher level care facility if needed. The secondary transport now is usually managed by the accepting facility either by their own ground transport or their owned or contracted air mobile service. Your insurance or medicare / aid will be responsible for those costs as medically necessary.
Any transport requiring an EMTALA will be handled between the facilities and by a transportation service with privileges at both facilities.

Getting you HOME is what these med assist plans are for.

WRONG.

Read here:

https://www.goodsamtravelassist.com/compare.aspx

[Ray,IN]

Originally Posted by Gone_Feral

WRONG.

Read here:

https://www.goodsamtravelassist.com/compare.aspx

Read every testimonial about GS travel assist, none pertain to local coverage. The FAQ page does not address anything except after initial treatment coverage and pre-trip advice.
The Powells are correct. You'd have to show me in the plan(any such plan) coverage where The Powells are wrong.

[ThePowells]

I really don't care what GOOD SAM has to say, but in total disclosure I have not read the GS advertising as it will not change reality.

Here is the REALITY, not GS advertising.

If you are in a wreck, fall while hiking, or pass out from laughing at you neighbor who incorrectly attached his stinky slinky, a 911 call center (NOT GS) (who are trained professionals at this) will take the call, prioritize it, enter the information, and dispatch the appropriate emergency personnel, and continue with EMD if appropriate. Unless it is a general sickness call a fire truck with first responders (who does not answer to GS or CN), a paramedic level ambulance (who does not answer to GS or CN), possibly law enforcement (who does not answer to GS or CN), and in some places members of a rescue squad will respond.
After you are assessed by the professionals (NOT a GS roadside provider) and need to be transported, it will be in a professionally staffed ambulance (Not Buck's Towing and Taxidermy) and normally you will go to an appropriate emergency room. Upon your arrival you will again be triaged and reassessed. If at some point you need to be transferred to a facility with a higher level of care, then the choice will be made to what facility and a Doctor there will be consulted, and if (s)he accepts the patient and a transportation method will be determined. After this is done, then your nurse or her team leader or charge nurse will contact the transportation coordinator at that ER and make arraignments appropriately. AND BTW, the coordinator ONLY takes calls from other facilities and EMS dispachers, NOT GS or AAA. Then based on circumstances, the TC for the accepting facility will dispatch either a ground truck or helo as appropriate and available.
Abnormally, you are injured or your conditions requires emergency evacuation, then the EMS scene supervisor will request the appropriate helo and designate the LZ. This request will be made through the comm center directly and not the hospital.


So, based on blind faith in GS and believing their advertising, are you going to call Ella when your family member has a medical emergency and expect the timely response? The 911 center (if they can find the right one to call since they aren't OnStar and will have to Giggle the number) will answer the call, but by the time GS figures out where you are (maybe) and calls, I am sure that somebody else has called 911 and the appropriate help is on the way. Remember now, these are the same people who have trouble finding somebody to change a tire on Sunday afternoons.

Now lets say that somebody does manage to get GS to call for a helo to the ER where your loved one is and IF the TC will actually talk to them, first question is are you calling for the appropriate transportation, meaning is this a patient that the facility would appropriately accept? The next question is have doctors at both facility agreed to the transfer? Who is signing the EMTALA?
The question about the "appropriate facility" is that based several factors one facility may be more appropriate than another or a certain facility be pretty much mandated and that affiliated helo would generally be the one to transport. Our facility receives helos from 3 different hospitals. Anything Level 1 trauma or peds goes to one. Cardiac to another, and brain / neurological to a third, and other issues still to a specified facility. In a severe emergency, one helo group will transport to a another facility if the situation warrants. Sometimes, you wait longer for an affiliated helo. Try explaining to upset family that they have to wait 30 minutes for a green and white one from the trauma center rather than loading their loved one on the blue and white one on the pad 500 yards away. If it is severely life threatening, the TC will find out who is up and where and if somebody else's helo is up, they will request in a heartbeat.

So once again, not withstanding the GS propaganda, are you going to trust the people who can't even figure out an appropriate wrecker for your coach to find the right EMS and / or helo for your loved on? If so I hope they have a great life insurance policy and you have access to great lawyers because GS may not have much of a defense, but any facility that accepts their call is beyond grossly negligent.

Now after your loved one has recovered sufficiently to travel, then what ever is acceptable, but I want to see a helo take somebody home, plus some have read the GS B--- to say that they will assist in LOCATING transportation home, not paying for it.