Emergency Assistance Plus

When making plans for multiple trips abroad early in 2016, I happened to receive an offer to become a member of EA+. I had seen one of their offers a couple of years ago, but given the low cost, I thought it could not offer the services advertised, so I threw the information in the trash. But, this time, because travel plans would take us to developing countries, I decided to join. Space does not permit me to give the details of EA+'s response upon the onset of my wife's serious illness while traveling in Poland. Let me just say that their response was exceptional, even beyond their written obligations once they learned of some extenuating circumstances in my particular case. I shall continue to be a member of EA+ for as long as I am able to travel and will never grow tired of telling my friends of their outstanding service.

I was looking for this kind of travel insurance for a long time but annual coverage seems not customary in the US. Therefore, I am more than delighted to have found EA+, an insurance that covers all my travel throughout the year for one reasonable fee. For my past travel I have almost always declined travel insurance because it was too high an expense with very limited coverage. Luckily, I have not been in a situation where I needed insurance but knowing I am now covered on any trip I take is an enormous relief! Thank you!!!

This is a belated thank you to all the members of the EA+ staff from my wife and me. In late October, while in Positano, Italy my wife became ill and needed medical assistance. We had enjoyed a lovely vacation in Italy, from Lake Como, to Tuscany and finally the Amalfie Coast. I called EA+ and spoke with Antonella who put in motion things we should do. She located a small hospital in Sorrento where my wife received care on two separate days in a small emergency room. Because of her condition, we knew we would be unable to continue our trip. With the help of the EA+ physicians (whose names I regretfully do not recall), arrangements were made for us to fly to Paris and then board a direct flight to Raleigh. They even insisted that I join my wife in business class rather than staying back in economy. We cannot express our thanks and appreciation for all that was done to make such a frightening situation, tolerable, calming and comforting. Thank you all.
Sincerely,
Jerry and Peg Bernstein

I recently broke my hip in Istanbul, Turkey. Fortunately, I had insurance protection through my tour company. I also had Emergency Assistance Plus. Contrary to their claims they did not put me in touch with a medical person. They claim a nurse tried to call me but no such incoming call shows up on my T-Mobile bill for that period. I had to decide whether to have surgery and what type to have. My daughter contacted my orthopedist in Phoenix and HE called me in Istanbul with advice on how to proceed. The only reason we purchased Emergency Assistance Plus was for the medical advice component. Based upon my experience this was a poor investment. I DO highly recommend Trip Mate for travel insurance as they did an excellent job.

The advertising literature would have you believe that your emergency medical evacuation expenses via helicopter or other flight is covered. That is not true. Additionally, you are not covered for any of the services they provide until they verify that no alternatives are available. The services they do provide can be provided by yourself or legally designated person.

My husband purchased an EA+ policy through NRA several years ago but we had never had a situation where we needed to use it. On May 5th of this year we set out on our "Bucket List" trip to travel across Canada via train. We made it to the 6th night of our 14 day trip when my husband suffered an unexpected esophageal tear. He ended up having surgery and spent 3 nights in a hospital in Calgary, Alberta. One of the first calls I made when we got to the hospital was to EA+. Thank goodness we had EA+ to arrange transportation home since the rest of the trip was cancelled. Each person I spoke with was kind and helpful and walked me through all the paperwork. The night my husband was released from the hospital EA+ flew a nurse from New York to Calgary so that she could accompany us home. A car picked us up the next morning and a wheelchair was arranged at each airport. Upon arriving to our hometown, a car picked all of us up and took us home. The nurse took my husband's vitals one more time before leaving. We have told all our friends about EA+ and just cannot say enough good things about this coverage.

I am not a member but am presently considering becoming one at this time.
While there are only two reviews over three years, they are very negative on specifically the points I would buy this service for.
What is much much more compelling is that the second one got a response on the same day the first one did....... 11 months later !!!

I was automatically charged for renewal without permission on April 28, 2016. I immediately called and was told that the refund could take 30 days and would not be credited back to the credit card they used without my permission. I referenced the business response to a previous complaint on Revdex.com that the system was going through an upgrade and the reason a credit card refund was not possible at that time and that the situation was temporary but had since been resolved. The agent I spoke to said she knew nothing about the matter reference in the official business response and could not guarantee a credit card refund.

Emergency assistance plus took $115 automatically out of our bank account without permission today which caused checks to bounce. We signed up last Nov 2015 because we were planning on a few trips. We only sent them a check to be covered for 1 year.........never checking any box or giving permission to automatically take out money from our bank account. To me, this was done as a scam and caused us much stress.I have reported them to Revdex.com.

The Member Benefit Guide and the ad hype is misleading. I can see from so many other negative responses that I'm not the only one who has been snookered by your misleading guide. We are led to believe that the medical emergency would be taken care of. Page 2 says " . . you'll always have someone ready to act on your behalf to help make sure your medical emergency or travel problem is taken care of . . ." The operative word is "or" not "and". If that isn't a scam, I don't know what is.

The first year we had Emergency Assistance Plus in 2014 we had learned about it from friends who had experienced a medical emergency on their trip. They were so pleased with their outcome. We were happy that we got it for our driving trip from MN to Arizona the next winter, where we stayed for 1 month. It gave us peace of mind, but we never dreamed we’d be actually needing the insurance before we returned home.
My husband wasn’t feeling well the week before we were to leave AZ for home, and we went to the emergency room of a nearby hospital. The physician diagnosed him with bronchitis, which turned out to be inaccurate. He was put on an antibiotic, which he didn’t need. That turned out to be disastrous later on.
A few days later we started driving back to MN, and the second night we were in a small town in Oklahoma. My husband was feeling ill so we went to the emergency room in that town. Again, he was misdiagnosed. The physician said we may as well go back to our hotel and rest because there wasn’t much he could do.
Then the snow and freezing rain came and no one could go anywhere. Another night passed and my husband collapsed at the hotel. The hospital sent the ambulance and brought him to the hospital. Fortunately there was a physician there that day who diagnosed him right away and called for the Air Ambulance to come get him and take him to the Oklahoma Heart Hospital in Oklahoma City. The diagnoses was a blood clot in his lung and whole left leg, which was an extreme emergency. I went back to the hotel and quickly packed and started driving through melting snow and icy roads, along with hundreds of trucks that had been stuck and were anxious to get going. I didn’t even know where I was going, but by the grace of God I got to the hospital.
EA+ people kept in touch with me every day to see how my husband was doing, and how I was doing. They were so kind. Not only were the physicians dealing with the blood clots, but also with C-Diff, which he got from taking the antibiotic that had been prescribed and not needed. He was extremely ill with that also, and was in the hospital 10 days.
Our daughter flew to Oklahoma City immediately upon hearing what had happened, and stayed with me the whole time. When it was time to plan for returning home EA+ conferred with the physicians, and arranged and paid for plane reservations for my husband and me. Not only that, but also for our granddaughter to fly to OK to drive our van back with her mother and paid for their expenses.
During all this time someone from EA+ called me every day to check on all of us, with compassion for our situation. It was so wonderful to have that contact when we were in a strange city and knew no one. We were overwhelmed and so thankful for everything they did for us.
We renewed our EA+ insurance the next year, and fortunately have not had to use it. However, it gives us great piece of mind to know it’s there when we travel. The second year we discovered we can use it even if we’re just out of our immediate area, not necessarily on a long trip. We wouldn’t be without it.

They do not consider an injury to be an injury unless you are admitted to a hospital as an inpatient on an overnight stay. I had a broken ankle requiring surgery and cannot walk for months because I am in a non weight bearing status. I had to spend over $2K in addition travel expenses. But because I was not admitted to the hospital overnight, they didn't consider it to be an injury and therefore they didn't provide any coverage. As more injuries are treated by hospitals on an outpatient basis, this creates a big gap in coverage. So buyer beware.

The advertising literature would have you believe that your emergency medical evacuation expenses via helicopter or other flight is covered. That is not true. Additionally, you are not covered for any of the services they provide until they verify that no alternatives are available. The services they do provide can be provided by yourself or legally designated person.

I received a very sleazy packet of sales literature under the joint name of EA Plus and USAirways. I tried to contact EA + for clarification of their involvement in this. I was on hold for over 15 minutes and NOBODY ANSWERED MY CALL. If that is the service level they provide, than I'm obviously wasting my money paying them for it. What if I had an actual medical emergency???

Review: I enrolled in Emergency Assistance Plus on or about 28 December 2014, member #08[redacted]92, group name: UnitedMileagePlus. My credit card was charged for renewal on 4 December 2015, without my permission. I discovered this by finding the charge on my credit card bill in mid-December. I called the EA Plus phone number (###-###-####) and questioned the charge. The representative was surprised, because my renewal would not occur until the end of the month. I requested to have the money refunded to my credit card (because my monthly bill was due). My request was denied. My only option was to wait up to 15 business days to get a check mailed to me. I am not happy that I was forced to wait to get reimbursed and that I had to pay for the charge on my credit card bill.Desired Settlement: Refund my credit card and cancel the check.

Business

Response:

Thank you for sharing your experience with us as we take all feedback very seriously. We apologize for the delay in issuing your refund. At the time you called we were going through a system upgrade and the option to refund to your credit card was temporarily unavailable. Upon receiving this inquiry, the refund check had already been cut and sent out to you. We are now able to refund to credit cards again and have reached out to you to determine how you would like to proceed. Again, we apologize that your experience was not satisfactory. If you have any additional questions please feel free to contact us.

I recently broke my hip in Istanbul, Turkey. Fortunately, I had insurance protection through my tour company. I also had Emergency Assistance Plus. Contrary to their claims they did not put me in touch with a medical person. They claim a nurse tried to call me but no such incoming call shows up on my T-Mobile bill for that period. I had to decide whether to have surgery and what type to have. My daughter contacted my orthopedist in Phoenix and HE called me in Istanbul with advice on how to proceed. The only reason we purchased Emergency Assistance Plus was for the medical advice component. Based upon my experience this was a poor investment. I DO highly recommend Trip Mate for travel insurance as they did an excellent job.

I am not a member but am presently considering becoming one at this time.

While there are only two reviews over three years, they are very negative on specifically the points I would buy this service for.

What is much much more compelling is that the second one got a response on the same day the first one did....... 11 months later !!!