Editor Review Editor Rating:
The Good: FrontierMEDEX has specialized in travel medical insurance plans and medical evacuation plans for over 30 years. They offer full-featured, worldwide travel medical protections for U.S. and non U.S. citizens. The TravMed Abroad plan offers full benefits for travelers up to age 85, which is rare in the industry. Several plans can be enhanced with trip cancellation, interruption, and luggage benefits to create a more full-featured travel insurance plan. The Drawbacks: Extremely limited coverage for pre-existing medical conditions across the FrontierMEDEX plans. The Bottom Line: FrontierMEDEX delivers comprehensive short-term and annual accident and illness insurance, emergency evacuation, repatriation, and worldwide 24-hour medical assistance for travelers. Some travel medical policies can be enhanced with package benefits such as trip cancellation, interruption, and lost luggage. They also deliver two useful medevac plans for students and other travelers. |
Company Information
Company Name | |
|---|---|
| AM Best Rating | A |
| US Travel Insurance Association Member | Yes |
| Refund Policy | 14-day Free Look Period |
| Travel Insurance Plans | Travel Medical plans TravMed Abroad TravMed Choice TravMed Global Travmed International Medical Evacuation plans Plus Scholastic Safe Trip |
| Company Contact Information | FrontierMEDEX 8501 LaSalle Road Suite 200 Baltimore, MD 21286 1-800-732-5309 1-410-308-7905 Fax mktginfo@frontiermedex.com |
| Policyholder Questions | 1-800-732-5309 |
| Travel Assistance/Emergencies | Inside US/Canada: 1-800-732-5309 (toll free) Outside US/Canada: call operator & connect to 410-453-6330 (no charge) |
About FrontierMEDEX
FrontierMEDEX travel insurance plans are medical- and evacuation-focused. They offer a range of travel medical plans for U.S. and non U.S. citizens – even those up to age 85! Some plans are short-term medical protection and some are major medical and some are simply medevac plans.
All evacuation coverage comes with emergency medical reunion and the return of minor children.
The MEDEX website offers some great case studies that underline the reason travelers purchase travel medical plans. Their travel assistance services are happy to provide pre-trip information, transfer of cash, facilitate hospital payments, and multi-lingual translation services to stranded or concerned travelers the world over.
Optional coverages available with some plans includes enhanced AD&D limits, hazardous sports coverage, and the unexpected trip cancellation, interruption, and lost luggage benefits, which round out the coverage.
Optional Coverage Available in FrontierMEDEX Plans
- Optional hazardous sports coverage available in some plans.
- Some plans can be upgraded with enhanced AD&D limits.
- Optional trip cancellation and lost baggage benefits available with some plans.
Highlights of FrontierMEDEX Travel Insurance
- FrontierMEDEX plans have very easy to understand pricing and the description of coverage is available one click from the plan’s summary page.
- Advance payments can be arranged to a hospital or medical facility, if necessary.
- Most plans include coverage for emergency medical reunion and return of minor children (age 18 and younger).
- Incidental trips back home and home country extensions are available to ensure consistent coverage.
- Travel assistance services include pre-trip information, transfer of funds, facilitation of hospital payments, translation services, and more.
Quote and buy direct: Get a quote directly at the FrontierMEDEX website. A good choice if you know you want a FrontierMEDEX plan and are ready to enroll.
FrontierMEDEX Travel Insurance Plans
Travel Medical Plans
TravMed Abroad
Travel medical and evacuation coverage with full benefits for U.S. citizens up to age 85
Comprehensive, short-term travel medical and evacuation coverage for illnesses and injuries incured while traveling outside the U.S. Includes worldwide travel assistance services. Plan is available as annual coverage.
TravMed Choice
Short-term medical protection for U.S. and non U.S. citizens traveling outside their home country
Accident and illness insurance for global travelers, this plan includes the flexibility of selecting your medical benefit limit and deductible. Optional hazardous sports rider available, along with some package-like benefits such as trip cancellation, interruption, lost luggage, and more.
TravMed Global
Highly focused, comprehensive medical insurance with medevac, emergency dental, and AD&D
This is a comprehensive plan that includes travel medical coverage, evacuation and repatriation, as well as optional benefits for trip cancellation and interruption, enhanced AD&D and more. The base plan is highly focused and does not offer a lot of extras.
TravMed International
Complete major medical for medical and dental care for those working or living away from home
Ideal for travelers, workers, or expats who are away from home for extended periods of time. Base coverage is only in effect when the travelers is outside their home country. Plan can be described as high-limit worldwide major medical coverage for healthy travelers.
Medical Evacuation Plans
Plus Scholastic
Emergency medical evacuation and repatriation for students and faculty
A complete medical evacuation and repatriation plan for students, faculty and scholars and their dependents traveling over 100 miles from home. Includes worldwide travel assistance services.
Safe Trip
Ideal for long-term travelers and expatriates, this plan provides emergency evacuation coverage
With 100% of covered expenses covered for travelers who are 100 miles from their home (distance not applicable to expatriates), this plan is ideal emergency medical and political evacuation coverage. Includes unique home country coverage for U.S. residents traveling long distances within their own country. Excellent plan for seniors up to age 80.
Quote and buy direct: Get a quote directly at the FrontierMEDEX website. A good choice if you know you want a FrontierMEDEX plan and are ready to enroll.
Screenshots of FrontierMEDEX Website
Quote and buy direct: Get a quote directly at the FrontierMEDEX website. A good choice if you know you want a FrontierMEDEX plan and are ready to enroll.
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DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY.
I had to file a claim for a stay in the hospital in Santiago Chile from Dec 12, 2011 – Dec 24, 2011.
On the flight from Newark, NJ to Santiago, Chile I become very sick. My wife had to arrange for a wheelchair to get me off
the plane in Santiago. I was taken to a first aid center at the airport. They thought I was having a stroke and had me
taken to Clinica Alemena (an excellent hospital) in Santiago. In the emergency room at the hospital it was determined that
I had pneumonia. When I checked into the hospital they asked about my medical history. I have been in good health
throughout my life (I’m 67 years old). Never had been in a hospital. Never had any major illness. I did mention to them
that several days before the trip I had a cough and mild fever, but it went away and didn’t impact any of my daily routine
(including going to the gym).
When I submitted the claim to FrontierMedex the claim was denied on the basis that the I had a pre-existing condition prior
to the trip. Their insurance policy does state the pre-existing conditions are not covered. But the explaination of pre-
existing condition states that it is a condition for which a reasonable person would consult a physician prior to
traveling. The condition I had prior to leaving was a minor malady. I have had many worse illnesses throughout my life
which did not require a doctor’s visit. There was no reason for me to think the incident several days prior to the trip
required a doctor’s visit.
Compounding the problem is the fact that the admitting doctor wrote on the admission form (in spanish) that I was sick for
several days prior to the trip. The doctor had misinterpreted what was said in English.
The doctor who was responsible for my treatment for the entire period of my stay wrote a statement to the hospital that the
pneumonia was not caused by a pre-existing condition.
FrontierMedex still denied the claim. I’m confident I am not the only person who has encountered this type of issue with
FrontierMedex. I’m planning on pursuing this further via a court action. If there are enough others who have had the same
issue maybe a class action suit is warrented.
Again, DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY
Horrible, if I only had one word to sum up this company. I thought having an AM Best Rating of A above was good and I went with them. Once I had to call due to an emergency I found out their staff is completely clueless and incompetent. I think the company designs it to be that way.
Turns out he AM Best Rating of A is not on their service but a credit rating. So they have paid their bills but give horrible service!
I wish I had read these review before i signed up with them. Turns out the other comments are true. Their staff was clueless when we called for help and very slow in responding.
Then when I tried to get a refund as their service was truly useless I came up against a manager who would only defend their workers.
Never once was I asked about how things were going, they seemed to not care about us, only defending the company!
How can this website give them a review of an A. If there was a -F rating that is what I would give them. I would not recommend them top my worst enemy! Communication is horrible and their phone number did not work when we needed help. They blamed it on their phone carrier – a lot of good that did for me!
My mother in law’s bridge teeth came off. She couldnt eat. We had to take her to the dentist to glue it back. Medex did not pay for it. I am including their ridiculous response below:
“Hello F,
We have received a response back from our claims department regarding coverage for A’s prosthetic teeth. Our claims department advised that dental coverage is limited to treatment to sound natural teeth. There is no coverage as there was no injury and it is not to sound natural teeth.
If you have any further questions please do not hesitate to contact us back.
Thank you,
Dave Haile
Emergency Response Center, Assistance Services”
A pitful excuse for an “emergency service” — use Europ Assistance instead.
Horrible Horrible Horrible. The most devastating service experience I have ever had.
Here is a copy of the complaint I just filed with the Better Business Bureau.
I purchased travel insurance from Medex Global Solutions on July 29th, 2010. My girlfriend also purchased the same plan. We both paid on the MEDEX website with our debit cards. The price was $500 each. My MEDEX ID was ##########0. We left for a trip to Central America on July 30th, 2010.
On September 26th 2010 at about 8:30 in the morning I was injured and my girlfriend was injured as well. We were sleeping in a tent in Nicaragua and a tree fell on us. I was struck on the head and she sustained a serious back injury. She had to be transported to a hospital where doctors took X-rays and gave her pain medication. We were both in the hospital for 2 nights and 2 days. Upon release from the hospital she could not sit up, stand up, bend over or use the bathroom under her own power. We were stuck in a hotel in Nicaragua for a month while she regained enough strength to finally get on a plane and come home to the United States. She is still unable to walk for more than a few hours and she certainly cannot lift any weight by herself.
During that month in Nicaragua we tried and tried to get MEDEX to help us with transportation costs, pain medication costs and hotel and food costs. We tried to get MEDEX to pay for our tickets home.
They refused to give us any financial support with any of these things. Furthermore, they were purposefully illusive when we tried to contact them. We informed them many times that we were in a third world country and that we had no real access to a phone and yet they would say things like “call us back in a few hours” or “we’ll call you tomorrow.” They refused to pay for the taxi we took out of our camp site because they did not arrange it. This is unreasonable because the injuries occurred on an island and we were camping with the people that arrange the cabs. Immediately after our injuries time was precious and it did not seem reasonable for us to call our insurance company and wait for them to call the people that were standing right in front of us to arrange a taxi. When we informed MEDEX of this they sent us to a voice mail box.
Under the heading “MEDEX Services Include”
The coverage sheet says
“Assistance in making arrangements for interrupted travel plans resulting from an emergency situation”
“Continuous contact with family, physicians and employer”
“Management of emergency medical evacuation and repatriation”
MEDEX failed to provide me or my girlfriend with any of these services. They were also unreasonably dismissive concerning our claims. They made requests that they knew we could not possibly comply with. After the horrific journey to the hotel from the hospital they wanted us to go to a different hospital over three hours away. They also refused to pay for transportation to this alternate hospital.
I wish I would have seen this website before I purchased insurance from these snakes. DO NOT PATRONIZE MEDEX!
As a formerly paying customer for the this service, MEDEX is horrendous. Their emergency call center is made up of mostly uneducated customer service workers with poor management to back them up. The call center would return my calls after a day or so! When I asked for the manager – to lodge a complaint – the so called daytime “team lead” seemed so disinterested and unhelpful I just said nevermind and hung up. MEDEX is a WASTE OF TIME.
MEDEX is known for it’s poor response time and inconsistent customer service. For every case they handle well, there a 4 more screw ups. My company has had enough in dealing with MEDEX and recently terminated their contract with this company for another assistance company. I know of another company who we are affiliated with who is switching to Europ Assist or SOS in 2011. Good riddance.
Avoid this company. For every good case they work; there are 5 more that go wrong. This company is always understaffed and SLOW.
Do not waste your money. After several weeks of emails, faxes and phone calls, for $35 claim, the response is nothing. Requested refund for $200 annual fees, No refunds.
I will make the public aware.
AVOID LIKE THE PLAGUE
I was not impressed with the repressive nature of their call center.
STAY AWAY!!!!
RED TAPE!!!!!! I cannot convey the stay away signal enough. Communication is atrocious!!!
Time frame on getting a claim settled??? 5+ months!
Inept claims adjusters!
5 layers of different people you must speak to in order to get a check.
STAY AWAY!!!!