Sun Life Financial

What is Emergency Travel Assistance?

Emergency Travel Assistance is a value-added service with our Basic Group Life product.

Assist America, the nation's largest provider of global emergency services through group benefit plans, provides emergency medical and personal assistance to covered, full-time, active employees and their eligible dependents when they need help and are traveling 100 or more miles away from home.

There are no caps, limits or chargebacks for any service Assist America provides. Covered employees and their eligible dependents can call for assistance 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, anywhere in the world - whether they're on a weekend fishing trip in Minnesota or a vacation in Europe.

Emergency Travel Assistance Real-Life Story: China

Delivering Case Management in China
In December 2002, an employee of one of our policyholders traveled to China. While he was there, he became ill and had to be hospitalized. The doctors advised that he not be moved. The employer wanted to make sure the employee was getting good care, and so they contacted Assist America.

The Assist America medical coordinator got on the phone with the doctors in China. The medical coordinator found that the hospital was a respected facility and that 90% of the physicians were trained in the U.S. The Assist America medical coordinator agreed with the doctors' recommendation that the employee remain in the hospital until it was deemed medically safe to transport him home.

Medical Escort Accompanies Employee Home
Assist America offered to fly the employee's wife to China so she could be with her husband. The employee and his wife decided that she would wait for him to come home, as she was nine months pregnant. A few days later, the employee was well enough to fly back to Oklahoma. Assist America paid for first-class seats for him and an Assist America medical escort to accompany him home to make sure there would be medical support if he needed it.

Saving money and alleviating stress
This employee's story is a great example of how valuable Emergency Travel Assistance is when facing a medical crisis far from home. Assist America paid for everything, including the medical coordinator's consultation, the airline flight from China to Oklahoma and the medical escort. These services could have costed the employee more than $30,000.

Next Real-Life Story: Ski Vacation in Colorado