Air Ambulance Between Canada and the United States

The snowbird problem

Every winter, hundreds of thousands of Canadians spend months in Florida, Arizona, Texas and California. When one of them has a stroke, a cardiac event or a serious fall, the family discovers two things at once: that the US hospital bill is accumulating at a rate no provincial plan will match, and that the provincial plan will not pay for the flight home either.

Provincial health insurance reimburses out-of-country care at the rate it would have paid at home, which on a US hospital bill is a small fraction of the total. Private travel medical insurance is what normally covers both the hospital and the repatriation, and whether the policy responds usually turns on the pre-existing condition clause and on whether the insurer was notified promptly. Call the travel insurer before you arrange anything, and call us at the same time. We deal with Canadian travel medical insurers regularly and we know what they need to see.

Where there is no travel policy, repatriation is a self-pay transport and we quote it as a single fixed all-inclusive price. For a family watching a US hospital bill grow daily, moving the patient home is very often the cheaper decision overall, not the more expensive one.

Getting the Canadian bed is the hard part

A Canadian hospital will not accept a repatriated patient simply because they are a resident. There has to be a bed, a service willing to take the case, and in most provinces a formal acceptance through the receiving hospital or the regional health authority. We work that side and will not launch an aircraft without written acceptance, because a patient arriving unaccepted is a far worse outcome than a patient who waits two days.

Both directions

We also fly Canadians south to the United States for care that is not available or not timely at home, and US patients taken ill in Canada back to their own hospitals and plans. Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Ottawa, Winnipeg, Halifax and Quebec City, to and from Florida, Arizona, Texas, California, New York and the Midwest.

Customs, immigration and documentation

A cross-border medical flight clears customs and immigration at both ends, and an incapacitated patient with an expired document, no document, or an immigration complication turns a two-hour flight into a two-day problem. We handle that paperwork in advance as part of the mission rather than discovering it at the ramp.

Free with qualifying insurance

If the plan qualifies and the transport is medically necessary, the flight costs the patient nothing out of pocket. We verify the benefits at no charge, we document medical necessity with the treating physician, we obtain the authorization before the aircraft is released, and we bill the insurer under a signed assignment of benefits.

Kaiser Permanente and Blue Cross Blue Shield are among the most straightforward plans we deal with on this corridor. Aetna, Cigna, UnitedHealthcare, Humana and Anthem all cover medically necessary air ambulance under most plans. Federal and state employee plans and the large teacher plans tend to have the broadest benefits of any category. TRICARE covers it through the regional contractor or the Overseas Program.

Medicare and Medicaid do not pay for transport across an international border. Provincial health plans reimburse out-of-country care only at the domestic rate, so private travel medical insurance is normally the payer on this route.

Self-pay: one fixed price, agreed in writing

A large share of the people who call us have no coverage, or a plan that will not cover this route. We quote those flights as a single all-inclusive price before you commit: aircraft, flight crew, medical crew, equipment, ground ambulance at both ends, landing, handling and permits. One number. No post-flight invoice for extras, and no surprise balance.

We will also tell you when a medical escort on a commercial airline is clinically adequate for the patient. It costs a fraction of a dedicated aircraft, and recommending it when it fits costs us the larger sale, which is exactly why you can trust the recommendation.

For hospital case managers, administrators and discharge planners

If you are holding a patient who is medically stable, has no funding source and has nowhere to be discharged to, repatriation is usually the only discharge plan available to you. We run these transports constantly and we understand what you need: the bed released, the liability closed, and documentation that stands up to review.

We secure the receiving hospital bed in most of the countries we serve. A missing passport is not the blocker it is assumed to be. Mexico admits its own nationals as a constitutional right — Article 11 of the Mexican Constitution gives every person the right to enter the Republic without need of a safe-conduct, passport or similar requirement — so we repatriate patients there who hold no passport and no travel document at all. Where a destination does require one, we arrange the emergency travel document through the consulate. We locate relatives in the home country and obtain essential personal documents such as birth certificates when they are missing. We hold our own aircraft and our own ground ambulance capability rather than brokering them, which is why a receiving confirmation does not take days.

What we need from you: the current medical summary, the destination city or receiving facility, and whoever is authorizing the cost. What you get back the same day: a fixed quote, the aircraft and crew configuration, and a realistic departure window.

Where a commercial plan has no contracted operator able to fly the mission, we will negotiate a single-case agreement with the plan before departure. Case managers use these routinely and they are often the fastest route to an authorized, paid transport.

Where we fly

Each of these corridors has its own aircraft requirements, permit timelines and insurance pattern. The pages below set out what actually applies on each one.

Air ambulance Caribbean to the United States

Air ambulance Central America to the United States

Air ambulance South America to the United States

Air ambulance Hawaii to the mainland United States

Air ambulance Asia to the United States

Air ambulance Europe to the United States and Canada

Licensing and authority

Jet Rescue Air Ambulance operates as Med Jets USA, Inc. under Florida Department of Health EMS Service Provider licence AIR9505, status clear, verifiable on the State of Florida public licence register. Jet Rescue Air Ambulance is an indirect air carrier. All flights are operated by FAA Part 135 certificated direct air carriers or their foreign equivalents.

Speak to a mission coordinator

You will reach a mission coordinator, not a call centre. Send the insurance card front and back, the patient name and date of birth, the hospital they are in, and a short description of the medical situation. The benefits review is free and carries no obligation.