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Get Emergency Care Overseas

 

When a medical emergency strikes far from home, the problem of obtaining proper treatment can add trauma to injury. If you or anyone in your company travels overseas, advance protection is available.

Nationwide-Worldwide Emergency Ambulance Return (NEAR), a membership organization based on Oklahoma City, arranges for emergency hospitalization and cost-free evacuation from anywhere in the world. Individual memberships cost $62 per year. Companies participate on a contingency basis, which entitles them to use the service for actual cost plus a 20% fee. Major medical insurance, guaranteeing immediate payment for foreign hospitalization, is also available on a 30-day basis. The cost, for a $10,000 policy with a $250 deductible, is $125.

Medical coverage and emergency assistance are also part of the services offered by Assist Card Corp. of America, a 28-year-old company started in Geneva, Switzerland. Assist Card will dispatch a local doctor and assume costs for medical treatment up to $3,500. This service covers 56 countries, but not those in the Far East or the Orient. Rates are based on anticipated length of stay -- for example, $30 for 10 days. A corporate card costs $350 a year, and there is no medical or age stipulation.

Both organizations maintain 24-hour emergency numbers. For more information, contact: NEAR, 1900 McArthur Blvd., Oklahoma City, OK 71327, (800) 654-6700; or Assist Card Corp., 745 Fifth Ave., New York, NY 10022, (800) 221-4564.