Picture this: One Saturday morning, you wake up with a strange, unsettling feeling in your chest. You brush it off at first, thinking it might be indigestion. But as the hours go by, the discomfort worsens. Your breathing becomes shallow and there’s a tightness in your chest that you can’t ignore. You’re feeling a little dizzy and it’s hard to catch your breath. You’ve heard of heart problems in older family members, but you never imagined it would happen to you. As the minutes pass, the pain intensifies. This could be something serious.
You call emergency services and soon an ambulance team arrives. Paramedics confirm that you’re having a heart attack and urgently need to be transferred to a hospital. Once you arrive at the hospital and are stabilized, it becomes clear to your attending physician that you need cardiac surgery off-island. Your local hospital isn’t equipped to provide the specialized treatment you need. Given the severity of your condition, they advise that an air ambulance may be the fastest way to get you to the care you require. Thankfully, you’re a member of MASA Assist and don’t need to worry about the cost for that air ambulance. Activating your MASA Assist coverage is easy.
How your MASA Assist coverage works
Notify your healthcare team that you’re a member of MASA Assist and they’ll put your attending physician in contact with MASA Assist’s Medical Director. Together, your physician and MASA Assist’s Medical Director will determine when you will be flown and to which appropriate hospital. MASA Assist and your care team make these decisions based on the medical specialists available for your specific condition. Once the decision is made, we’ll work out all the transport details and take care of the expenses after your insurance pays its portion.
As a member, you can rely on MASA Assist to provide comprehensive coverage for your emergency medical transport expenses, plus connect you with the expert coordination services you need to help you access off-island critical care. To find out more about your specific plan benefits, view your coverage terms on the MASA app or the online portal.