Extreme travel is inspiring new types of insurance

Traditional travel insurance does not cover paramedics, although it usually covers the cost of an emergency. Dan Richards, the CEO of Global Rescue, told DealBook he wanted to fill that gap when he founded the emergency travel management company in 2004. For an annual fee of $360, it provides members with evacuation services. Upgrades, including one that promises “military special operations veterans” will get you out of dangerous locations like war zones, can increase the fee to about $1,800. Similarly, Medjet, a medical evacuation service, sells annual memberships, and companies such as AirMed International, SkyMed, and others offer emergency extractions.

Travel insurance is go to space. With companies like Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic selling travel tickets, the space tourism market is expected to grow to about $3 billion by 2030, according to estimates from UBS. The aerospace insurance market is still small, but Lloyd’s of London, which insures aerospace companiesbegan to insure aerospace insurance in 2021, and last year the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency and Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance said they would develop aerospace insurance together.

Taxpayers will ultimately foot the bill for some rescues. The cost of search and rescue is usually borne by state and local agencies, Ms Hastings said. About half a dozen states have laws that allow agencies to charge a rescue receiver, though few do, and there is no charge for those rescued by, say, the federal park services. Last year, lawmakers from Hawaii and Utah introduced legislation to allocate federal funds help states pay for search and bailouts, a burden the drafters said fell disproportionately on less densely populated places, but the bill failed to gain traction.

The search for the submarine probably cost millions of dollars this week. The Coast Guard, which led the rescue effort, has jurisdiction over search and rescue in navigable waters in the United States and abroad. “But that’s just the definition of their mission,” argues Ms Hastings. “We don’t encourage fees for search and rescue because we want people to seek help regardless of their socioeconomic status.”

Mr Richards said a Global Rescue customer signed up for the Titan voyage this week but withdrew their deposit due to security concerns. While his team would have worked with international rescuers if the client had gone ahead with his plans, the company would not have the required deep-sea capabilities. There are some trips where the risk can’t really be mitigated yet, he said, adding, “If there’s an emergency in space, no one is necessarily going to be able to reach people.” — Efrat Livni