Mountain distress in the Alps: Who pays for your rescue mission?

Mountain rescue

Who pays if the helicopter has to come

In the high mountains, help can quickly become expensive. But who pays in an emergency?

According to the General Association of the German Insurance Industry (GDV), anyone who overestimates themselves or is poorly equipped when hiking or mountaineering will not automatically lose their insurance cover.

Negligence alone is usually not enough for exclusion, according to a GDV spokesman. The decisive factor is which services are agreed in the specific contract. “If the behavior is intentional, the insurer can exclude the benefit.”

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The benefits of statutory health insurance, which according to the association are based on the regulations of the respective holiday country, are generally not sufficient to cover the costs. According to Austrian law, rescue costs and transport to the valley in the event of accidents during sports and tourism, for example, are not reimbursed – accordingly, the German health insurance company does not pay, as recently confirmed by the Hessian State Social Court.

At the German Alpine Association (DAV), which claims to have more than 1.6 million members, members are insured through the Alpine Security Service ASS. There are several exclusion criteria in the insurance conditions, as a DAV spokesman said upon request.

Among other things, there is no insurance cover for damage caused intentionally or through grossly negligent behavior, “in particular by disregarding the basic, generally recognized rules of mountaineering”.

Had on the weekend a rescue operation in the Austrian Alps caused a stir: three families with small children and strollers got into trouble in the mountains on Sunday.

As the Tyrolean police announced on Monday, rescue workers had to rescue 36 people from high alpine terrain, 14 of them using two helicopters. Nobody was injured. But the hikers, who apparently had no mountain experience, would receive an invoice to pay for the operation, said a police spokesman. It is not known whether they are insured and, if so, whether the insurance will reimburse the costs.