The poll tells a story. When we asked the offshore community what challenges vendors face when operators fail to pay invoices for emergency medical flights, the response was overwhelming:
- Causes financial instability — 8%
- Disputes with operator — 3%
- Expecting the operator to pay — 7%
- All challenges listed above — 82%
This is not a marginal issue. It is a systemic challenge that is impacting the financial health of service contractors, disrupting operations, and putting workers and their families at risk. At the core of the growing crisis lies an uncomfortable truth: in the event of a medical emergency offshore, especially for non-work-related illnesses, there is often no clear financial safety net.
Let’s explore what this means for offshore vendors, their workers, and the future of risk management.
A Crisis in The Making
Imagine this: one of your offshore employees suddenly experiences a severe medical event like cardiac (chest pain), stroke, appendicitis, seizures, diabetic emergencies, to name but a few. The employee needs to be evacuated immediately by helicopter. The mission is urgent, the cost is steep, and in most cases, the assumption is that the operator will cover the cost. After all, this happens to be their location, correct?
But then, the invoice for the flight does not get paid. Weeks go by. Then months. You chase it down, and the operator disputes responsibility. Meanwhile, your business, already operating on tight margins, absorbs the cost, which could be $100,000 or more.
For small to midsize contractors, this scenario is becoming more common. And the financial consequences can be devastating.
“Contractors can’t budget for this unforeseen peril,” said a senior business development person, cutting straight to the heart of the issue.
These medical evacuations are not just high cost, they are also unpredictable, and therefore almost impossible to plan for in a traditional budget. And the ripple effects are widespread.
The Human Cost Behind Unpaid Invoices
Behind every unpaid invoice is a worker, a family, and a community bearing the impact.
A senior data analyst and wife whose husband works in the oilfield shared this personal account: “When operators fail to pay company invoices, it doesn’t just affect businesses, it creates a ripple effect that harms families and entire communities.” Smaller companies operating offshore often have to lay off employees or delay maintenance when financial hardship strikes.
A student, wife, and mother echoed this concern: “My husband is a welder, and if the company isn’t paid, the employees and families suffer. I see comments all the time about ‘Employees First.’ This idea is bad.”
A manager, daughter, and wife added that the financial strain caused by these unpaid expenses led her father to leave a job of 35 years and relocate for work: “The financial challenges affect way more than just businesses.”
This issue is not just about money, it’s about job security, community, and family well-being.
Insurance is Supposed to be The Safety Net—So Why is it Not Being Used?
Let’s get real. The offshore industry is one of the most hazardous and unpredictable workplaces in the world. We insure everything from machinery to environmental liability. So why is there no reliable insurance solution for emergency medical evacuations?
The answer is… THERE IS, but not enough companies are using it.
Blu Cypress Solutions and HeloEvac have developed a policy called HeMEP (Helicopter Medical Evacuation Policy), and it’s quickly becoming the gold standard in addressing this very risk.
An operations manager of 25 years explains: “HeMEP is built on the principle of spreading financial risk across a collective, rather than leaving it to fall on one company alone.”
The president of an offshore vendor shares how his policy helps manage real-world risk: “Over the past decade, we’ve experienced multiple unplanned medical evacuations, most of which were for personal medical reasons and not covered by workers’ compensation. HeMEP addresses this gap by pooling resources to share the financial impact of both expected and unexpected medical emergencies.”
This is not just insurance; IT IS OPERATIONAL RESILIENCE IN PRACTICE.
The Void That HeMEP Fills
Traditional workers’ compensation policies exclude non-work-related conditions, yet offshore environments do not wait for a convenient time to produce a medical emergency.
A former insurance underwriter for workers’ compensation director put it plainly: “We do not cover emergency offshore transportation for non-work-related medical issues under workers’ compensation. One loss can put a business into the red for the year.”
A senior broker agreed wholeheartedly: “(HeMEP) Fills a void that has cost employers undue hardship.”
An owner of an offshore vendor added a striking comparison: “I’ve been billed six times what the annual premium is for one emergency flight.”
HeMEP is not just a smart decision, it is a financially sound one. It covers the gray areas that other policies avoid, without waiting for a catastrophic claim to bankrupt a vendor.
Operator Practices Under Scrutiny
The poll results showed that only 3% of respondents cited “disputes with the operator” as the sole challenge, but nearly everyone agrees that operator practices are a big part of the problem.
A veteran attorney in risk management points out a concerning trend: “Operators are starting to amend their MSAs to allocate this risk. But allocating the risk without requiring the insurance to back the obligation leaves the flight risk as the only uninsured one under the MSA.”
In other words, the liability is being pushed downstream without the necessary tools to manage it. That is where HeMEP makes the critical difference.
The attorney continues: “The HeMEP program, through Blu Cypress Solutions, with a subscription to HeloEvac, solves this problem at an extremely low cost relative to the overall project risk.”
Why Are We Innovating Everything Except Insurance?
It is somewhat ironic. The offshore energy sector is known for pushing boundaries. We adopt cutting-edge tech in drilling, safety, and automation. But insurance? We are still stuck in the past.
A president and owner of an oilfield company poses the question we need to ask: “Why have insurance and safety leaders in oil companies not embraced innovation with the same urgency as operations teams? …Blu Cypress Solutions and HeloEvac are introducing a transformative approach that redefines industry standards.”
It’s time for insurance to evolve alongside the industry it serves.
The Bigger Picture: Operational Continuity and Workforce Stability
From an operational standpoint, unpaid invoices and medical evacuation disputes are more than just a nuisance. They are a threat to continuity, performance, and safety.
A medical doctor and owner of a medical clinic, who is a professional working with offshore workers, sees the effects firsthand: “When the vendor is not paid on their invoices, this delays payment to my group and causes issues. An affordable insurance is the solution.”
A president of a rental company for the offshore energy industry added that delaying payment to fund emergency flights caused a domino effect: “It may lead companies to reduce health insurance benefits, risk losing valuable employees, delay payments to suppliers, and even cause layoffs.”
This is a vicious cycle, and insurance is the fastest way to break it.
The Case for Leadership: Step Up, Not Step Around
An office accountant, with experience in oilfield accounting, does not mince words: “Now, companies with offshore employees face a new peril, and insurance is designed precisely to cover such exposures. So why isn’t this being prioritized? Isn’t it time for leadership to step up?”
A broker and office manager for an insurance agency with offshore accounts also sees the risk from a vendor’s view: “Withholding funds from a payment due to covering an emergency flight could cause an unrecoverable financial burden. Service contractors are already charging lean rates just to stay competitive.”
Leadership in both vendor companies and operating companies needs to come together, not just to acknowledge the problem, but to implement solutions. That means requiring and providing insurance like HeMEP before the next emergency lands on a vendor’s doorstep.
A Collective Responsibility
The offshore ecosystem is complex and independent. No one succeeds alone. Just as teams on a platform rely upon each other for safety, productivity, and execution, our approach to medical risk must be a collective.
When one party suffers financial instability, we all feel the shockwave in the offshore community, not just by one vendor not being paid, but by the other companies that depend on their payments. It is time to treat offshore medevac coverage as essential, not optional.
A partner in a work-over drilling company and president of an oil field organization puts it best: “This is a creative and affordable coverage that can save companies from an otherwise very costly experience.”
Conclusion: The Time for Action is Now
The poll results are clear. This is not a fringe issue, it is a pervasive challenge with real financial, operational, and human consequences.
With 82% of respondents stating, “all of the above,” it is time for the industry to respond in kind with all the solutions:
- Vendor awareness
- Operator accountability
- Mature, affordable insurance policies like HeMEP
- Industry-wide recognition that this is no longer a risk we can ignore
Blu Cypress Solutions and HeloEvac are leading the way. The question is, will the rest of the industry follow? Because the next emergency flight is not a matter of “if”, but a matter of “when.”
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*All quotes and data collected and referenced came from a LinkedIn poll on the HeloEvac page, which ran for one week from 3/26/25 to 4/2/25.
