Has anyone tried the UK charity model in the US and elsewhere
In Switzerland we have the
REGA. I pay CHF 70 for the whole family and that covers helicopter rescue in Switzerland and repatriation by either airline or their own jets worldwide. Health insurance does cover part of the rescue, too. REGA is now an essential part of the Swiss rescue system, it would not work without it.
REGA is a non profit organization and is very (very, very) well funded, since almost everybody is a patron. There are three other companies doing rescues for profit: Air Glaciers (always whining why they have to use twins and then rolling them), Air Zermatt (very professional) and Lions Air/Alpine Air Ambulance under the cover of TCS (Touring Club Switzerland). The first two are located in the Wallis, whose populations just has to do things different as the rest of Switzerland as a principle and the third seems to have responded to local politicians, who where apparently annoyed with REGA, because there was no helicopter base in their county or something like that (it smells extremely fishy). For a rescue by Air Glaciers or Air Zermatt, patrons of REGA are covered, but not for the Lions Air/Alpine Air Ambulance/TCS.
REGA is in very high regard and known to every child, which is essential to their success. It would be very difficult to build something like that from scratch, since REGA grew up with the helicopter business in general in Switzerland. A time when pioneers were in high regard and new things welcome (well, more than today a least).
I find it funny, when the discussion comes to free market and health care. In case of an emergency, there is no such thing. The customer has no choice, than to take the emergency transportation that is coming to his/her rescue. The US proves every day, that a free market in health care produces the most expensive health system in the world with a declining live expectancy. That is not a success story.