If the dog tag has all the information on it such as i have a St Jude Mech Valve serial number etc and i am on coumadin what is the 1 800 number for and what are the yearly fees for.
When you sign up you get a medical ID number and that number is on the emblem along with the 800 number. Depending what condition you are in, or if they have your purse or wallet, if you're unconcious it would help to be able to find out your name, address, home phone number ect. also who to contact in the case of an ER, (I think we had 3 people to try to contact) and who your doctors are and their contact info and even what language you speak.
When you sign up for medicalert You list all your medical conditions and any surgeries you've had, and meds you are on and anything you think it would be important for the doctors to know if you can't or might forget to tell them.
If anything changes (Including your ER contact people or their numbers, THAT is something I forget about) you just call and they update your info, or you can just go online and update your files.
You can sign up online ect, but if you do it over the phone, I thought they were pretty helpfull at deciding what should be on the emblem for them to see right away and what is fine just to have on their files. They also asked some questions, I wouldn't have thought to mention when I was filling out the forms.
You could probably get an idea by going thru the sign up process and seeing the questions they ask, then you could just cancle instead of signing up at the end.
The fees probably go to pay for the medic alert staff and operators ect.