I can agree with this statement with a personal story. I had a yearly physical (not a medical or even an AME doc) where they did blood work, my first EKG, a true "checkup" and they found something "odd" with my EKG. I was currently flying 121 and was told I needed to see a specialist and report this on my next medical. I called ALPA aeromedical and within an hour I had a doc from Denver calling me to discuss my situation. They lined me up with a heart specialist within my insurance company who worked with pilots (lots of FDX guys in MEM that see this guy). When I showed up for the specialist appt the doc had already received all the documents the FAA would need and a list of required tests. I was put through the treadmill and heart echo (ultrasound of the heart- cool piece of machinery!) and was told I am "healthy as a horse, just a little weird from the factory". I was given the required documents I would need for my next medical and was even called by the Denver doc a few days later asking if I had any other questions and informing me what I needed to tell the AME. If I had not had ALPA to take care of all of this I would have been DENIED my medical, had to do all the tests, and had a waiting period on my medical. I figure it saved me my job. Total cost? $0 extra for aeromedical, $10 copay for the specialist. I received the bill from insurance showing what they paid and it was over $5K. So without aeromedical I would have been unable to fly (or get paid) and most likely would have had to fork over thousands to get my medical back. I am not a cheerleader here, but the resources of your 2% reach far and wide. Also, the AME told me that since all the paperwork was already submitted before my medical exam and I saw a "preferred FAA doc" I wouldn't have to do anything special for medicals, if I hadn't I most likely needed to get an EKG every year, or even 6 months even though I was only 22. Heck I wasn't even off of my first year yet so I wasn't even paying dues yet.