With the ease of international travel in the modern world many individuals from all over the globe are choosing to spend more time outside of their home country. In some instances these individuals will choose to permanently relocate to a country that is not their own, these people are known as expatriates. One major problem encountered by many expats around the world is in regards to their healthcare, and revolves around the inability of many health insurance plans to provide coverage outside of the country in which they were purchased.
This has been a point of frustration for many foreign nationals located around the world as, due to work or private commitments, they regularly move from country to country. In these cases local health insurance plans have proven ineffective in providing comprehensive coverage as they are simply unable to offer protection overseas. There is however, another option that many expatriates are unaware of, international health insurance plans.
International health insurance has the same basic premise as local health insurance, namely to provide quality medical protection to a policyholder in the event of an unforeseen medical situation at some point in the future. This is, however, not to say that international plans are the same as those offered locally, and each policy will have its own major differences. In an attempt to help you understand your choices we have provided a guide to international health insurance below.
Both local and international health insurance plans will provide you and your family with extremely comprehensive medical coverage. Plans will typically allow you to customize the coverage that you receive and may be able to include such benefits as out-patient treatment, maternity protection, complimentary medicine, alternative therapies, specialist consultations, and emergency evacuation treatment. Hospitalization coverage will typically be included as a standard on most health insurance policies, and plans that only cover hospitalization are referred to as ‘Major Medical’ policies.
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In regards to the scope of cover, both international and local insurance plans will be able to tailor policies to meet your requirements, and both types of policy will allow you a number of optional benefits to choose from.
This is where these two types of plan begin to radically differ. Local plans will typically only provide coverage in the country where they were purchased. In order to ensure ongoing protection while overseas a policyholder will generally have to purchase an additional travel policy, which can be expensive if the trip is to take place over a long period of time. International health insurance plans, however, will usually provide medical coverage on a worldwide basis, so no matter where you originally purchased the policy, the plan will provide coverage to you and your family anywhere in the world.
Expatriate health insurance policies can usually be purchased for one of two areas of coverage; worldwide or worldwide excluding the USA. The reason for these two areas of coverage are in place is due to the fact that medical costs in the USA are the highest in the world, and excluding elective treatment in the country can substantially lower the premium of the plan. It is important to note that while a plan may exclude elective treatment in a specific country or area, emergency treatment in that region will usually be covered, giving you and your loved ones the assurance that no matter what happens, anywhere in the world, you will have the protection that you need.
As with the area of coverage provided by local and health insurance plans, these policies will also radically differ in premium calculation. Local health insurance plans will generally calculate a policy’s premium based on the policyholders claims history. This means that at the start of a plan the premium will generally be quite low, and remain low, until the policyholder claims for treatment. At the plan renewal, the policy will take into account any treatment claimed by the policyholder in the previous year, and will adjust the premium accordingly.
Global, or international, health insurance plans, will only ever calculate premiums based on the policyholders age and the plans geographical area of coverage. The plans premium will never change based on the amount of treatment that the policyholder claims for, giving you the assurance that you will always be able to receive the high quality treatment that you deserve, with no premium repercussions. In addition to this, with an international health insurance plan you are assured of paying the same premium as everyone else in your age group, giving you the confidence that your plan is providing the best coverage possible.
Medical insurance policies will typically be created for 1 year at a time. After a year on the policy, the plan must be renewed. With local health insurance policies this plan renewal is not guaranteed, and if a policyholder has reached a certain age, or has claimed for too much treatment over the history of the policy, then the renewal may be denied by the insurer. International plans, on the other hand, are guaranteed renewable for life, meaning that the policyholder is always assured of quality protection, no matter how old they are.
While local and expat health insurance plans have the same principal, namely protecting an individual against the possible future risk of health concerns, they operate in extremely different ways. When thinking about obtaining a health insurance policy while overseas it is important that you assess your needs in the present, and your possible needs in the future, to ensure that you have the best plan available.
Pacific Prime is a leading international health insurance broker, speacializing in offering comprehensive medical insurance coverage to expatriates in Asia and throughout the world.
