Insurance for expats
Would-be clients entering the site take five minutes or so to fill
in the details of their personal circumstances and within 24 hours
Medibroker will respond with an online quote.
If someone wants to follow it up, the group will do a detailed
hard copy quote giving comparisons. Most of the group’s business
is completed off-line but its site is a good place to do that initial
research.
Insurance For Expats & Leslie Smith
The group’s Leslie Smith says: “The expat is realising
that niche expertise on the net is very valuable. “If we were
speaking to a HR director or manager it might be an analysis of comprehensive
cover. We look at the term, life and critical illness position. And
are they full-time employees or on contract? This is a fundamental
point. “With a lone rep, an entrepreneur, those retiring
or on ‘walkabout’, there may be budget considerations.
What we do is try to get a feel for what their budget is overall,
design a product mix and then look for a company. It is very much
an anti-product push.”
Insurance For Expats And Medibroker
There is another area in which intermediaries such as Medibroker can
help. The rules covering medical expenses insurance differ from country
to country and expert help is often needed to guide you through this
regulatory minefield. For example, a number of insurers now understand
the French rules to mean that anyone living or working there should
take out a domestic medical expenses insurance policy and that international
contracts are illegal without this cover. Other insurers
suggest the rules apply only to French citizens. Smith at Medibroker
says: “It seems they [the French] may be using domestic law
to supersede EU law. This is very confusing for expats and they
can get into a lot of trouble.
Insurance For Expats - Library
“It’s important to have a library of in-depth information
for different parts of the world.” Peter Rousseau at InterGlobal
Insurance Services agrees the worldwide picture can be a fuzzy one.
“If you think France is bad you should go to Switzerland where
it differs from canton to canton,” he says. Rousseau
admits that it is unlikely that expats will get in-depth advice
of this sort from insurers. “At the end of the day it is up
to the adviser not the product provider. We can’t be all things
to all men,” he says.
Debbie Purser at fellow medical insurer ExpaCare concurs.”It’s
not a service we provide. But we use International SOS and they
have a global network. They would have a good idea of the medical
facilities available if someone is off the beaten track,”
she says.
Insurance For Expats & Rousseau
Rousseau at InterGlobal believes that whatever the rules of a particular
country, it is worth having extra cover. “You will never get
an expat having a heart by-pass operation in the Middle East although
the standard is excellent. They will take something on top even though
there will be some overlap,” he says. Smith at Medibroker has
used medical facilities in the Middle East but broadly agrees with
Rousseau’s point. “I used hospitals in Kuwait
and my wife had an operation in Cairo. You can use out-patients
facilities in these places but you need to get good catastrophe
cover,” he says. What is surprising is the number of companies
that send their employees abroad without adequate cover or even
without PMI cover at all.
Leslie Smith says: “A good 50 per cent of companies don’t
offer it. It is often ignorance. They don’t think about the
implications of sending someone abroad.”
Insurance For Expats - PMI
If you are asked to work abroad check out your employee rights - which,
as Smith points out, are different for contracted employees - and
then find out what PMI cover is involved. If there isn’t any,
give the offer serious consideration before accepting a move abroad.
If you are in a position where you have to buy your own medical expenses
insurance, try and get the best cover you can within your budget.
As we’ve suggested, the more exotic the location to which
you are heading, the more urgent is the need for comprehensive cover
to cope with all eventualities. Most would-be expatriates seem to
be getting this message. InterGlobal offers three levels of cover:
UltraCare Plus Plan (which is the most comprehensive), UltraCare
Comprehensive and UltraCare Standard.
Insurance For Expats And Peter Rousseau
The group’s Peter Rousseau says the more basic Standard Plan
- no outpatient treatment, for example - accounts for only 15 per
cent of its sales, whereas the Comprehensive Plan accounts for 50
per cent. Some 35 per cent of InterGlobal’s customers opt for
the top of the range Plus Plan that covers things such as psychiatric
treatment. But - like buying a seat on a plane - the more comfort
you want the more you will pay. Plus Plan is 22.5 per cent
more expensive than Comprehensive which is 30 per cent more expensive
than Standard. The analogy Rousseau often uses for comprehensive
cover is a compelling one. It’s like having a parachute, he
suggests. You may never have to use it but if you need to you are
very grateful it’s there.
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