International Health Insurance
The problem is that, when it comes to PMI cover, you may have to
pay for a parachute with lots of bells and whistles on it because
that’s what other customers have demanded.
Debbie Purser at ExpaCare says: “Over the years we have changed
our products. In July last year we added psychiatric treatment to
our top level of cover. Maternity and routine dental is difficult
to price in but we have done that too.
“People also ask for things such as preventative care but
it’s trying to price the product at the right premium level
in the marketplace. Putting prices up by £200-£300 a
year is a lot.
“Rousseau at InterGlobal agrees: “If we build in maternity
cover or routine dentistry as a standard benefit, people have to
pay for it,” he says.
International Health Insurance & Rousseau
A lot to ask when prices are going up anyway. Rousseau suggests PMI
premiums are increasing by, on average, 10-15 per cent per annum.
“In Europe it is probably about 7.5 per cent, in Worldwide (ex-US)
it is about 10-11 per cent and in the US it is about 20 per cent,”
he says. Purser at ExpaCare suggests this is partly a result
of medical inflation. “There are always price rises in excess
of inflation,” she says.
But still customers are demanding ever more comprehensive policies.
Smith at Medibroker notes that a lot more providers are offering
chronic illness cover in their comprehensive policies.
Much depends on particular circumstances of course. As Purser at
ExpaCare says: “If it is a young IT consultant not worried
about his health, he will take basic cover. If it’s someone
taking their family abroad they will take out a higher level of
cover.”
International Health Insurance - Rousseau's Parachute Analogy
She tends to agree with Rousseau’s parachute analogy. “The
level of cover is crucial because you don’t know what’s
going to happen. Drugs cost a fortune in some countries,” she
says. “Even in some European countries a cancer check,
diagnosis and treatment for one year could easily cost £25,000.
With a basic policy most of that treatment wouldn’t be covered.”
How much does it cost?
Medibroker’s website shows that a single male, aged 30, working
in Europe, can expect to pay around £777 in annual premiums.
The cheapest option for Europe-wide cover is £522 with InterGlobal
Insurance Services’ Comprehensive Plan and the most expensive
option is the £2,212 charged by IHI danmark for its International
Health and Hospital Plan. The same policyholder in the Middle East
would pay on average £926 a year in premiums.
International Health Insurance And Goodhealth
The cheapest option here is Goodhealth Worldwide’s International
Healthcare Plan at £527 and the most expensive IHI danmark’s
International Health & Hospital Plan at £2,212. In
North America - where medical costs are prohibitive - our 30 year-old
single male would pay on average £1,688 a year in premiums
with MultiNational Underwriters offering the cheapest cover at £731
and BUPA International the most expensive at £2,775 for its
Lifeline Gold product. A couple aged 40 and 35 with two children
aged ten and seven would pay on average £2,252 a year in premiums
in Europe, £2,603 in the Middle East and £5,260 in the
US.
It should be noted, however, that this is only a snapshot to give
you an idea of costs. The prices quoted above based on the most
popular level of cover available as identified by the product provider.
The products may differ in terms of inclusions and exclusions.
International Health Insurance & Havens Hideaways
Regular readers of this column will know what Havens & Hideaways
thinks about bodies such as the Organisation for Economic Cooperation
and Development, the Financial Action Task
Force, and the Financial Stability Forum.
Our views boil down to this: they are politically driven organisations
whose objectives are to stamp out money laundering and recoup tax
revenues for OECD member states.
Anyone in doubt only needs to look at the double standards of the
OECD on so-called ‘harmful’ tax practices, the most
evil of which are probably ‘tax ringfencing’ and lack
of transparency.
International Health Insurance - Ringfencing
Ringfencing, for those readers who do not know, means countries
segregating their domestic tax arrangements from their international
tax arrangements. So on this basis, where is America (which operates
ringfenced tax regimes) on the list? And what of Hong Kong, Switzerland
and Luxembourg? Nowhere. Come June this year, OECD members will
apparently be allowed to impose sanctions on uncooperative jurisdictions
that allow harmful tax practices. So will they also impose sanctions
on some of the aforementioned member states? The smart money says
not.
With these thoughts in mind, we were both amused and alarmed to
receive emails that offer investors their own private banks that
are allegedly based in Montenegro.
International Health Insurance - Emails
According to the emails, the set-up cost of these personal banks
is $140,000 (up from $125,000 because of surging demand).
So what is the OECD doing about all this? Peering down my little
list of jurisdictions that could be blacklisted next month, I am,
as I write, looking for Montenegro’s name.
Maldives, yes. Marshall Islands, yes. Monaco, yes. Montserrat,
yes. Montenegro umm, no. Thought not. No sign of Montenegro at all.
But surely, if these emails are genuine, the country is contravening
the OECD’s rules on harmful tax practice somewhere.
Don’t worry though, the OECD may have a plan. Its first aim
could be to squeeze the biggest offshore centres, then start clamping
down on smaller, more illicit centres, where no sane investor would
go in the first place.
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