Expats must beware of ‘inadequate’ emergency medical evacuation cover warns InterGlobal

Tuesday, 12 January 2010 16:31

International private medical insurer InterGlobal believes that may expatriates are purchasing health insurance plans with inadequate emergency medical evacuation cover and is urging expats and their advisers to urgently check their level of cover.

InterGlobal is concerned that some plans fail to provide evacuation cover for serious medical conditions and others could force expats to abandon their dependants in overseas jurisdictions.

Peter Rousseau, Business Development Director, InterGlobal says: “We’re concerned that some expats believe they are receiving a higher level of evacuation cover than is actually the case. This could leave them or their families seriously exposed in the event of a medical emergency and we urge all expats to check their cover carefully.

“We’ve heard of cases of expats being forced to leave their spouse and children behind because their evacuation cover was inadequate – just think of the stress this adds to the patient and family and how much longer it would take a patient to recover if they were worrying about their family.

“We’ve also heard of people being refused evacuation because their condition wasn’t considered life threatening even though local facilities are inadequate. In these circumstances we believe it is far better to evacuate a patient on a scheduled flight to a decent regional hospital whenever the local facilities are not up to scratch. This provides better quality care and prevents treatable conditions from becoming chronic.

“The acid test of an international PMI plan is whether it delivers when the chips are down.”