Guidelines on choosing Global Health Insurance plan

When selecting an insurer to provide your overseas health insurance coverage you must choose very carefully because the relationship is likely to be a long one. This is because as you develop medical conditions requiring treatment many insurers will exclude these from your cover. It then becomes difficult to change insurer because you will not be able to get overseas health insurance coverage for these conditions.

You must study the Policy Conditions very carefully to see who is covered, what is covered and other important issues. This page is designed to give you a checklist of important elements to look for in your policy’s conditions. If you would like more advice please contact us and our expert consultants will be glad to help.

Please take the time to read through this list and check against your policy to see what overseas health insurance coverage you currently have.

Waiting Periods: waiting periods can be very important. Many policies will not allow you to claim anything until four weeks after the commencement date of your policy. Pregnancy related claims will usually have a waiting period of around ten months, psychiatric conditions twenty four months, and restorative dental treatment also twenty four months.

Who is Covered? Usually only the named policy holder has overseas health insurance coverage. However, newborn babies may be covered for the first twenty eight days following their birth on receipt of a newborn child application. With some insurers, if the policy has been valid for the previous ten months then no newborn application is needed.

Area of Coverage: Overseas health insurance coverage is only valid for the stated region in your policy document. This is usually either “worldwide”, “worldwide excluding USA ” or “worldwide excluding North America ”. Many policies give you cover outside your region for up to 28 days per calendar year.

What is covered? The policy document should be carefully examined when looking at what is covered. Your policy document will also outline any pre-existing conditions and general exclusions that may not be covered by your policy. It is also important to know if you are covered for only inpatient treatment or outpatient as well.

Medicine: Many insurers will give you overseas health insurance coverage for hospital treatment but not all will cover the cost of medicine. Most outpatient options will cover these cost but it is essential to submit a claim to the insurer accompanied by the relevant prescription.

Medical Evacuation: This option will provide you with cover for any costs relating to the insured’s medical evacuation in the event of a serious injury or illness. Many policies will also pay the expenses of one person accompanying the insured.

Necessary Info: The policyholder has an obligation to inform the insurer, usually in writing, of any of the following; changes to principle residence, any other health insurance, the death of the insured.

The insurance company also has the right to request medical information on the insured from any hospital, physician or doctor that has previously treated the insured.

For further information or advice on your current or future medical policy please contact us on +852 3113 1331 or via email.