What Is Global Health Insurance Cover?

What Is Worldwide Or Global Health Insurance Cover?

The world is starting to open back up as we learn how to properly handle the pandemic. One of the aspects of this is the ability to travel again is back in the cards. As we venture out into the world, ensuring access to quality healthcare is more important than ever!

Does your life take you away from your home country regularly? Are you working abroad? Then you need to ensure that you can still access quality healthcare regardless of where you are in the world. Especially if you spend several days on a stretch outside India. International health insurance is the answer to this problem! The quality of healthcare services varies from place to place, and getting access to quality medical facilities can get both complicated and expensive in international locations. Global travel medical insurance sets you up with the best way to take care of you and your family should any untoward circumstances develop in unfamiliar surroundings.

The Benefits of Global Insurance

Global health insurance companies offer several options with highly flexible benefits. The primary goal is to give you access to quality private health coverage to not have to worry about financial strain due to treatment. These insurance policies can be flexible enough to accommodate claims made up to $250,000! Though it is unlikely you will need that costly a treatment, you can still plan for it just in case.

Because global health insurance is a plan often needed by those who regularly travel for work, your employer is the one who will pay the premium of this insurance policy. This has many advantages, both for the business and you. First, global health insurance can also cover your home country, which means that a single insurance policy covers the entirety of your health insurance plan! This means that the company saves on paying for domestic health insurance, and you can enjoy consistent benefits everywhere. But this is not the only use for international healthcare insurance! Global health insurance is advantageous for people in other walks of life as well! Many people spend time travelling between countries for family or other commitments and as such, being prepared for the future is always smart.

Keep in mind that travel health insurance is a little different from global insurance. Travel insurance is much more short-term, often only covering a period of a few months. This policy is more suitable for those who are going on a vacation or trip, and they do not intend to travel anytime soon.

Key Features of International Medical Insurance

The most common features of international medical health care insurance policies are the following: -

• Flexible coverage - This ensures that no needs go unmet even if the treatment happens to be inexpensive or requires private care. This kind of coverage helps provide comprehensive care to all individuals.
• Hospitalization - Ensuring that bills are covered should hospitalization be needed. This is likely, as people do not often have others to rely on or have a permanent home and resources when abroad.
• Coverage for pre-existing conditions - If you have heart problems, diabetes, or other chronic illnesses requiring emergency treatment, then global healthcare insurance is immensely crucial for you.
• Medical evacuation coverage - Medical transport like ambulances or rescue helicopters are made available when required. Medical evacuation can be significantly expensive, especially for non-residents. As such, having coverage for these expenses is crucial.
• Surgery - This generally also includes the cost of anaesthesia and the cost of pre-and post-operation care.
• Emergency room visitation - The cost of urgent medical care is also covered under international health insurance.
• Out-patient care - This is when you need to stay in a hospital for less than a day - say you hit your head and are under observation for a few hours. In this case, a plan with out-patient care will help with the monetary cost.
• Diagnostics - These cover charges incurred while consulting a doctor and various kinds of lab tests recommended by the doctor. Here you should pay close attention to which tests the plan covers. For example, it may cover a blood test but may not cover an MRI.
• Other requirements - Other individual needs can be covered as well. For example, maternity coverage (for pregnant persons) or dental coverage, or vision care. These singular coverages can be decided upon when you look for the plan that fits you the best. This category can even include continued care for treatments you are already on. For example, chemotherapy, access to mental health professionals, etcetera.
• Evacuation or repatriation - This is the process of transporting you back to your home country if you fall sick. This can be critical if there is a possibility that the country you are travelling to does not have the healthcare options you may need. All the expenses thus incurred in the medical evacuation will be covered under the international health insurance plan.

As the above list illustrates, a global healthcare insurance plan offers all the foundational amenities an individual can require. You can also add or remove parts of it as you need to.

There are exclusions to this, of course. But they are reasonable. The exclusions to the coverage include places of hostility, terrorism, other civil disturbances, etcetera. These exclusions are explicitly pointed out and described in the policy descriptions. There are even plans which explicitly cover these exclusions. However, that is wholly dependent on the company and each policy.

Other information about global health insurance

A global healthcare insurance plan does not just offer you financial security! It connects you with a network of hospitals that have been vetted by your insurance company, ensuring only the best medical treatment for you. These companies also have emergency contact helplines to contact them in cases of emergency so that you can be guided to the nearest hospital.

A global health insurance plan works exactly like a domestic health insurance plan. You must pay premiums on the usual monthly or annual schedule. Upon needing treatment in the covered locations, you can file claims so that the cost of the medical bill can be defrayed for you. The primary goal is to provide you with a financial safety net and international health insurance, to connect you with reputable medical services to not hurt yourself because of ignorance.

Questions to keep in mind when selecting a plan

To make sure that you are making the correct choice for you and your family, you need to first test the suitability of each policy.

1. Determine the basis on which premiums are paid. Is the payment required a monthly one? Or perhaps it is to be made annually? You need to know about the frequency of premium payment to be prepared.
2. What is the waiting period for the policy? The waiting period is the amount of time it takes for an insurance policy to become effective after buying it. This can range from 30-45 days after the purchase. So, be sure to check this factor in advance.
3. What is the coverage maximum? Is it enough to cover emergency surgery? How many times can you place claims in a policy year? All these questions are extremely important to know the answers to.
4. Following the last question, what is the minimum deductible? A deductible is an amount you need to pay for treatment before the insurance company pays for treatment. The deductible is dependent on the provisions in the policy and can vary according to each claim. Additionally, remember that the lower the deductible, the higher are the premiums you must pay are.
5. Once again, read the exclusions to the policy carefully and refer to them when facing an emergency.
6. Make a note of the hospital network that the insurance company has, and check that they are easily accessible for you while travelling. It is good if the network covers many hospitals in France - but it is of no use to you if none are in the city you are visiting.
7. In the same vein of thought, read the covered areas very carefully. Check countries and cities that are included and do not be satisfied with vague geographic locations. Coverage across entire South America is a nice sentiment. But does the coverage include every single country in the South American continent?
8. How do you file the insurance claim? This is a process you should familiarize yourself with to make an insurance claim when you need to. Make a note of the documents you must provide to the insurer for verification (prescriptions, bills, etcetera). Save the contact information of the insurance company on your phone for emergencies.

The Cost of International Medical Insurance and its Factors

The cost of global medical insurance varies wildly. It is dependent on your location, the countries you want to cover, age, the purpose of travel, pre-existing conditions, the number of people covered by the policy, etcetera. Premiums can be as low as $150 per month or even cheaper, but the premium can be higher in some cases.

Some of the factors about the cost of international medical insurance that you must consider before subscribing to a policy are as follows: -

1. The coverage - If you have a high coverage amount, the premium will also be expensive. The cost is directly proportional in this case. Add-ons and customized policies are also significantly more expensive than the general and ready-made policies that insurance companies offer their customers.
2. Age - The younger you are, the lower would be your premiums. The logic is that younger individuals are less likely to fall sick. Even if you do fall sick, then complications are less likely to arise. Many insurance companies do not sell policies to people older than a certain age or with certain health conditions because complications are more common in such cases.
3. The number of people covered - This factor follows the simple logic that the higher is the number of people covered under a policy, the higher will be the premium. However, it generally costs less to cover a family under one policy than getting a separate policy for each member.
4. The deductible - If you want to pay smaller parts of the medical bills yourself, you will have to pay higher premiums.
5. The countries covered - Healthcare costs are different in different parts of the world. The premiums are dependent on which countries you need the cover. The United States has an infamously expensive healthcare system, so coverage there will mean higher premiums. Similarly, if a country has a cheaper healthcare system, your premiums will be much lesser.
6. Medical history - Having pre-existing conditions means you are at a higher risk of needing treatment in the near future. In this case, the insurance policy will be more expensive for you to own.

With professionals required to travel far and wide for their work and families looking for an elaborate international holiday experience, international health insurance has become more of a necessity than a luxury. The benefits offered by this health insurance policy are quite exhaustive. They offer considerable peace of mind if you or any other insured person under the policy faces a health emergency while travelling.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q1. What is global health insurance?

A1. International health insurance, also called expatriate or global health insurance, is a long-term health insurance plan that provides coverage for medical treatment across the world.

Q2. Is there global health insurance?

A2. Yes, there are several such health insurance plans, which are available through many insurance companies.

Q3. How much does expatriate health insurance cost?

A3. The cost of an international health insurance plan can differ from company to company. The cost of the insurance policy also changes depending on the countries you are travelling to.

Q4. How much is the premium for international health insurance? Can I buy one for myself?

A4. The premium for international health insurance depends on several factors that can vary across insurers. You can buy international health insurance online quite easily by following a few simple steps. Alternatively, your company can also subscribe to international health insurance for you.