Health Insurance after a job loss

It’s fair to say that 2020 has been a tumultuous year. From social unrest to the global Covid-19 Pandemic, people and businesses across the world have been placed under a significant amount of stress. Unfortunately, that stress has seen widespread cost cutting for many companies which in turn has resulted in layoffs.

This is not an ideal situation, either for the company that is losing a valuable employee, or for the staff member who has found themselves out of a job through no fault of their own. Its incredibly disheartening, especially with the terror of having to find new employment, pay your rent, and ensure that you are able to access the healthcare you need if you fall sick.

For many individuals who have been made redundant, or who are facing the prospect of a layoff as their company looks to control their costs in light of the ongoing economic uncertainty, any health insurance they may have is likely provided through their employer as part of a benefits package. Losing your employment means losing your benefits, and while there are other equally important employee benefits (like your MPF account), health insurance is a major concern at the present time.

If you have been laid off by your employer due to the current economic climate, in the face of an ongoing global healthcare crisis, ensuring that you are able to receive vital and life saving healthcare should you need it will likely be at the top of the list of things to sort out, along with rent, utilities, and school payments.

You may be able to continue your coverage

The first place to start is with regards to whether or not your employer provided health insurance includes a continuation benefit.

A continuation benefit, should one exist, allows you to continue on your existing health insurance policy as an individual policyholder, rather than as a member of the group. As long as you continue to pay your policy premium (subject to the specific terms and conditions of the insurance) you are able to remain on the insurance.

You would not be part of the group, and would no longer be able to receive a Medical History Disregarded benefit on your coverage, but any medical conditions which were covered under the company health insurance policy may be able to receive coverage under the continuation option. This does away with the issue of pre-existing conditions and means that you would not have to worry about having any medical conditions excluded from your coverage.

However, you would be locked into your employer’s policy – which could be expensive depending on the benefits they were offering. Continuation, remember, requires you to pay for the insurance on your own, the company will no longer cover the premium payments. So, if you had a company plan that included extensive coverage benefits, low deductibles, and a large coverage area, paying the premium associated with a continuation option may not be sensible – especially if you have recently become unemployed.

Catastrophe Health Insurance may be a second option

While opting to take a continuation benefit (if one is available) ensures that you have health insurance coverage, it also means that you are left with the financial burden of paying for high level cover with benefits that you may not need or use.

If you’re concerned about your ability to access quality medical treatment but are wary of the price tag that comes with a continuation benefit, then a Catastrophe Health Insurance product may be the best answer.

Catastrophe Health Insurance is an informal moniker, but refers to an international health insurance policy with only an inpatient coverage benefit and a very high deductible. Because of these two features the policy is basically unusable unless the policyholder experiences a life-threatening medical emergency – a catastrophe. The high deductible, often in the region of US$10,000 or more, and the fact that the policy only covers inpatient medical treatment means that the insurance will not be covering outpatient treatment, general practitioners’ visits, vaccinations, maternity, psychiatry, dentistry, or any of the other extended benefits commonly available through a health insurance policy.

The restriction of benefits significantly reduces the overall cost of the health insurance coverage. This reduction is increased by adding a deductible which would exclude the policy from being used for ordinary every-day healthcare.

A deductible is the amount that you, personally, are expected to contribute towards the cost of your care with the insurance covering any remaining costs. With a high deductible of US$ 10,000 or more it is extremely unlikely that there will ever be a claim on the policy except in the direst of situations. This ensures that the risk to the insurer of having to pay any medical fees is severely diminished, and consequently also lowers the overall cost of coverage.

While a catastrophe health insurance policy is not suitable for every day healthcare needs, it does guarantee that the policyholder has the medical care they need in life threatening and emergency medical situations. This is important because inpatient healthcare normally exceeds the cost of outpatient or specialist care many times over; a single inpatient admittance will likely be the most expensive medical bill a person will ever receive.

Of inpatient and outpatient care, it is often inpatient treatment which is more serious. You will survive a cold without visiting a doctor, but you will not survive a brain hemorrhage or other major medical conditions without medical intervention.

Even without a job, you have healthcare options

In Hong Kong health insurance has always been something of a luxury. While problems are starting to appear in the government run public healthcare system, public hospitals and clinics are still able to provide robust, high quality healthcare solutions. However, this is not true of everywhere in the world.

If you have recently lost your employer provided health insurance and are expecting to be traveling, opting to go without health insurance is not something CCW Global would recommend; especially in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Low cost, low coverage Hong Kong health insurance products may be able to provide a suitable coverage stop-gap, but will not protect you should you need medical care overseas. International health insurance products are much more expensive than their Hong Kong counterparts, but will cover you overseas and can be tailored to your needs which can help you cut your cost exposure.

No matter what you decide to do, there are options available. Let the expert health insurance brokers at CCW Global help you make sense of the choice that best meets your requirements, Contact Us and schedule a consultation now.