How do you ensure your health insurance has the right benefits?

When purchasing a health insurance plan most people want to ensure that they are going to be able to get the most possible coverage out of their policy. Unfortunately, the sheer number of coverage options, individual policy choices, and even the underwriter mean that understanding exactly what it is that you’re purchasing can be difficult.

If you choose to use a broker, like CCW Global, for your health insurance then we will walk you through all the ins-and-outs of your policy options before you purchase it. But its always a good idea to know more about your plan and how your selections and customization choices can impact the utility of the policy down the road.

Everything starts with inpatient protection

The most important medical bill a person is likely to receive in their life is one that they are presented in relation to inpatient healthcare treatment. Inpatient treatment is normally defined as any medical care which requires an overnight stay in a hospital or similar medical facility. Being an inpatient requires you to “check-in” to a hospital.

While Hong Kong is fortunate enough to boast a robust and cost-effective public healthcare system, many people will opt to have elective surgeries and other foreseeable inpatient procedures performed at one of Hong Kong’s private hospitals.

The cost of treatment within Hong Kong’s private healthcare system is the 2nd highest in the world, only being less expensive than the USA. So even with the public system’s availability if you wind up in a private hospital in Hong Kong, you’re generally looking at a very big bill if you don’t have health insurance protection. Due to this every health insurance plan in Hong Kong will start with an inpatient coverage benefit.

While inpatient protection is the basic form of health insurance it doesn’t mean that the benefit itself is basic. In fact, you have an extensive customization power over the amount of protection afforded to you by the inpatient coverage benefit on your policy.

Getting the room type right

As inpatient treatment requires an overnight stay in a hospital, you’re going to need a room. Much like hotels, hospitals have different room types with higher costs for nicer rooms. A private room, for example, will be much more expensive than a semi-private room with 4 people, which in turn will be more expensive than a bed in a ward.

However, what many people do not realize is that the choice of room will have a direct impact on all ancillary costs – a nicer (more expensive) room will mean higher costs for operating room charges, surgeons fees, and even medication.

Opting to take a health insurance plan with inpatient coverage for a more expensive room classes will come with a higher premium than a plan which has more basic accommodation included. You are, in essence, paying for your comfort.

Don’t underestimate your comfort

Being happy and comfortable with your policy is extremely important when it comes to the plan’s utility. It is imperative that you set up your plan to meet your needs, both now and in the future. This is because it is very difficult to change your plan once its started; the policy needs to be right from the time you apply for it.

Putting this in context; some insurance companies won’t let you change your policy (you can cancel and then reapply), some insurers will only let you make changes when renewing the policy (but this may also include re-underwriting), and the only change that is likely to occur without interruption to the underwriting or conditions which are being covered under the plan will be a downgrade in the policy’s protection.

This is something that many people overlook when setting up a policy, for myriad reasons. One of these is opting to maximize the financial efficiency of the plan and looking more at the premium considerations than the coverage being offered or the long term implications of their coverage choices. As such, it is always a good idea to start with a higher level of coverage than you may think you need because attempting to obtain more protection at a later date will always require additional underwriting.

The unfortunate outcome of additional underwriting is the likely exclusion of any pre-existing medical conditions. This may not be a big deal to some holders, but will likely be critical for others. Added to this is the fact that additional underwriting will re-start the waiting periods associated with all the benefits on the plan. So no matter how long you may have been on the policy, if you want more protection, or if you want better rooms and higher limits, you actually run the risk of losing cover or missing out on a benefit if you attempt to “upgrade” your policy after it has started.

Outpatient protection may actually be worth it

While inpatient treatment is the most expensive healthcare a person is likely to receive, the most common is treatment performed on an outpatient basis. As may be expected, outpatient treatment is in direct contrast to inpatient and does not require that a patient be admitted overnight to a medical facility.

Outpatient treatment in Hong Kong can actually be very inexpensive, depending on what you’re having done and what provider you’re using. The local General Practitioners on most streets provide an extremely accessible and low-cost option for outpatient treatment in the city.

However, choosing to go to one of the more expensive western clinics, or frequently requiring to see the doctor because you have children needing vaccinations and checkups, can see the cost of outpatient treatment in Hong Kong quickly rise.

Outpatient coverage is an optional benefit on most Hong Kong and international health insurance plans, and will increase the overall cost of your premium, but includes coverage that is often forgotten. Things like diagnostic tests and x-rays, specialist visits (like physiotherapists), and even alternative therapies (such as Traditional Chinese Medicine) are all normally provided under a plan’s outpatient benefit. Without outpatient coverage you will be bearing the costs of these treatments out of pocket without risking re-underwriting and possible exclusions.

Don’t forget to plan for the future

There is no right answer for what benefits you be including in your plan, and of course cost is obviously going to play a major part in what plan best meets your needs. But one way to ensure that your plan is right for you is to think about what your needs will be, not just today but for many years down the road.

Ideally you want a policy that is going to cover you for as long as you need it to. Ideally, in a perfect world, this would be the rest of your life. So, sit down and think about what you need from your plan. You may be single now, but do you plan to have children one day? If you’re a woman it is never too early to add maternity insurance to your policy, get past all the applicable waiting periods, and simply have the coverage there as and when you need it.

This applies to all the options available through a health insurance policy – don’t think about what you need this year, but think about what you’ll need in the future as well. If you want to access Traditional Chinese Medicine under your policy you will need outpatient coverage in most cases, and while you may not see outpatient protection as a sound investment today, there may come a time when you do.

Health insurance is an expensive and important purchase. It is a decision that requires thought, understanding, and research. The only way to ensure that you get the right benefits on your health insurance policy is to understand what it is you want from your life and see how health insurance can support that.

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