Where in the world can you take your health insurance?

Where in the world can you take your health insurance? It’s a great question to ask right now, especially given that the most requested insurance product at CCW Global since the start of the year has, understandably, been Health Insurance.

But with the level of confusion surrounding the Coronavirus pandemic there is concern about purchasing comprehensive long term health insurance protection – this makes sense if you do not know where you’ll be in 6 months and are worried about your ability to utilize the plan you purchased in, possibly, an entirely different country.

That is one of the concerns for many expatriates; when your job can take you from country to country at the best of times, you need to be certain that the insurance you are relying on is able to give you the coverage needed in times of crisis. Because many expatriates are provided medical insurance protection through their employer, this often isn’t that much of an issue – your company will generally provide you with the necessary insurance coverage you need when you arrive on location at your next posting.

However, if you’re being given a subsidy for health insurance by your employer, or if you are paying for the cost of your health insurance plan out of pocket, then having to cancel and reapply for a new policy each and every time you move to a new country for work can be a really big headache.

Ignoring the basic administrative burden, there is the more pressing concern of pre-existing medical conditions being excluded each time you take out a new policy, leaving you without the protection you had before your relocation. Unless you are going to a destination where you are being placed on a group health insurance policy with a Medical History Disregarded benefit, then it is likely that you would be unable to receive health insurance protection for any, previously insured medical conditions you may have developed under an earlier health insurance policy.

As the Coronavirus pandemic situation continues to be extremely fluid, many people may not know where they will be next month, let alone next year. That will be extremely stressful, and come with myriad challenges, but those challenges don’t necessarily need to include health insurance.

International Health Insurance vs Local Health Insurance

First things first, it is important to realize that there are two separate and distinct types of health insurance available in Hong Kong. The first is locally underwritten Hong Kong Health Insurance. These are plans which are operated solely to cover you against the costs of your medical treatment in Hong Kong and Hong Kong only.

However, the second type of health insurance product available in Hong Kong is International Health Insurance. These policies are able to provide worldwide protection against the costs of your medical treatment. Literally, worldwide protection – under an international health insurance policy you are able to receive treatment at the doctor or hospital of your choice anywhere on earth.

With a Hong Kong health insurance plan, if you left the city you would need to purchase a travel insurance policy to cover you against medical costs overseas because the coverage of your medical insurance stops at the SAR’s borders. This is one of the primary reasons that international health insurance products are more suitable for individuals who undertake large amounts of overseas travel, and expatriates.

For more on these differences please click local health insurance versus international health insurance.

Taking your health insurance with you

So international health insurance plans can provide worldwide coverage. That’s great, and gives a comprehensive security blanket to individuals who often go overseas, but that doesn’t solve the issue of having to take out a new policy if we suddenly find ourselves in a new country, or even our home country should we decide to repatriate for any reason.

Well, in fact it actually does.

International health insurance policies are internationally portable. A single plan can travel with you and your family no matter where you may go in the world, and in some cases can continue to cover expatriates even if they repatriate to their home nation (depending on the laws and regulations pertaining to insurance in that country). This means that an international health insurance policy which is purchased in Hong Kong can cover you against the costs of your medical treatment while you are in the city, away on vacation, or even if you are relocated by your employer to another country – with no break in coverage.

This is a critical issue for many people at this time, and the ability to rely on a single health insurance plan no matter what happens could be invaluable.

See, the beauty of an international health insurance policy is that the plan’s coverage area can be the entire planet. In that situation there is no reason for a geographical exclusion because there are no countries or locations which would be considered out-of-area. Another great aspect of international health insurance is the fact that you can control the coverage area you receive under the policy, with plans able to cover you only in your country of residence, on a specific continent, in every country except the USA, or on a worldwide basis.

Choosing to purchase a health insurance policy which includes worldwide protection is generally more expensive than any of the other options (due to the simple fact that healthcare in the USA is extremely expensive and opting to receive coverage there increases the overall premium of the plan), but guarantees that you are covered no matter what happens anywhere in the world.

This also ensures that you are able to receive at least some health insurance protection for a limited time should you relocate to a country that has more stringent regulations regarding international health insurance protection. If, for example, you moved to the USA from Hong Kong whilst holding an international health insurance policy which afforded worldwide protection, you would generally be able to continue under the international health insurance policy until your renewal date with a number of international underwriters.

This is the more restrictive case, and your ability to continue coverage (until renewal or past it) will depend exactly on where you relocate to and the insurer you are underwritten by – an expert CCW Global insurance broker is able to give you further advice on your specific relocation and portability situation should it be needed. But the ability to receive even a short term break while you are resettling in a new country and getting your life in order can be extremely necessary – the last thing you need to worry about in that situation is how to pay for the costs of your treatment should you get sick.

But this does bring us onto another aspect of health insurance which is able to provide you with additional flexibility during these trying times.

Continuing health insurance after employment

The second part of this subject is continuation. This mainly relates to corporate health insurance products, but may be extremely important to you if your company provides a health insurance plan in your employee benefits package.

On some group health insurance products, individuals insured under that plan are able to take their health insurance with them should they leave the group and continue to be insured on an individual basis with no break in cover.

The individual will be responsible for paying the premiums which were previously covered by their employer, but there is no additional underwriting on the policy and the individual continues to receive the same coverage under the same policy as they did when they were being provided the health insurance protection as part of a benefits package.

A continuation benefit coupled with an international health insurance policy offering an expanded scope of geographical coverage is a powerful tool in an employee’s benefit package, and ensures that not only is there no break in coverage (with no need for the employee to worry about re-underwriting for pre-existing medical conditions) but also that the employee is able to maintain the level of protection to which they had become accustomed while looking for alternate employment, or enjoying their retirement.

Continuation means that there are no waiting periods, no additional premium loadings, no breaks in cover, and the continued protection of medical conditions covered under the group plan before the employee left. In situations where an individual’s health insurance is tied to their employer losing that coverage can be difficult, especially in an uncertain economic climate.

Continuation and Portability are likely to be two critical factors in the international and expatriate health insurance market over the coming year, should assistance be required in further understanding these concepts, how they apply to your plan, or how the ongoing Covid-19 Coronavirus pandemic situation impacts your policies, CCW Global is happy to help.

Contact Us to speak to an expert Hong Kong Insurance Broker today.