Catering to your international health insurance needs…
Every step of the way

This depends on many factors. The General response is that in the event of a medical eventuality, and your country of residence does not have the medical facility to treat you, where would be your country of preference?

The typical cover Zones are as follows:
– Worldwide Excluding USA (with some underwriters, then would expand this definition by excluding the Caribbean, and others would say “its territories”
– Africa Plus India and Pakistan (with some underwriters will include Bangladesh and Sri Lanka)
– Other cover zones offered by some underwriters is as follows:
(i) Worldwide, excluding the United States and its territories, Switzerland, UK, Russia, China, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Canada
(ii) Europe excluding Switzerland, Russia and UK
(iii) Africa (excluding Republic of South Africa) India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka
(iv) Worldwide Excluding USA, China, Singapore and Hong Kong.

An inpatient plan is a hospitalisation that happens in a hospital.
Typical expenses covered are as follows:
– Semi-private or private accommodation in a hospital
– Intensive Care Unit and High Dependency Unit
– Medication, Fees for the Physician, Surgeon, Anaesthetist and Nurses when hospitalised.
– Surgical, anaesthetic, operating room fees
– X-rays, CAT & PET scans, plus laboratory tests
– Surgical appliances and prosthetic device expenses
– Organ transplant

This is an outpatient expense that does not require any hospitalisation or overnight stay. Hence the name Outpatient. Typical expenses covered are as follows:
– General practitioner fees
– Specialist fees
– Prescription medication
– Vaccinations (Most underwriters will offer this on a limit)
– Diagnostic tests, e.g. X-rays
– Scheduled health checkups

This includes Prenatal, Inpatient and Postnatal Care. Also included will be the expenses relating to New-Born care.

However, it is essential to note that maternity cover is not immediate and is subject to waiting periods, and each underwriter has its specific limits when it comes to maternity.

We would encourage clients looking on having children soon or in the future to discuss cover and expenses relating to maternity expenses with us.

No. With medical insurance policies, you will have to clear the waiting period to be eligible for maternity benefits.

When it comes to medical insurance, we believe that the minimum cover an individual will require is protection, broadly against the following eventualities:
– Surgery
– Hospitalisation
– Organ Transplants
– Evacuation
– Inpatient, Outpatient and day-case for Oncology (cancer).

You need to consider then if you have additional outpatient Cover and maternity cover requirements from here on.

You also need to identify the correct cover Zone. Our expert team is available to advise you on your medical insurance requirements. We are always available to give you impartial advice.

International Insurers have taken a united approach to Covid-19 and would cover treatment as per their policy’s terms and conditions.

This is typically a fixed amount or percentage of your healthcare expenses that you will first pay, after which your medical insurance will cover the rest of your bill.

It is not mandatory to have a deductible or excess, but they do reduce premium.

Generally, if the place of incident does not have the medical facility to treat you, the insurer will cover the cost of your transportation to the nearest country where the medical facility is available as per the policy terms and conditions.

Evacuation concerns the transportation costs to the nearest medical facility for treatment in the event of an emergency. Repatriation involves the transportation costs to return to your home country for rehabilitation and recovery.

A pre-existing medical condition is any health condition that a person has before joining a medical insurance plan. The disease can be chronic or not.

A chronic medical condition is a health condition that requires ongoing medication or treatment to maintain a healthy state.

Each insurer will assess the risk differently. Some would exclude the medical condition altogether. Others would increase the premium and cover the medical condition or apply a moratorium underwriting and cover the medical condition on successful completion of the moratorium criteria

The medical underwriting types with their brief explanation is as follows:
– Full Medical Underwriting: On completion of a medical declaration, any pre-existing medical conditions will be excluded and not covered.
– Moratorium Underwriting: There is no requirement of a medical questionnaire, and pre-existing medical conditions are covered on successful completion of the moratorium criteria.
– Continuous Personal Medical Exclusions (CPME) or Continuous Transfer Terms (CTT): Offered to groups and individuals who are already insured. And are looking for an alternative cover on a like-for-like basis.
– Medical Histories Disregarded: Offered to groups only where any pre-existing medical conditions are waived and covered as per policy terms and conditions.

To complete the moratorium criteria, you will need to be free from any treatment, consultation and medication for medical conditions during the moratorium period. The moratorium period is outlined in your policy terms and conditions, which are typically 12 to 24 months.

In addition, you will not likely suffer from this medical condition again.

Applications with pre-existing medical conditions that are not chronic in nature can successfully complete the moratorium criteria.

All insurers must strike a balance between providing a cover at a reasonable level with an equally good cost. Medical Inflation (Treatment costs) continue to play a large role in premium increases. With changes in medical technologies, medical conditions are treated with a lot more efficiency, which comes at a cost. In addition, the overall claiming behaviours and patterns of all clients on an IPMI product also affects the premium.

Also, the likelihood of requirement for treatment increases with age, and the premium is aligned accordingly.

Medical insurance would cover the costs of your medical treatment as per the policy terms and conditions. Travel Insurance is designed to cover the costs of loss of luggage and personal effects, delayed travel, cancellation and interruption. Travel plans also include an element of medical insurance.

Armchair Insurance Brokers will require the following information:

– Names
– Dates of Birth
– Nationality
– Country of residence
– Your preferred country of treatment in the event the country you are resident in does not have the medical facility to treat you.
– For families, please identify the principal member and relationship with your dependants.

For groups, we will require the following:
– Staff list that will have the same details as above.
– Details of any existing medical information

Armchair Insurance Brokers prides itself in putting our clients first. Always. It is in our DNA, and it is second nature for us to ensure that the administration of your policy is as smooth as possible. We are always here for you in the event of a claim and are happy to submit the claims on your behalf and see them to its conclusion. We are also happy to support our clients in the event of hospitalisation.

Changes to your policy cannot happen mid-term and are only possible at renewal. If upgrading your benefits, underwriters will request a medical declaration to re-underwrite for your policy for the additional benefits before accepting.

The short answer is Yes. The long answer is that most underwriters offer medical insurance at their higher cover levels, and the benefit is limited. Please get in touch with us for further information.

Yes, you can get a cover between 3 months and 11 months. Please contact us for further information.