(Newswire.net — May 3, 2019) — International travel has become a common phenomenon now. People who can afford massive bills and luxurious lifestyle prefer to travel abroad with their families, colleagues, and friends on vacations. Furthermore, collaborations with foreign companies encourage corporates to fly overseas. Companies with their branches or headquarters in other countries now provide global health cover to their employees. Apart from this individual who can afford foreign expenses prefers to get treated in other countries in case of critical illness or life-threatening diseases. To deal with the increasing needs of the customers, many insurance companies have introduced insurance plans having global coverage. Global Health Insurance, in addition to the regular cover, provides medical emergency coverage while you are traveling abroad. Some comprehensive health insurance plans also cover public hospitals abroad, making it easier for you to get timely and proper treatment.
If you have never heard of global health insurance cover, remember getting treatment on your own in abroad can burn a hole in your pocket. This policy manages your overseas medical expenses and seems quite promising. However medical expenses do not cover all the expenses as the policy does not pay for every cost you incur. They vary depending upon the insurance provider and plans you are opting. So it is strictly advised not to sign an agreement paper with the insurance company before knowing each and everything about the policy.
Consider these critical pointers before buying global health cover.
- The plan only covers expenses incurred during operation or treatment of the patient and excludes all the other costs.
- For overseas coverage, most of these plans have determined the sum insured and also listed the diseases/illness that will get treated in the coverage. If someone wants to get more benefits, then they have to pay more for it.
- The policy does not provide treatment in all the countries. Treatment in Canada and the United States are excluded from the coverage. However, if you wish to get the procedure in the following two countries, you can opt for them by paying a higher premium.
- Global health insurance policy’s cost is twice or thrice times higher than a domestic health insurance policy.
- Some insurance providers also provide critical illness plans for treatment abroad. However, the policyholder should not necessarily agree with everything the insurance provider says as these policies are limited to critical illness only and do not provide any benefit beyond this.
- These covers have 10-20 percent co-payment clause on all claims, meaning that the policyholder has to pay the lump sum amount initially, and later 90 percent of the amount get reimbursed by the company once he/she returns to India.
- For already existing diseases and illness, there is a waiting period of 2-4 years.
- Even though some plans provide a cashless option, most companies settle the claim by way of reimbursement as it is quite difficult for the insurance companies to maintain such a global network of hospitals. In the absence of any emergency or critical situation, it is advised to the policyholder to inform the insurer well in advance that you are planning to travel abroad.
- The emergency medical treatment included in a travel insurance policy is entirely different from international health insurance cover. The policyholder should not get confused between these two different plans.
Overall, Global Health Insurance Covers comes with so many stringent terms and conditions. It is advised to the prospective buyer to please take note on all the conditions before signing the bottom dotted line to avoid any unwanted problems at the time of emergency.