Are you covered in case of real emergency?
Some expats believe they are receiving a higher level of evacuation cover than is actually the case, which could leave them or their families seriously exposed in the event of a medical emergency.
In some cases expats are forced to leave their spouse and children behind because their evacuation cover was inadequate. Other people were refused evacuation because their condition wasn’t considered ‘life threatening’ even though local facilities were inadequate.
When purchasing a health insurance plan be sure to check if the emergency medical evacuation cover entitles members to be accompanied by their partner and all of their dependent children in the case of a medical emergency. Many plans only allow a single adult to accompany the patient.
A good health insurance plan must also provide unaccompanied, non-emergency evacuation to a high quality medical facility for more minor medical conditions if no adequate treatment is available locally. Many plans will only provide evacuation if a condition is ‘life threatening’ leaving expats exposed to the risk of poor quality treatment or a deteriorating medical condition.
As Peter Rousseau, Business Development Director of InterGlobal put it:
The acid test of an international PMI plan is whether it delivers when the chips are down – and we have gone to great lengths to ensure that our plans will perform whatever emergency befalls our members.
