Sending expatriate employees overseas is a massive undertaking for any company or organization, and this task usually falls to the global mobility or human resources manager. An expatriate assignment is an enormous investment, and the costs of a failed expat move can be quite significant. One of the most important considerations for HR managers is setting up an international benefit plan that will cover life, AD&D, disability, dental, evacuation and especially international health insurance. However, one of the most important questions to ask of any benefit plan is will it cover pre-existing medical conditions.
Nowadays, most people are living longer at an ever-increasing rate. Due to the improvements in medical technology and other factors, there is a trend for people to stay in employment while well past traditional retirement ages. A question you may be asking yourself is how does an ageing population impact expat benefit plans? Let’s take a look at the graying of the workforce, and the likely impact may bring for mobile employee benefit plans.
Missionary Insurance Solutions
You are about to start a mission trip, what kind of insurance coverage do you need? You might have a local healthcare plan in your home country. However, local medical plans do not travel with you when you are on the road or across the ocean. Therefore, most missionary organizations or groups provide or require Group International Missionary Health Insurance for their missionary staff. If you are travel alone on a short-term or long-term mission trip, then you are required to have Individual International Missionary Health Insurance.
The other day our firm was contacted by a teacher who was wanting to work abroad at an international school. She noted that the school that was interested in hiring her would not cover the pre-existing medical condition, which in this case was Diabetes. The diabetes medications are quite expensive, and the individual was at risk of incurring significant medical claims that an individual expat health plan would probably not cover.
One of the largest barriers to expatriate group insurance adoption for small organizations without a current plan is the simple belief that their company is “too small” for a benefit plan. Others think that a global mobility program for their small firm will cost too much.
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