Benefits of an International Group Insurance Plan

More and more companies are sending expat employees abroad with the increased globalization of multinational organizations around the globe. While the expat employees are working and living overseas, employers are investing in companies resources on them and want the employees are protected. Therefore, obtaining an international expat group insurance plan is very important prior to relocating to a new country or destination.

Although some expat employers might be tempted to have the expatriate employees covered by a local or government group insurance plan, it is generally much better to have them covered under a global benefit program. When your employees are sent overseas and experience a medical emergency that can’t be handled in the host country due to limitation of medical facilities and shortage of equipment or medications, it is very important to have an international health insurance plan that provides international emergency evacuation and repatriation coverage. A group plan will also offer international evacuation insurance plan that will enable urgent treatment abroad if required.

Individual expat health and life plans have to be medically underwritten and employees who are under separate individual plans may have restricted coverage, exclusions or even be declined. Whereas an international benefit plan can offer full coverage for pre-existing medical conditions because the risk is shared among healthy and unhealthy employees and their dependents. Many expat assignments will not get off the ground if the employee or dependents can’t be covered by an individual plan.

A comprehensive global benefit plan is vital for HR managers who want to meet their duty of care. A global benefit plan that contains coverage for medical, dental, evacuation, disability and life insurance is a vital part of your overall duty of care requirements for posting expatriate employees abroad.

A group benefit plan will always be much less expensive than a group of individual expat health or life insurance programs. By pooling the risk, you can obtain better economies of scale and significant savings

A group benefit scheme for your expat employees will always be able to offer superior coverage and plan terms versus an individual health or life insurance program because the risk is spread across a wide group of people. Many exclusions that might be part of an individual health plan for example, will not be included in an international group program.

Many companies operate in some regions of the world that have conflicts or war and terrorism threats. Expat employees working and living in these high risk zones should be covered by special risk insurance plans, war and terrorism risks coverage, and kidnap ransom insurance for expat employers. Expat Financial is highly experienced in covering companies and individuals in the most difficult and risky areas in the world. An individual expat health or life plan probably won’t be able to cover war or terrorism risks, whereas a group plan can much more easily cover such risks.

International expat group insurance plans are available for companies with minimum of two employees working on assignments overseas. Expat Financial is able to offer flexible international expat group insurance plans in almost everywhere around the globe:  Africa, Europe, Asia, Middle East, North America, South America, Caribbean, Oceania, Central America, and all major cities in the world. In countries where local medical coverage may be available, medical facilities may still not meet the standard of expat employees.

Sending an employee overseas is a huge financial commitment for an expat employer, which takes on a fiduciary responsibility to protect and provide for an employee’s healthcare and other insurance needs, such as LTD, AD&D, and life insurance. If an employer doesn’t provide coverage, any large claims could become a huge legal liability.

Employees working on global assignments have diverse needs and a quality benefit package will help your organization both attract and retain vital expat employee talent. The cost of a failed expat assignment can be in the hundreds of thousands, so it make sent to provide a high quality benefit program. With international expat group insurance plans, they will receive coverage from medical professionals, multi-language translation services, quality health care around the world 24/7, etc,. The international expat group insurance plans can be tailored to meet the needs of your employees working globally, so that your business objectives can be achieved.

When employees working and living overseas don’t have adequate health insurance, they may have to wait longer to seek medical treatment from local specialists. On the other hand, due to financial concerns, they may tend to stay home from work to prevent long term health risks. All these situations will increase absenteeism and increase hiring costs of employers. Hiring and training new employees and send them overseas takes time and costs money. Therefore, having international expat group health insurance will help retain your talented employees and reduce hiring costs.

Expat employees are by their nature highly mobile individuals. It is critical that an expatriate employer set up an international group insurance plan that will allow the free movement of members from one country to another without having to switch from one local plan to another, especially if he or she has developed a sickness or injury that will prevent them from obtaining coverage. Portable expat coverage is a huge benefit for multinationals.

A group benefit plan for your expat employees will provide streamlined benefits for your expats around the world along with a simple administration platform for your HR staff back in the head office. An expat benefit plan will allow you to administer it online and add and subtract employees when needed. It will also offer a much needed unified insurance plan for all your globally mobile expat employees. Monthly premium payments are usually available.