April International

[Lucky Bones]

On 1/7/2023 at 7:08 PM, timoti said:

Oh I see, I thought they use passport number also. From what I have been told April or other insurance companies only check the name for bills.

 

So I guess having another passport with slightly different DOB and number is advisable?

 

Do you think April would classify a new kidney stone as preexisting within a year or 2? I ask this because I know some insurance companies say even if you never had this, because it takes time for the stone to form, they classify it as pre-existing. But then how can you know about this in advance if it's forming in 1-2 years?

 

Is Vumi only in Thailand? I think I was mentioned them before.

"Another passport with slightly different date of birth?"

 

Please explain.????????

[pontious]

April International  have increased premiums by 15% this year for over 65,s - this does not include 2-3 % increase for age . My policy this year has increased by 700 USD. it is getting very expensive.  4411 USD.

[dinga]

10 hours ago, pontious said:

April International  have increased premiums by 15% this year for over 65,s - this does not include 2-3 % increase for age . My policy this year has increased by 700 USD. it is getting very expensive.  4411 USD.

I'm in a similar boat to you - the proposed renewal premium for my April policy represented an increase of 18% this year (after much pressing, surprise-surprise, Covid was mainly to blame - I didn't bother asking why the strength of the USD didn't act as a significant offset).

 

The proposed premium was far to expensive, so I had coverage deleted for a condition that was pre-existing when I initially took out the policy.  Reduction of the premium was the only reason to continue with April for another year.  Let's see what costs are proposed for 2024/25.    

[KannikaP]

8 minutes ago, dinga said:

The proposed premium was far to expensive, so I had coverage deleted for a condition that was pre-existing when I initially took out the policy

So are you saying that you took out the policy WITHOUT declaring a pre-existing condition, which you have now removed?

[Sheryl]

Just now, KannikaP said:

So are you saying that you took out the policy WITHOUT declaring a pre-existing condition, which you have now removed?

I think what he means is that he declared a pre-existing condition at application and was given a choice of either an exclusion or a higher premium and initially chose the latter. Now, in order to reduce his premium, he opted to take the exclusion instead.

 

I was given a similiar choice by April when I applied and opted for the exclusion.

[newnative]

13 hours ago, pontious said:

April International  have increased premiums by 15% this year for over 65,s - this does not include 2-3 % increase for age . My policy this year has increased by 700 USD. it is getting very expensive.  4411 USD.

   I agree it's very expensive--and it goes up a lot every year.   At my age--71--I'm reluctant to switch, though, having been with April for about 10 years now..

[pontious]

The agents know. They told me. Pity they did not tell the customers who have to pay the bill.

[dinga]

15 hours ago, Sheryl said:

I think what he means is that he declared a pre-existing condition at application and was given a choice of either an exclusion or a higher premium and initially chose the latter. Now, in order to reduce his premium, he opted to take the exclusion instead.

 

I was given a similar choice by April when I applied and opted for the exclusion.

Dead right Sheryl.  I elected to include coverage for the conditions that existed at the time I first took out the policy - for a 25% loading of the premium.

 

Silly me, but I thought now excluding those pre-existing conditions would be a simple matter and result in the quick removal of that loading.  NOT SO. 

 

A new Health Declaration was required and effectively the new premium seemingly determined on the basis of my health history now.  Luckily, there had been no change over the period I have held the April policy  -  however, I do wonder how April would have reacted if some new health issues had arisen during the period between my 1st taking out the policy and the reduction in coverage....[I'm assuming it was treated in the same way as a brand new policy application]

 

Age does have benefits - this ain't one...      

[dinga]

13 hours ago, pontious said:

The agents know. They told me. Pity they did not tell the customers who have to pay the bill.

What did they tell you?????

[dinga]

13 hours ago, newnative said:

   I agree it's very expensive--and it goes up a lot every year.   At my age--71--I'm reluctant to switch, though, having been with April for about 10 years now..

Sadly, I fear it's just a matter of time before the premiums just become too expensive to renew [save "rescue" by the Grim Reaper]

[dinga]

16 hours ago, KannikaP said:

So are you saying that you took out the policy WITHOUT declaring a pre-existing condition, which you have now removed?

NO  I said "so I had coverage deleted for a condition that was pre-existing..."

[pontious]

8 minutes ago, dinga said:

What did they tell you?????

What I said in my previous post. 15% extra for over 65,s and 2- 3% extra depending on age.

[dinga]

8 minutes ago, pontious said:

What I said in my previous post. 15% extra for over 65,s and 2- 3% extra depending on age.

Thanks - so does that mean we can look forward to a 17-18% annual increase??????

[topt]

On 3/1/2023 at 11:16 AM, dinga said:

Thanks - so does that mean we can look forward to a 17-18% annual increase??????

April Int uses age bandings for base premiums so I presume he went from 64-65 so there would have been a reasonably large jump plus the "normal" annual increase. Same as if you went from 54-55 or 60-61.

@pontiousplease correct me if wrong?

[pontious]

1 hour ago, topt said:

April Int uses age bandings for base premiums so I presume he went from 64-65 so there would have been a reasonably large jump plus the "normal" annual increase. Same as if you went from 54-55 or 60-61.

@pontiousplease correct me if wrong?

Wrong- I am 73 -the plus 15% is for anyone over 65 - it only started this year. The 2-3% is up depending on age increase - that is reasonable. To be told of this large new increase -15% -8 weeks before due payment is not.

[topt]

12 minutes ago, pontious said:

Wrong- I am 73 -the plus 15% is for anyone over 65 - it only started this year. The 2-3% is up depending on age increase - that is reasonable. To be told of this large new increase -15% -8 weeks before due payment is not.

Thanks for the correction. The question for me now is how those new rates compare to other policies.

 

My plan went up 8% when I renewed at the end of last year. There was a covering letter explaining the increase and to be fair I would not have expected any notification more than 8 weeks before renewal.  

 

Although it doesn't immediately affect me I shall be talking to my broker so thank's for the heads up.

[dinga]

7 hours ago, topt said:

April Int uses age bandings for base premiums so I presume he went from 64-65 so there would have been a reasonably large jump plus the "normal" annual increase. Same as if you went from 54-55 or 60-61.

@pontiousplease correct me if wrong?

No - I remained in the same Age Band [67--->68]  -  which is why I was so put off by the huge premium increase - and the final blame being placed on Covid....

[timoti]

On 2/28/2023 at 7:32 AM, Lucky Bones said:

"Another passport with slightly different date of birth?"

 

Please explain.????????

Photoshop ???? But I think to be safe you also need to use a different phone number and also different passport. Every hospital is different so not sure how they are indexing patients.

[timoti]

On 2/28/2023 at 7:41 AM, pontious said:

April International  have increased premiums by 15% this year for over 65,s - this does not include 2-3 % increase for age . My policy this year has increased by 700 USD. it is getting very expensive.  4411 USD.

May I ask which plan and area of cover you have? I have everywhere except USA and one before the best plan and it's over 2K for 35yo. So I imagine you have emergency plan? From what I saw the highest premium for my plan was 7-8K at age 89? Something like that.

[Sheryl]

On 2/28/2023 at 7:41 AM, pontious said:

April International  have increased premiums by 15% this year for over 65,s - this does not include 2-3 % increase for age . My policy this year has increased by 700 USD. it is getting very expensive.  4411 USD.

I think your info is a bit confused.

 

April increases for age on 5 year increments and while that percentsge varies by age group it is never as low as 2-3%.  The only premium increase which might occur at that level would be an adjustment  for inflation.

 

I just got my premium, age 70 so have jumped an age bracket (increases on past 4 years were minimal). 

 

The increase was  about 15% which is pretty standard when going from age group 64-69  to age group 70- 74.  Having read your post I was expecting much, much  more so relieved.

 

I think the 15% increase you refer to was for age and will not occur again until 5 years from now (will be more significant rise then though). In between, only inflationary increases will ocvur and these can be anywhere from nil to a couple of percentage points.

[richard_smith237]

8 minutes ago, Sheryl said:

I think your info is a bit confused.

 

April increases for age on 5 year increments and while that percentsge varies by age group it is never as low as 2-3%.  The only premium increase which might occur at that level would be an adjustment  for inflation.

 

I just got my premium, age 70 so have jumped an age bracket (increases on past 4 years were minimal). 

 

The increase was  about 15% which is pretty standard when going from age group 64-69  to age group 70- 74.  Having read your post I was expecting much, much  more so relieved.

 

I think the 15% increase you refer to was for age and will not occur again until 5 years from now (will be more significant rise then though). In between, only inflationary increases will ocvur and these can be anywhere from nil to a couple of percentage points.

The increase for my Wife and Son (with VUMI) jumped 30% this year. 

The explanation was the jump in age bracket (for Wife / not Son).

The issue I have found is that all of the companies had a similar higher premium and VUMI was no different.

 

In the past I have complained (with other companies such as BUPA) that the increase is excessive and greater than inflation and have been told that its due to the increase in costs of medical treatment. 

 

It does seem that whichever company I am with the increase is disproportionate to surrounding services or costs, but a convenient explanation is always found... Increase in age bracket / Increase in inflation / increase in medical costs / increase in global costs etc etc.. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Sheryl]

All insurances increase premium cost with age. Some do it annually and some do it in 5 year 

 

The age related increases are knowable in advance.  Just ask for a table of rates by age when you enroll. The absolute amount may change over time due to inflation but you"ll have a good idea of the % increase as you age.  I did thus before enrolling in Aoril. It indicated a 15% increase which is exactly what occurred.

 

Of the insurers I compared at that time *(2018) April was at the low end for % increase for age 70-75. The highest was Pacigic Cross (Maxima  Plan) at 49%. Followed by Cigna Global at 39% (I did not check Vumi). 

[topt]

On 6/6/2023 at 12:50 PM, Sheryl said:

The increase was  about 15% which is pretty standard when going from age group 64-69  to age group 70- 74.  Having read your post I was expecting much, much  more so relieved.

I queried this when he originally posted it and he said he was 73........which I would have thought was in the middle of a band?

I still need to contact AA and ask them for a current spreadsheet on insurers and costs to check........it's on my to do list 

[Sheryl]

2 hours ago, topt said:

I queried this when he originally posted it and he said he was 73........which I would have thought was in the middle of a band?

I still need to contact AA and ask them for a current spreadsheet on insurers and costs to check........it's on my to do list 

Yes 73 would be mid age band.

 

I am wondering if he actually had April Thailand rather than April International.

[keithsimmonds]

I am with April International Basic Plan 500$ deductible and my premiums seem to go up by more than 15% every year ..65 it was 2236$ then 66 2651$and this year at 67 it will be 3131...just over 18%.

Only one claim so far which i was declined as i take xalatan eye drops for the prevention of Glaucoma and the policy (which i signed) says we will not cover for any eye impairments or there consequences...so 245000baht to fix a detached retina,which took 10 weeks to heal?,then last Sunday back to Bph and another 185000baht as it became unattached again,also i did,nt stay in Hospital this time,hence the difference in price. yes ouch in many ways.