Is expatinsurance.com recommendable?

[Y Chang]

 Has any AseanNow member used this broker (www.expatinsurance.com) to purchase international health insurance?  Are they helpful when you have issues with payment to the medical providers?  Do you recommend this broker?

[scubascuba3]

I would just use an established UK based broker, preferably well known

[Etaoin Shrdlu]

This company is a managing general agent and not a retail insurance broker.

 

Their website states that if you make an inquiry, they will refer you to a broker that has a distribution agreement with them. I don't think it is possible to know how good the broker's service is in this instance since we don't know to which insurance broker they would refer you or which you might select from their list of "providers".

 

They are up front with their providers, which includes the names of brokers or other agents they may work with and the AM Best ratings of the insurers that these providers use, although they do list a broker that uses an insurer that isn't rated by AM best.

 

With the exception of Cigna Global, all of the providers listed have US addresses, so one could presume that they fall under the state insurance regulator in their respective states. This is probably better than trying to hold a broker responsible if they come under the regulation of an insurance authority on a Caribbean island or under no regulation in a Middle Eastern free zone. Cigna Global would be regulated by the PRA and FCA in the UK, so that's ok.

 

You are probably going to be ok if you contact this company and they refer you to one of their providers, but I would avoid an insurer that does not have an acceptable AM Best financial strength rating.

[bkk6060]

Probably legit my quote was over $1,000 a month.  No thanks.

 

[Sheryl]

48 minutes ago, bkk6060 said:

Probably legit my quote was over $1,000 a month.  No thanks.

 

Probably because, as other poster  noted, most of the insurers they refer to are US based. And the one obvious exception, Cigna Global, does not show a quote on this site ("Live Quote is coming soon for this plan....").  Neither do many plan options for the other listed insurers. And the list of insurers is far from comprehensive.

 

Frankly cannot see an advantage to this site given the limited number of plans it can give quotes for and th inability to know who the broker would be.

 

 

[Y Chang]

Thank you everyone for the reply, particularly Sheryl and Etaoin Shrdlu. 

 

I believe I was connected to expatinsurnce.com (and some other brokers) through ExpatDen.  I filled in some basic personal info on ExpatDen and a few quotes came back.  Expatinsurance.com being one of them.

 

The broker introduced himself as a senior broker from Expat Insurance.  He offered me the Global Medical Insurance Plan from IMG and the quote came directly from IMG. SiriusPoint is both the insurance carrier and the underwriter, while the plan administrator is IMG.  I believe the insurance itself is legit.  Also, the premium and benefits fit my criteria almost perfectly. 

 

I was looking for reviews regarding this particular plan so as to help me make a final decision whether I should go for it.  But unfortunately the ones I found were on IMG's travel insurance products and almost all the reviews related to claims and payments were negative.  I remember reading some AseanNow posts and some posters mentioned that brokers can act as a middle person and help resolve issues with the insurance providers.  So I started looking for reviews on this brokerage firm.  Unfortunately I didn't find any.  Therefore in my original posting I was asking if any members have used this brokerage firm to buy health insurance.

 

I then asked this broker suppose I need a pre-certification or make a claim after a treatment, do I contact IMG directly or go through him.  He said he is a full service brokerage and can assist with pushing things along if anything ever gets stuck or I need help.

 

I am very tempted to sign up for this insurance plan through this broker.  What's really holding me up is that I am not having the confidence that when I need IMG to pay for treatment, will they look for all types of excuses not to pay...

 

Besides looking for reviews on this insurance plan, any other suggestions on what else I can do to boost my confidence with this plan?

 

 

[Liverpool Lou]

24 minutes ago, Y Chang said:

What's really holding me up is that I am not having the confidence that when I need IMG to pay for treatment, will they look for all types of excuses not to pay...

Besides looking for reviews on this insurance plan, any other suggestions on what else I can do to boost my confidence with this plan?

"...any other suggestions on what else I can do to boost my confidence with this plan?".

Here's one, statistics show that in the region of 90%+ of all health insurance claims are paid out.  No reason for IMG to be a bad claim payer.   They're regulated also!

[Etaoin Shrdlu]

IMG is a well-established insurance broker and Sirius Point is rated A- by AM Best, which is a good financial strength rating. 

 

Sirius is most likely the one that will decide whether a claim is payable.  Brokers usually do not have claims settling authority. IMG should be able to help you if you have any issues with Sirius. I'm not suggesting that they can get claims paid when the illness or injury isn't covered, but they can assist with communications and understanding what is needed. IMG should also have enough commercial influence with Sirius to allow them to see things in a favorable light.

 

One way to head off disappointment is to read and understand the insurance policy before you give the order to bind coverage. Make sure you understand your obligations under the policy, especially your duty of disclosure when completing the proposal form.

 

Under the law of agency, an insurance broker is your agent, not the insurance company's, and should be your advocate in all matters when it comes to dealing with the insurance company. You might want to ask for a scope of services agreement or engagement letter from IMG so that you know what you can expect from them in terms of service. 

 

Good luck.

 

[scubascuba3]

7 hours ago, Liverpool Lou said:

"...any other suggestions on what else I can do to boost my confidence with this plan?".

Here's one, statistics show that in the region of 90%+ of all health insurance claims are paid out.  No reason for IMG to be a bad claim payer.   They're regulated also!

we need a link for that important stat?

[Mike Lister]

7 hours ago, Liverpool Lou said:

"...any other suggestions on what else I can do to boost my confidence with this plan?".

Here's one, statistics show that in the region of 90%+ of all health insurance claims are paid out.  No reason for IMG to be a bad claim payer.   They're regulated also!

You probably need a link to confirm that claim, do you have one?

[Etaoin Shrdlu]

Even in heavily-regulated markets like the US, it is extremely difficult to obtain information on the percentage of claims that are denied or not fully paid by insurers.  Here are a couple of links to articles that discuss this issue:

 

https://www.propublica.org/article/how-often-do-health-insurers-deny-patients-claims

 

https://www.kff.org/private-insurance/issue-brief/claims-denials-and-appeals-in-aca-marketplace-plans/

 

These articles mention that the denial rates can range between 2% for some insurers, to almost 50% for others. A company co-founded by the brother of Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner in one year denied 66% of claims according to the ProPublica article linked above.

 

Given the lack of transparency on the part of insurers, and legislators' apparent unwillingness to pry open that black box, it isn't possible to determine what portion of claims are denied for completely legitimate reasons and which part are denied due to bad faith or unethical practices by insurers. The ProPublica article mentions that less than 1% of policyholders whose claims were denied appeal the denial, which may or may not mean that most denials were for legitimate reasons.

 

While hard data on claims denial rates is difficult to come by, an insurance broker will usually know how well or poorly his clients have been treated and will avoid placing his clients' business with insurers that have poor claims-paying attitudes. Not surprisingly, insurers that charge higher premiums tend to have better claims-paying attitudes than those that charge lower premiums, but not in every case.

 

This whole issue highlights the drawbacks of having to rely upon profit-driven private sector insurers to spread the risk of healthcare costs, especially when regulatory oversight is poor and insurers are not held accountable for their misdeeds.

 

 

Edited February 21 by Etaoin Shrdlu

[Liverpool Lou]

5 hours ago, Mike Lister said:

13 hours ago, Liverpool Lou said:

"...any other suggestions on what else I can do to boost my confidence with this plan?".

Here's one, statistics show that in the region of 90%+ of all health insurance claims are paid out.  No reason for IMG to be a bad claim payer.   They're regulated also!

You probably need a link to confirm that claim, do you have one?

Claim settlement ratios are all over the internet.  here's the first one that comes up...

https://www.renewbuy.com/articles/health-insurance/claim-settlement-ratio#:~:text=Which health insurance company has,in the year 2021-2022.

 

There is no suggestion that those stats are not generally representative of the health insurance industry.  The insurance industry, overall, has payment ratio of around 90% for all types of policy.

Edited February 21 by Liverpool Lou

[Etaoin Shrdlu]

I haven't been able to find much in the way of claim settlement ratios apart from those of Indian insurers, but I tend to agree that the total percentage of medical claims paid is probably in excess of 90 percent. It may differ a bit from market to market, but a denial rate of greater than 10 percent or thereabouts on a market-wide basis would surprise me. The Indian regulator seems to do a good job of getting insurers to be transparent. It would be nice if regulators in other jurisdictions were as good. 

 

 

[streetlite]

I presently have an excellent insurance policy that covers Internationl claims. My Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield policy is connected with Global Corps for these International claims. I have lived in Thailand since 2009 and go to Bumrungrad every 3 months for health reasons. A year ago I was treated for cancer and all my claims were covered 100%. My 3 month checkups are also covered. But the problem is that Immigration will not accept this in place of a Thai insurance policy. If I take the cheapest Thai policy it will interfere with my US coverage plan.

Is there any way I can Can get Immigration to accept my US policy?

[NoshowJones]

On 2/20/2024 at 9:29 PM, Liverpool Lou said:

"...any other suggestions on what else I can do to boost my confidence with this plan?".

Here's one, statistics show that in the region of 90%+ of all health insurance claims are paid out.  No reason for IMG to be a bad claim payer.   They're regulated also!

What???? Don't believe that for a minute. I bet you either work or used to work in insurance.

[NoshowJones]

23 hours ago, Liverpool Lou said:

Claim settlement ratios are all over the internet.  here's the first one that comes up...

https://www.renewbuy.com/articles/health-insurance/claim-settlement-ratio#:~:text=Which health insurance company has,in the year 2021-2022.

 

There is no suggestion that those stats are not generally representative of the health insurance industry.  The insurance industry, overall, has payment ratio of around 90% for all types of policy.

I don't know if it's the case now, but when I lived in Scotland the Sunday Mail newspaper used to have a page on legal issues called "The Judge", hardly a week went past without someone complaining about their insurance company refusing to pay out for a claim, then sure as fate the following week someone would right in thanking "The Judge" for getting their insurance company to eventually pay out.

[Liverpool Lou]

1 hour ago, NoshowJones said:

don't know if it's the case now, but when I lived in Scotland the Sunday Mail newspaper used to have a page on legal issues called "The Judge", hardly a week went past without someone complaining about their insurance company refusing to pay out for a claim, then sure as fate the following week someone would right in thanking "The Judge" for getting their insurance company to eventually pay out.

Hardly surprising that that some of that minority 10% or so requested investigations.  The other 90% obviously would have no reason to request investigations!

[Liverpool Lou]

1 hour ago, NoshowJones said:

On 2/20/2024 at 9:29 PM, Liverpool Lou said:

"...any other suggestions on what else I can do to boost my confidence with this plan?".

Here's one, statistics show that in the region of 90%+ of all health insurance claims are paid out.  No reason for IMG to be a bad claim payer.   They're regulated also!

What???? Don't believe that for a minute. I bet you either work or used to work in insurance.

You're right, as I have posted previously, part of my career was in insurance, for a large insurer and as an untied broker, that's how I know what I am talking about.   

The figures that I quote are accurate; insurance claims statistics are widely available for those who care to look (most don't want to) but it's funny how all those who dispute the available statistics can't ever come up with opposing statistics to back their cynicism - hearsay and anecdotal tales are not stats representative of the whole industry.  If the figures were the other way around, 90% denied and 10% paid, as most AN poster like to fantasise, there would, obviously, be no insurance industry as no one would ever buy any policy.

Edited February 22 by Liverpool Lou

[Sheryl]

4 hours ago, streetlite said:

I presently have an excellent insurance policy that covers Internationl claims. My Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield policy is connected with Global Corps for these International claims. I have lived in Thailand since 2009 and go to Bumrungrad every 3 months for health reasons. A year ago I was treated for cancer and all my claims were covered 100%. My 3 month checkups are also covered. But the problem is that Immigration will not accept this in place of a Thai insurance policy. If I take the cheapest Thai policy it will interfere with my US coverage plan.

Is there any way I can Can get Immigration to accept my US policy?

You need to "kill off" your O-A visa and get a regular non-O and then extensions based on that. The insurance requirement is only gor in-country extensions of stay based on an O-A visa. This has been covered innumerable times in the visa forum. 

[NoshowJones]

1 hour ago, Liverpool Lou said:

You're right, as I have posted previously, part of my career was in insurance, for a large insurer and as an untied broker, that's how I know what I am talking about.   

The figures that I quote are accurate; insurance claims statistics are widely available for those who care to look (most don't want to) but it's funny how all those who dispute the available statistics can't ever come up with opposing statistics to back their cynicism - hearsay and anecdotal tales are not stats representative of the whole industry.  If the figures were the other way around, 90% denied and 10% paid, as most AN poster like to fantasise, there would, obviously, be no insurance industry as no one would ever buy any policy.

I know personally of a case where a motorbike rider fully insured was taken to hospital after an accident. The hospital did not test the rider for alcohol so the insurance company refused to pay out. The rider had to pay thousands of Baht himself.

The rider would have to wait maybe years and a lot of costs if he used a solicitor.

Also a lot of expats will not buy insurance and chose to self insure as they know the older they get without any claims   even after regular increases in fee's, in a lot of cases even when they get too old, some insurance companies will just cancel their insurance.

It could also be that some insurance companies give the minority of good ones a bad name.

[Liverpool Lou]

8 minutes ago, NoshowJones said:

1 hour ago, Liverpool Lou said:

You're right, as I have posted previously, part of my career was in insurance, for a large insurer and as an untied broker, that's how I know what I am talking about.   

The figures that I quote are accurate; insurance claims statistics are widely available for those who care to look (most don't want to) but it's funny how all those who dispute the available statistics can't ever come up with opposing statistics to back their cynicism - hearsay and anecdotal tales are not stats representative of the whole industry.  If the figures were the other way around, 90% denied and 10% paid, as most AN poster like to fantasise, there would, obviously, be no insurance industry as no one would ever buy any policy.

Expand  

I know personally of a case where a motorbike rider fully insured was taken to hospital after an accident.

I would never doubt the veracity of your posts but that is just one case out of millions of claims and, from your description, it appears to be one in which the terms of the policy were contravened.  Voiding a policy with a specific contravention does not put the insurer at fault or in a position to be unfairly criticised or condemned.

[NoshowJones]

1 minute ago, Liverpool Lou said:

I would never doubt the veracity of your posts but that is just one case out of millions of claims and, from your description, it appears to be one in which the terms of the policy were contravened.  Voiding a policy with a specific contravention does not put the insurer at fault or in a position to be unfairly criticised or condemned.

I'm sorry Lou, nice of you to be decent about this but in my opinion and experience and going by what I have read insurance companies and banks are about the biggest money grabbers in the business. In saying that I do respect your opinions and enjoy your posts.