Cigna International Medical Insurance Domicile (worldwide cover) Question

[traveldan]

Cigna offers international medical insurance (worldwide cover) from at least two different domiciles, in particular: Guernsey & Belgium.  I'm concerned Cigna chose its Guernsey domicile to avoid stricter UK consumer protection regulations.  Cigna also sells this insurance through its Belgium domicile, which I suspect offers better consumer protection.

By consumer protection, I mean things like rules on maximum processing time for pre-approval and claim payment request.  Also, if there's a dispute with Cigna, a customer wants the most transparent appeal process with reasonable time limit on decisions.

My questions are:

1) Does Cigna international medical insurance sold by its Belgium company offer better consumer protection than its Guernsey company?
2) Can a customer choose which Cigna domiciled company they buy from?  If so, how? (I'm a US citizen.)

[jerrymahoney]

I will offer this info:

 

For 5 years I had CIGNA Global via their Glasgow Scotland office and the policy was underwritten in Belgium via CIGNA Life Insurance Europe. As officially a Life insurance company, I doubt you can contact them directly. *

 

There is an insurance ombudsman in Belgium who deals only in Dutch and French. Their advice:

 

The (Belgium)  Insurance Ombudsman advises you to try to solve the dispute directly with the company at first.
 

I know nothing about Guernsey.

 

* punch on the jpg

Edited August 2 by jerrymahoney

[Sheryl]

Trying to resolve with company first is standard advice, anywhere.

 

General conditions of any policy will specify complsint procedures and appeal channel.

 

@traveldan ask to see Genseal Conditions. I suspect same whether policy purchased from their Guernsey or Bekgium office but you can verify. 

 

 

[traveldan]

2 hours ago, Sheryl said:

Trying to resolve with company first is standard advice, anywhere.

 

General conditions of any policy will specify complsint procedures and appeal channel.

 

@traveldan ask to see Genseal Conditions. I suspect same whether policy purchased from their Guernsey or Bekgium office but you can verify. 

 

 

Actually, my question is about insurance regulations & consumer protections imposed by the domicile (EU vs Guernsey) on insurance companies, which would supersede their stated general conditions. 

For example, EU's GDPR controls what a company, such as Google, can and can't do with an EU user's personal information, regardless of Google's corporate privacy policy.  Anyone signing up for Gmail from within the EU gets the GDPR protections.  I think Google paid a few billion$ to the EU for violating GDPR. 

https://www.compliancejunction.com/gdpr-frequently-asked-questions/
"Does GDPR Apply to non-European Union Citizens?"

Just today I received an email from an AOC broker.  He said they sell insurance from the EU Cigna.  He also said the EU Cigna offers more consumer protections than Cigna Guernsey.  Unfortunately, he gave no examples 😞

I now have the Cigna "Policy Rules" from both domiciles.  Next step is to compare them for differences.

(BTW I think I read a previous comment of yours, which said you switched from Cigna to April.  If true, did you ever say why you switched, in a post or comment you can point me to? Thanks)




 

Edited August 2 by traveldan
typo

[traveldan]

12 hours ago, jerrymahoney said:

I will offer this info:

 

For 5 years I had CIGNA Global via their Glasgow Scotland office and the policy was underwritten in Belgium via CIGNA Life Insurance Europe. As officially a Life insurance company, I doubt you can contact them directly. *

 

There is an insurance ombudsman in Belgium who deals only in Dutch and French. Their advice:

 

The (Belgium)  Insurance Ombudsman advises you to try to solve the dispute directly with the company at first.
 

I know nothing about Guernsey.

 

* punch on the jpg

Comparing the Cigna-EU vs Cigna-Guernsey "Policy Rules" docs (see image), the EU version says disputes will be handled by:
The Financial Ombudsman Service, Exchange Tower, London

whereas, the Cigna-Guernsey doc says (see image) disputes are handled by:
The Channel Islands Financial Ombudsman, Jersey, Channel Islands

Interestingly, an AOC broker said Cigna-EU complaints are handled by the "financial ombudsman and or the European regulator in case of problems".

 

[jerrymahoney]

This is the policy document I received:

 

The insurance will be provided by: Cigna Life Insurance Company of Europe S.A.–N.V. 52 Avenue de Cortenbergh 1000 Brussels Belgium

 

https://www.cignaglobal.com/dvc-pdfs/CLICE-EP17/en/200014 CGHO CLICE Expat Policy Rules Final.pdf

 

27.2 Page 15

 

If the complaint is not resolved, you may
complain to one of the following complaints
bodies:

Ombudsman des Assurances
Square de Meeûs 35, boîte 6
1000 Bruxelles
Ombudsman van de Verzekeringen
de Meeûssquare 35, bus 6
1000 Brussel

 

(OR)

 

The Financial Ombudsman Service
Exchange Tower
London
E14 9SR
 

[traveldan]

10 hours ago, jerrymahoney said:

This is the policy document I received:

 

The insurance will be provided by: Cigna Life Insurance Company of Europe S.A.–N.V. 52 Avenue de Cortenbergh 1000 Brussels Belgium

 

https://www.cignaglobal.com/dvc-pdfs/CLICE-EP17/en/200014 CGHO CLICE Expat Policy Rules Final.pdf

 

27.2 Page 15

 

If the complaint is not resolved, you may
complain to one of the following complaints
bodies:

Ombudsman des Assurances
Square de Meeûs 35, boîte 6
1000 Bruxelles
Ombudsman van de Verzekeringen
de Meeûssquare 35, bus 6
1000 Brussel

 

(OR)

 

The Financial Ombudsman Service
Exchange Tower
London
E14 9SR
 

Interesting.  Thanks for PDF link!   Bottom of last page appears to be dated 2018.  I wonder if Cigna honors it, or if every year when you renew, your policy becomes governed by the latest Policy Rules document ?

Policy Rules I received yesterday (dated Feb 2024), which only lists the UK ombudsman (image in previous comment)
https://www.cignaglobal.com/dvc-pdfs/CLICE-EP26/en/CGHO Policy Rules CLICE EXP_EN_02_2024.pdf

I'm surprised that after Brexit, the EU allows an EU domiciled health insurance company to specify a non-EU ombudsman.  I'll follow up with the AOC broker on this question. 

Nevertheless, I'm more likely to buy from Cigna-EU because, without knowing anything about the UK or Guernsey ombudsman, I'd choose the UK one. 

 

[traveldan]

While reading through the Feb 2024 Policy Rules for CIGNA-EU and CIGNA-UK (Guernsey), I found a big difference between these policies. The CIGNA-UK policy is only for expats (country of habitual residence must be different from their country of nationality).  Where as, the CIGNA-EU policy is only for people living in their country of nationality.

It surprises me that the CIGNA-EU (international medical insurance policy) is not for people who live what I would call "internationally".  Here's the actual language:

CIGNA UK Policy Rules Section 1.1 (pg 4):

This policy is only offered to beneficiaries
whose country of habitual residence
and country of nationality
are the same designated country.

Edited August 20 by traveldan
Fixed a mistake I made buy with the quote formatting.

[traveldan]

On 8/2/2024 at 11:44 PM, traveldan said:

(BTW I think I read a previous comment of yours, which said you switched from Cigna to April.  If true, did you ever say why you switched, in a post or comment you can point me to? Thanks)
 

Thanks for providing details in a comments to
https://aseannow.com/topic/1318255-questions-regarding-april-expat-insurance/