Does Living Or Traveling Overseas Effect Your Life Insurance Policy From Your Own Country?

[TonySoprano]

Just curious. One would imagine that there is higher mortality rate living in Thailand than most of our home countries. Thanks.

[chiangmaibruce]

OK That's one you need to bounce off your insurer. Different companies different policies. Some have no restrictions, some may have a time limit (ie. no more than 4 months away per trip for example), some will have prohibitions on countries or regions within countries.

[TonySoprano]

Yeah, I am really paranoid of going with a Thai insurer. People say its fine, but at the end of the day, TIT. Living in Thailand now, I am getting the feeling that its not possible to book through an American insurer without going back to the states. I have filled out those online help forms but with an email only and have not received any response.

[wackysleet]

Yeah, I am really paranoid of going with a Thai insurer. People say its fine, but at the end of the day, TIT. Living in Thailand now, I am getting the feeling that its not possible to book through an American insurer without going back to the states. I have filled out those online help forms but with an email only and have not received any response.

Tony, surely if you were insured from your birth country and then lived abroad wouldn't your insurer deem that you actually needed travel insurance?, after all your premium relates to where you live at the time the policy was purchased, there was a post on tv this week quoting a figure of 32,377 killed over last years 7 day song kran festival and I would have thought figures like that would up your premiums quite a bit.

[PattayaParent]

There's loads of companies in US and UK that will do health insurance cover for expats.

Just use Google.

[sassienie]

Does Living Or Traveling Overseas Effect Your Life Insurance Policy From Your Own Country?

How long is a piece of string?

Each Insurer offers different terms and clauses.

READ THE POLICY.

Edited April 6, 2009 by sassienie

[GuestHouse]

The answer is in the terms and conditions of your insurance contract. For the most part insurance purchased in your home country at a time when you perhaps had no intention of leaving to live overseas will have a restricted cover for limited overseas spells. To have obtained insurance with broader geographical cover you would almost certainly have had to have specified overseas travel, named destinations and periods of absence. Full expatriate insurance covering long term spells overseas is a specialist product and it is highly unlikely that you have this cover unless you specifically requested it.

Regardless of what geographical cover of your insurance is, it will almost certainly have a statement in the terms and conditions along the lines of:

The insured shall inform the insurer of any material changes that may effect cover (overseas residence may be stated as such a material change)

There may even be a statement along the lines 'material changes effecting cover not informed to the insurer will/may invalidate this insurance'/

A word of Caution.

It is NEVER a good idea to talk to an insurance company about your insurance unless you know the answer.

So do not write them or call them and tell them you are living in Thailand and then ask does this effect my insurance cover? If it does they may well cancel your policy.

That is not to say you are trying to cheat them by not informing them - you may for example be weighing up all the issues relating to living overseas, insurance being one - or you might be living in Thailand this year but planning to return home next.

A piece of advice often given with life insurance is buy a high value life policy when you are very young (and can buy at very cheap rates) and use this to support mortgages, loans etc through your life (Buying the same insurance when you need it can be extremely expensive according to your age).

I know someone who had such a policy, a very small monthly payment for a tidy lump sum if he croaked - In Thailand on a one year assignment he contacted his insurance company to inform them and they cancelled the policy - He's now back in the UK paying several multiples of his original policy for less cover.

He, and you if you are in a similar position, would have been far better off accepting that his insurance was void if he died while in Thailand but still there at a very cheap rate for when he returned home.

NEVER EVER EVER contact your insurance company and tell them this is what has happened am I covered?

Find out first what the rules are and then decide if you want to contact them.

[astral]

It is a contractual requirement that you tell your insurer of any change in your circumstances that may affect you insurance

You should let them know.

[scorecard]

two comments:

1. Dealing with the local office of a big UK insurer, for condo contents:

Last year one of the condos in my building was burned out, doing serious smoke damage to my condo. To get the insurance company to even talk to me on the phone was like pulling teeth. After numerous calls and some strong insistance for help a third party representative arrived, about 10 days after the event.

His first comment was "It would only take about 4 or 5 days work for two people to clean the furniture, wash the walls and ceiling etc., etc., so why don't you just do it yourself". He was promptly reminded that the reason I have insurance is partly to cover these costs.

We asked about reimbusement for laundering everything in the condo, clothes (three adults and a small child), curtains etc. To this he insisted that we would need to get three quotations and submit them to the insurer and a reply would take about 4 to 6 weeks. Again he was reminded strongly that this was totally impractical, and we wanted some better and immediate help to have clean clothes to go to work etc. In fact everything had already gone to a nearby large scale laundry. My adult son then called the insurer and demanded to speak to someone more senior, and had to get really strong to get any attention. This initially prompted the same remarks about 3 quotations and 4 to 6 weeks for a reply. My son (born in Thailand) lost his cool and got really heavy which resulted in an agreement that we would be reimbursed for the laundry costs for the clothes etc., already at the laundry.

The fire happened early evening, the fire brigade arrived, did a good job, but the Electricity authority insisted that they cut the power to the whole building until they had a chance next day to do a full inspection. By this time it was 10:30pm. I was aware that our policy included up to 10 nights in a hotel immediately after the fire. I therefore moved my family to a nearby quite inexpensive hotel for 4 nights, until the power was reconnected and the fire people said the building was ok to be inhabited. To cut the story short, the insurance company initially insisted they would not pay any of the nights because I didn't contact them in advance. Even refused to pay for the 2nd, third nights etc when I contacted them the morning after the fire.

The third party assessor revisited and then insisted he had to measure and document every article in the entire condo including every plate, spoon, book, etc. He was told to come back the next evening when we would be at home. He couldn't understand why we would not just leave the door unlocked for him to be here, alone, at any time.

After all of the above I eventually contacted the Insurance company HO in UK and insisted they intervene. Eventually they did but only after several more calls to the UK.

2. The effect on personal insurance if you travel to a country which is currently listed as a danger zone. e.g. If the government (Department of Foreign Affairs or similar) issues a travel alert at a certain level (not necessarily all that high), then by law the insurance company can use this as an out to not pay any claim for death or injury. I understand the same laws exist in many countries.

Further, I had this all checked very thoroughly when I was considering working on a project in Pakistan and taking several Singaporean and Thai colleagues with me.

I discovered that all three countries had in fact issued travel alerts, and:

- All personal life / injury / health policies for myself and my colleagues would be invalidated for the period we were actually in Pakistan, there would be zero repatriation assistance, zero local hospitalization coverage and there would be no cover whatever if medical or hospital treatment was needed after arriving home.

- All insurance policies help by the company were affected in exactly the same way as

described above. The only other factor was that the company could pay an astronomically large extra premium (to cover an agreed period of time, about 10 days) which would provide a service to urgently get us physically out of the country by whatever means, if needed. This extra premium did not include any form of health care / hospitalization, anywhere. We didn't go to Pakistan.

Regards

[torrenova]

Life Assurance in the UK is subject to the provision of uberrimae fidae which translates as "in utmost good faith". Essentially it means that you have a duty to disclose any material fact which you think may be relevant. This extends further than the questions the prospective insurer asks of you and means that you are required to volunteer information if you think it is material or if it could be held as being material to the underwriting of the policy.

Usually these conditions relate to medical issues and smoking but there is nothing to stop the issues covering any and I mean any material fact. The fact that you even express a wish to live outside the country where the policy originates would be considered a material fact. This brings into play the element of time.

In cases of suicide, it is generally accepted that if 12 months have passed between the inception of the policy and the suicide of the insured, then the policy would be paid out on the basis that it is unlikely someone was suicidal for a year or more and deliberately put the policy in place to allow the beneficiaries to benefit. Effectively, the insured delayed committing suicide for a year which they consider highly unlikely.

For smoking, the usual question is whether the insured has smoked cigarettes in the last 12 months. Recently however I have seen this extend to 24 months and I have also seen questions asking whether the insured has any intention to resume smoking in the future. Again here we see the time span of 12 months.

Thus, and with no case law or statute to hand to back up this point, I think I could build a strong case that any move whose preparation started more than 12 months after the underwriting of the policy should be considered as not having been a material fact prior to or during the underwriting process.

Now having lived in Thailand before and potentially the retention of property in your name there could be viewed as showing an intention to move back during the lifetime of the policy. As Guest House said, you have to act like a barrister and by that I mean that you have to know the answers to your questions before you ask them and before you volunteer any information. For this the web is great. You can ask anything of an insurer under a bogus name and with bogus details etc.

A final point on this is that there is a single second in time when all of this matters. This is not when you sign the forms but it is when the underwriters sign off and put you on risk. At one second past that time and you get a phone call saying that your Thai family has won the lottery and you are all emigrating, it does not matter to your policy unless it is reviewable for anything other than medical. If it is guaranteed premiums then you would be in the clear. However, if something happens between you signing the forms and you being underwritten, you have to disclose it.

Largely, if you do your research and have a decent brain, you can get around them but beware, whilst most of their staff are just process monkeys, they do have the resources to fight a claim and they do employ some top people to weed out bogus claims. That said, I would pit my wits against them any day and have no fear of being paid out. It is all about preparation.

[Pib]

The wife and I have two different life insurance policies from two different companies. Before we moved from the U.S. to Thailand we contacted both companies to see if our policies would remain in effect if living in Thailand; both companies said yes (worldwide coverage) and they put it in writing to us. And there responses supported the policy booklets as neither policy said anything about coverage only applies if living in the U.S., etc. Both companies deal with a lot of U.S. active duty and retired military folks who pretty much live worldwide. Be sure to read your policy for coverage locations/limitations, and I would recommend you also contact your insurance company via letter/email to ask the question and get their response in writing.

[torrenova]

The wife and I have two different life insurance policies from two different companies. Before we moved from the U.S. to Thailand we contacted both companies to see if our policies would remain in effect if living in Thailand; both companies said yes (worldwide coverage) and they put it in writing to us. And there responses supported the policy booklets as neither policy said anything about coverage only applies if living in the U.S., etc. Both companies deal with a lot of U.S. active duty and retired military folks who pretty much live worldwide. Be sure to read your policy for coverage locations/limitations, and I would recommend you also contact your insurance company via letter/email to ask the question and get their response in writing.

Never ask them real question from your true identity until you know their answer.

Again, life assurance is contracted at one point in time with the risks known at that time. If your situation changes later and you are on guaranteed premiums, you have no duty of care to inform them of anything as the original contract is still valid unless specific exclusions were made at the time of underwriting.