April Mobilite Health Insurance...

[samsiam]

Going down big time so it seems.

After many years of paying their premiums with a few claims earlier on, but they were certainly way in front with me, now when a claim is necessary, big disappointment and seems I am not alone now that I begin to investigate.

More to come.

[samsiam]

Well...unfortunately just taken first steps to engage a lawyer to deal with April insurance.

Here is the story, I had been insured with them for many years, around 9 I think.

While in the first years they were great and there was no issues with service or payment of claims when required, even direct payment to the hospital most times, I have had maybe 4 or 5 years with no claims, therefore no real experience of relevant current service. Except that they are pathetic at sending invoices when due.

A recent experience with them re hospital admission has been very very poor, so poor as to be near non existent.

Direct payment was not organised with the hospital, there fault not mine and I was left to pay the account or cancel the operation and cancelling was not convenient for many reasons.

All contact had been ignored by them until a reply was received by me with them apologising for their poor service and expressing concern.

Then, several more attempts to make contact have been ignored.

My point of this is that April used to be good, now it is not and from further investigation, there are many unhappy clients and many now arranging legal assistance against them.

I paid my 100k baht premiums when due for years, then when needed, they did not show.

My concern with them is how will service be when a real emergency is required to be dealt with and the hospital is holding back on service because April has not made contact and supplied the documents that they are contracted to provide.

This is especially so when there are other insurers out there now that I have found, 1 in particular, that is half price of April for almost the same coverage I had and offering far better service.

No guarantee of service obviously when push comes to shove, but April has proven to me to not be there when required, so why pay twice the price for it regardless.

Anyone considering new cover should look elsehwhere in my opinion. Anyone already covered with April should think about a change as when the time comes that you need them, chances are as proven in my case, they will not be there for you.

[partington]

Well...unfortunately just taken first steps to engage a lawyer to deal with April insurance.

Here is the story, I had been insured with them for many years, around 9 I think.

While in the first years they were great and there was no issues with service or payment of claims when required, even direct payment to the hospital most times, I have had maybe 4 or 5 years with no claims, therefore no real experience of relevant current service. Except that they are pathetic at sending invoices when due.

A recent experience with them re hospital admission has been very very poor, so poor as to be near non existent.

Direct payment was not organised with the hospital, there fault not mine and I was left to pay the account or cancel the operation and cancelling was not convenient for many reasons.

All contact had been ignored by them until a reply was received by me with them apologising for their poor service and expressing concern.

Then, several more attempts to make contact have been ignored.

My point of this is that April used to be good, now it is not and from further investigation, there are many unhappy clients and many now arranging legal assistance against them.

I paid my 100k baht premiums when due for years, then when needed, they did not show.

My concern with them is how will service be when a real emergency is required to be dealt with and the hospital is holding back on service because April has not made contact and supplied the documents that they are contracted to provide.

This is especially so when there are other insurers out there now that I have found, 1 in particular, that is half price of April for almost the same coverage I had and offering far better service.

No guarantee of service obviously when push comes to shove, but April has proven to me to not be there when required, so why pay twice the price for it regardless.

Anyone considering new cover should look elsehwhere in my opinion. Anyone already covered with April should think about a change as when the time comes that you need them, chances are as proven in my case, they will not be there for you.

I was with them for a year but cancelled in January when the premium went up by 25%. I was also put off by the posting of another board member who recounted what happened when he tried to cancel his policy after the premiums went up.

April claimed that he could only cancel by giving two months notice in advance of the renewal date, ie in October for renewal in January! Since they don't send the premium notice until December, they essentially try to force you into renewal before you are aware of the premium cost.

Unsurprisingly, I have since found that this deceptive procedure directly contravenes the French Insurance code that they are obliged to follow. Another reason to extremely distrust April as a company.

Out of interest do you mean they never paid for your recent hospitalisation, or they just paid up a long time afterwards?

[samsiam]

Yes, forgot to mention the 25% increase, so maybe the new premium quoted by a new company is less than 50% as I stated now.....shall have to get me calculator out.

And no, they have NOT paid me for the hospitalisation yet....

'Unsurprisingly, I have since found that this deceptive procedure directly contravenes the French Insurance code that they are obliged to follow.'......this is interesting also, same happened to me as received no notice at all re increase.

Edited January 30, 2012 by samsiam

[samsiam]

What a drama...finally got reimbursed....but not in full as expected and believe should have been.

Absolute pathetic service and then not to pay the full amount was the cream on the soured cake.

My advice is to shop elsewhere for expat health insurance.

[cooked]

oh dear, I must have felt your vibes...

I just printed out a form from April International Expat for medical insurance, the fact that they promise not to terminate your insurance when you get to 75 was what was most interesting for me - I am approaching 65. I have found other threads on other forums asking for advice about expat insurance and very few people answer. I have tried to find a neutral comparison site, no luck either. All I can see is that you can never be sure that one fine day after years of paying and never making a claim, you won't be let down badly. What I am looking at now is the alternative that many people go for - no insurance at all. So I die at home with my wife looking after me or fly back to Switzerland where I would be treated for free.

Maybe the reason that so few people respond is that so few people have insurance?

[rak sa_ngop]

There are other international insurance options open such as UK companies: BUPA, PPP, William Russell etc,

I was warned off April Mobilite over 15 months ago by my insurance broker when I considered switching for a cheaper policy.

I joined William Russell over 6 years ago (in-patient care only with 1000 GBP excess) so my premium is moderate but I have insurance for the BIG ONE.

I have seen one negative criticism of W. Russell on the net, but personally I have had one hospital stay settled promptly with no quibbling.

If you go for a European international insurance policy it should be goverened by EU regulations so you cannot be dumped because of age etc. (although they could probably make your premium so expensive you would not want to keep it).

The sooner you get insurance cover the sooner you can establish a clean record for a few years, so that when you do get that expensive hospital stay there is less chance that they will investigate your medical history (that is my theory anyway).

[cooked]

well, April mobilité is a European insurance company, so I don't see the argument. I don't trust any company that will insure people coming up to an age where they will start to cost money. I have looked on many forums today trying to sort this out and have come to the conclusion that paying for peace of mind is one way of looking at it; the jolt you must get when told that you are no longer insurable or only at a huge premium, must be a mind blower. So I depend on being able to fund my own expenses up to a point and keeping enough/having an insurance to be flown back home in an emergency, IF this seems like a good idea and not just prolonging the agony. Easy to say when you are healthy of course but you make your own bed and you lie in it.

[ItDontMeanAThing]

All contact had been ignored by them until a reply was received by me with them apologising for their poor service and expressing concern.

Then, several more attempts to make contact have been ignored.

Was any of your communication with April through or with the assistance of the agent who sold you the policy?

[samsiam]

^...yes, the agent went above and beyond....but even he stated that April had simply gone down hill and there were now better options out there.

A little update....I sent an email a few weeks ago....cc'd to 5 people that I have had correspondence with....so not bland 'info' or customer service email addies....I sent that email 3 times and not one reply.

I got a reply from someone else I had not corresponded with before and I then asked him to respond to my last email...I forwarded it to him along with all the cc's....no answer.

April Mobilite...unbelievably pathetic.

[jjd333]

SamSiam stated that he knows of an insurer that costs less than Aprl and is a much better company. Would you please give me the name of that company?

Thanks so much.

[Sheryl]

Moved to the insurance sub-forum

[Luccin]

I have been covered by April Mobilite for 1.5 years and have made 3 OPD claims so far. The first two went through, albeit requiring me to follow-up with them.

The third claim appears as paid out on my client intranet on 30/10. As the money did not show up on my account, I followed up with them and they informed me it had not been processed as my SWIFT code was missing. My banking information has not changed, so it seems unlikely they do not have this info. I must say that the broker in Switzerland is very good and responds promptly. He is now following up with them and I will let you know the outcome.

Out of interest, does anybody have another company to recommend with similar terms as April Mobilite?

[Theboy]

Talk to Peter at AA Insurance Brokers - ask for the Allianz plans

www.aainsure.net

[Luccin]

Talk to Peter at AA Insurance Brokers - ask for the Allianz plans

www.aainsure.net

Thanks Theboy, will have a look

[Luccin]

Just got my April Mobilité quote for 2013... A 30% increase! No longer competitive. Looks like I need to look elsewhere