Pre-Existing Medical Conditions and International Health Insurance - The Facts

Pre-existing medical conditions are perhaps one of the most important areas of International Private Medical Insurance (IPMI) and quite often one of the most overlooked areas of IPMI.

What is a pre-existing condition?

Put simply, it is any condition, illness or injury that you have ever been treated for in the past or are currently receiving treatment for now.

Crucially, this also includes conditions that most people may not consider are existing conditions – those that are well controlled by medication such as hypertension. Many people think that as a condition is managed by medication that it is not a pre-existing condition – this is NOT the case, this IS a pre-existing condition to an insurer.

Can I get my pre-existing condition covered?

Until recently it was a fact of IPMI that individuals and small corporate plans would usually be issued with exclusions of pre-existing conditions.

However, in the last couple of years, several plan providers have approached underwriting from a different angle. We now have plans that will look at your medical history and your pre-existing medical conditions and will try and include them in cover, albeit with a potential premium loading if they do.

What if I take a plan that excludes pre-existing conditions?

Where a provider excludes your pre-existing condition they will also exclude any consequences of the condition also. For the example of hypertension (or high blood pressure) an exclusion would not just exclude your relatively cheap medication but also any related treatment. You would find yourself faced with a whole host of exclusions on your policy, such as Angina, Aneurysm, Heart Attacks, Stroke, Thrombosis, and Phlebitis etc. The potential cost of someone having to pay their own medical bills following a heart attack is astronomical. In more costly countries even the ambulance alone can be much as $1,000.00, with a heart bypass being as much as $140,000.00.

How do the different types of underwriting work?

If you have a pre-existing condition then you should be aware of the implications of the different types of underwriting;

·         Full Medical Underwriting – This is where you declare your medical history to the insurer and depending on the provider and the condition they will either accept the condition, accept the condition with a premium loading, exclude the condition or decline the application altogether.

·         Moratorium Underwriting – No medical declarations are made at the time of application but any pre-existing conditions suffered in the past 2 years, five years or ever (depending on the insurer) will automatically be excluded from cover for at least the first two years of your plan. Once you have been completely free from the condition for, usually, two years then this can be included in your cover – by completely free from the condition this means no treatment, medication, symptoms or doctor’s advice or visits.

Which type of underwriting is best for me?

This will depend on your medical history. If you have a medical condition that you want included in cover then you will need to look at a plan that offers Full Medical Underwriting. Please note however that not all providers carry out Full Medical Underwriting in the same way, most underwrite to exclude existing conditions whereas a small number do underwrite to try and include your pre-existing conditions where ever possible, albeit with a premium increase for doing so.

Moratorium works well if you have a clean medical history, certainly for the last couple of years. Alternatively you may have been treated for a condition that is not anticipated to reoccur and so you are happy for this to be excluded.

One thing we do know is that this is a very complex area and our expert advisors will be able to provide the best advice to you.

For free advice and information on covering your pre-existing medical condition on an International Medical Insurance Plan visit us at Medibroker.com