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
