If you are in the market for the best health insurance plan to meet your needs, then there are many things you need to take into consideration. What is covered? What is not covered? What are the limitations of my coverage? Here we look at some important considerations that you or your broker need to be aware of.
- Direct billing does not mean that any expense you incur at the hospital will be paid. All a direct billing arrangement means is that the insurer will direct bill approved expenses. Sometimes you may need to wait at the hospital while the insurer approves the expenses.
- A lot of cancer care is now administered on an outpatient basis. This means you may need to pay for expensive chemotherapy in the event of getting cancer if you have an inpatient only plan. Some insurers will cover outpatient cancer on an inpatient only plan. Make sure you understand the limitations of your cover.
- Pre-existing conditions will not be covered. If you fail to declare them on the application, the likelihood is that the insurer will find them on your medical records later down the line. Moratorium policies do provide cover for conditions from the past if you have gone through the necessary wait periods. Make sure you understand the terms used in the moratorium wording.
- Low level plans will not cover you for serious accidents and illness. As soon as the levels on these plans are exhausted, you will need to pay the remaining bills. Whilst cheap premiums may be attractive, they could end up costing you a whole lot of money in the long run. Unfortunately the implications of buying insufficient cover is rarely mentioned.
- Some insurers have waiting periods for certain conditions. This can include no cover for general illness in the first 30 days, and no cover for cancer in the first 120 days. All maternity benefits will be subject to a wait period of between 10 and 12 months.
- Health Insurance premiums do not remain the same going forwards. They get more expensive as you get older. Furthermore, health insurers typically review rates on an annual basis. This can result in medical inflation increases which are shared equally among all policy holders.
- Some providers operate a surgical schedule when working out how much of a claim they will pay. In practice, this can mean your bills are not paid out in full by the insurer. This is typical among low level providers which are very prevalent in the Thai market.
- It is possible to upgrade your policy with an insurer to a plan with higher benefit levels. However, conditions which you have developed under the policy will be subject to the benefit levels of the original policy.
- If you are planning on adding a newborn child into your medical insurance, remember that in most cases conditions which are present at birth will not be covered. The only way to ensure that a child is covered from birth is to use a plan with high level maternity cover.
If you take onboard the above pointers, it will help you to find the best health insurance plan to meet your requirements without any hidden surprises. If you need a hand in working out what’s best for you, contact us today.
