Health insurance provided by your employer is great. It’s normally free of charge, it covers most things and those covered under such plans have little to worry about… erm… hold on.

In the following article we are going to examine:

4 ways your work provided health insurance may be leaving you exposed.

Before we dive into this, it’s important to take a close look at corporate health insurance to understand why it’s difference from individual health insurance.

What is special about corporate health insurance?

Corporate health insurance plans benefit from volume. Given their size, most health insurers will cover corporate group members without taking their medical history into account.

In insurance terms this is called medical history disregarded.  MHD terms are great to have,  but are only afforded to corporate group members.   For more information on underwriting check out this post: https://www.seek2insure.com/what-is-health-insurance-underwriting/

The sense of security MHD plans create can quickly become a nightmare if you leave your work plan, or you retire, and enter the market for an individual health insurance plan.

You cannot access MHD terms under an individual policy and Individual health insurance plans do not normally cover pre-existing conditions. 

Transitioning from a work plan, to an individual plan for many is a rude awakening.

That heart condition that you’d thought little of could leave you potentially uninsurable.  Even if you can get insurance, then it will likely exclude conditions which were in place before the policy started.

corporate health insurance

Issues with corporate health insurance you need to be wary of

Overall low coverage

A lot of people who have health insurance do not understand the level of coverage which they have.  If your overall level of coverage is adequate then this doesn’t normally pose a problem.

However if you’re on a low level plan then the repercussions can be significant.  

Lots of work provided plans in Thailand are low-level plans.   By this I mean that they cover less than 10 million THB per year.

Given that serious medical issues and accidents can cost this amount, you are financially exposed if your health insurance plan does not cover this amount.

A lot of corporate insurance plans in Thailand prioritise outpatient coverage over inpatient.   Why? because  people use their outpatient benefits more frequently and they want to keep their staff happy.   

However,  it’s the occasional major claims which people should be concerned about as they cost the most.

Sub Limits on Coverage

Cover issues do not extend only to the overall level of cover that you have.    Sub limit on benefits  can mean that you end up paying a section of expenses out of pocket once you have exhausted the benefits of your plan.  

An example would be a 10,000 THB cap on  medical imaging.   If you exceed this amount, then you need to pay for the remaining costs out of pocket.

Non Covered Items

Due to cost-cutting reasons, many corporate health insurance plans have major gaps in coverage.

Understanding what you are not covered for is probably more important than knowing what you are covered for.

Common areas which are not covered under corporate plans include:

  • Maternity Expenses.
  • Ability to add your dependents into the insurance. This is particularly important for newborns.
  • Dental and Optical Expenses.
  • Wellness Expenses.
  • Out of Area Coverage.

What is the solution?

A top up health insurance plan set up when you are healthy is the solution.

Set the deductible as high as you can,  so that your premium is as low as possible.

You then let the policy run in the background.

The idea behind this is that should any health conditions develop they will be covered and continue to be covered under the top up policy.  

As and when you leave your  job or retire, you can move over to the top up policy.   At the next renewal you simply lower the deductible so this policy can become your primary coverage.

A top up policy can also help to increase your overall level of coverage should your work provided plan have a low level of cover.

If you are looking to travel and plan on travelling outside of your area of coverage a travel insurance policy will protect you for the duration of your trip.


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