According to the Office for National Statistics, the UK has seen continuous net emigration of British citizens since 1991.
A love of globe-trotting is particularly noticeable among those in the mass affluent and high-net-worth categories, who often own homes in two or more countries.
Like most of their peers in the advisory industry, financial advisers and wealth managers who cater for such peripatetic clients traditionally spend much of their time focussing on achieving growth for these affluent clients’ portfolios.
While this is fine as far as it goes, no wealth management strategy should be considered complete if it does not plan in advance for the possibility that the client – or a member of his or her immediate family – could require treatment for an illness or accident, either at home or abroad. In other words, capital must be protected from the potential of significant loss, as well as being positioned to grow.
This is where, we believe, international private medical insurance (iPMI) should be brought into the picture, if it is not there already.
Often, it is. Many expats find themselves in foreign countries because they have been sent there by their employers, who, typically, will arrange for and pay for an appropriate health insurance policy for them.
However, we also see many self-employed or retired expats who have only a domestic health insurance policy from their home country, which is inadequate for those who live abroad on a permanent basis, or for a significant portion of the year.
If such individuals fall ill or become injured in a country in which they are not covered by their domestic policy, they are likely to be required to fund some or all of their own treatment, depending on where they happen to be. (National healthcare systems and entitlements vary from country to country.)
For in-patient treatment, this can run into a six figure sum.
Such individuals would be better off – as would their wealth portfolios – if they were covered, instead, by an iPMI policy.
The iPMI plan would cover in-patient treatment anywhere within the policy’s geographical region and people can extend cover to include out-patient treatment, dental treatment and repatriation.
It’s also important to note that compared to a UK domestic policy, iPMI underwritten polices are more likely to be able to offer cover for chronic/pre-existing conditions, and there tends to be a more comprehensive level of cover for cancer treatment.
Impact of growing specialisation
A separate consideration, when looking at the subject of iPMI, is the growing specialisation that is taking place within the world of medicine.
In the past, most treatments were available locally, with doctors and surgeons performing a wide range of procedures.
Now, however, there is a greater prevalence of specialist practitioners, who perform only certain types of procedures.
This means that a client with a particular condition may need to travel some distance – sometimes to another country – to get the treatment they need.
As iPMI policies are specifically designed to provide cover on an international basis, policyholders are thus able to go where the best treatment for their condition is on offer – and where they feel most confident that they and their family will have easy access to high quality healthcare, as and when required.
International PMI does not just benefit those it insures. Intermediaries with globally-mobile clients, for example, often find that it gives them an opportunity to add value to their offering, since those who stand to benefit most from iPMI are also typically the same individuals who require specialist wealth management services.
While less common in the UK and rest of Europe – for now – we are finding intermediaries in Latin America and the Asia Pacific region are increasingly making use of iPMI to help their international clients to minimise the risks posed to their wealth by being uninsured or under-insured.
Ron Buchan is chief executive of Allianz Worldwide Care, the Dublin-based health insurance company that was launched in 2000, and is a part of Munich’s Allianz SE, the giant financial services group.
