Around $2.78bn (£1.94bn, €2.55bn) of this figure came from new policies bought last year, according to the report from market research consultancy Finaccord.
The compound annual growth rate of the international health insurance market averaged 11.1% between 2011 and 2015, “comfortably ahead” of the 4.8% growth in health insurance across the board over the same period, it said.
David Bowles, consultant at Finaccord, said the worldwide market for international health insurance is both large and fast-growing.
“Its value is not far short of that of travel insurance, which Finaccord estimates at around $15.8bn in gross written premiums in 2015, although it constitutes a fairly small segment within the global market for all types of health insurance which is valued at around $1.21trn in the same year.”
Finaccord also said there were around 105.1 million expatriates and students worldwide eligible for international health insurance in 2015, defined as those temporarily resident in a country other than their country of origin for a period of between three months and 10years.
Customer types
These comprised five main potential customer types, namely individual workers (most numerous at 83.3 million); corporate and other transferees including diplomats and employees of charities and non- governmental organisations; and retired individuals and students plus ‘others’, defined as non-employed spouses and children of customers in the other four categories.
These people were most commonly from countries in the Asia-Pacific region, totalling around 50 million in 2015, said Bowles.
“Furthermore, as a destination region, countries in the Middle East attract the most such individuals albeit those going there are among the least likely to acquire international health insurance.
“Rather, insurance take-up rates are highest among eligible consumers heading to destination countries in Australasia, Latin America and North America with the high cost of healthcare in the latter region, especially the US, a particularly important factor in this respect.
He also pointed out that in overall terms, less than 10% of all individuals eligible to buy international health cover do so in practice.
Looking ahead to 2019, Finaccord’s research predicted compound annual growth rate in the value of this market as “likely to pick up slightly to 11.7% making it worth around $20.20bn by that year in terms of gross written premiums”.
This expansion was due mainly to rising average policy prices and also to growth in the number of expatriates and students eligible for international health insurance rather than to an increase in the take-up for this type of cover which is expected to advance only modestly.
Bowles said: “If underwriters and intermediaries of international health cover can find ways to improve the distribution of their products then even a rise in take-up rates that is only slightly higher than that predicted could bring about a substantial increase in the forecast market value by 2019.”
