Archives 2010-1stquarter

  

01. Tweet-Ables for “Twitter”

02. Cut International Insurance Premiums by up to 80%

03. Comparing Three Popular International Short-term Travel Plans

04. Cut Group Insurance by Shifting to a Basic Coverage Plan

05. Epidemics, Pandemics, H1N1

06. How Medical Evacuation Works

07. Tips on What to do If Kidnapped While Travelling Overseas   

08. Book of the Quarter – “The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind”

09. Single Women and Cutting Insurance Costs

10. English Teaching & Work Opportunities Outside the United States

11. Insurance Products Carried by GNI

12. Who Can Be Covered & Information Needed for an Insurance Quote

13. Insurance Brochures for Individuals and/or Teams

14. Linking to the GNI website

15. When You Can Reach Us in Our Office

Most of our readers are not interested in every insurance article we write but sometimes an article is very pertinent to an individual?s or organization?s needs. And sometimes a reader would like to pass on information but doesn?t have the time. In order to facilitate sharing information we will summarize the gist of every article in one pregnant sentence and place that sentence at the end of the article. Then, if you wish to ?re-tweet? the 144 word summary it to your twitter account you can easily do so.

 

Of course if you would like to follow GNI on Twitter that would be great too. Just got to www.twitter.com/gninsurance and sign up! And we thank you!

 

The number of people contacting us for insurance after becoming pregnant, or developing cancer or having a heart-attack might astound you. And unfortunately we never have good news for these folks. No insurance company will insure a person that is in the midst of receiving costly medical treatments.

 

Why does this happen? Some people, especially young people (and especially young men) just don?t think they will ever have a medical problem. Others are just too busy. They plan to get international health insurance but just haven?t got around to it. But the major reason is finances.

 

Insurance can be expensive, especially if you purchase a cadillac plan. If you can’t afford that kind of plan, go for a scaled back plan. The benefits in a scaled back plan are still very good and the cost savings are significant. The monthly premium ($1000 deductible) for a 45 year old female on our most expensive plan is $626 while on a budget plan the monthly premium is $106. To be sure that cadillac plan is better than the budget plan but not six times better. And the $106 per month can be decreased to $80 if coverage in the USA is excluded. Health insurance is affordable.

 

  

 

Atlas International – A very good plan with medical and political evacuation, AD&D and Common Carrier Insurance and a six month benefit period in the USA. User friendly website. Rates for 25 year old, $50,000 coverage, $500 deductible, per month = $22.14

 

Outreach International –  Similar benefits to the Atlas International plan. Rates for 25 year old, $50,000 coverage, $500 deductible, per month = $23.40

 

Excursion – Similar benefits to the two plans above. If the insured has a US domestic insurance plan then all pre-existing conditions are covered!!! Rates for 25 year old, $50,000 coverage, $500 deductible, per day = $26.04

 

 

In an effort to help non-profits find group insurance that is less expensive several companies are offering “Tier Two” group plans with scaled back benefits. In order to do this one company increased their co-pays, lowered health-screening and annual physical examination benefits, limited outpatient mental and nervous disorder care and cut provision for home health care of hospice care.

 

Another company put a maximum of $600 per day for hospital room and board and $1,500 for an Intensive Care Unit. They cut the transplant benefit to $250,000 and put a cap of $6,000 on maternity coverage. Also they included a clause stating that no pre-existing conditions would be covered for the first 24 months a person was insured. The plan provides no wellness benefit.

 

Of course these plans are not as rich as the “Tier One” plans offered by these companies but it means that the rates are as much as 30% lower. In a time of budget crunch these plans enable a non-profit to still provide group health insurance to their overseas employees. Please contact us if you would like a group quote on either of these plans for your non-profit.  

 

 

 

Epidemic: a widespread outbreak of an infectious disease; many people are infected at the same time. Pandemic: an epidemic that is geographically widespread; occurring throughout a region or even throughout the world; existing everywhere.

 

 

 

 

 

The goal of medical evacuation is to save a patient’s life and/or limit the extent of an injury. If the patient’s condition is stable and not at risk from flying, insurance companies will fly him to the nearest adequate medical facility. For example, if he is in Cambodia they would fly him to Bangkok, if in West Africa, to France. Once stabilized, if needed, they will fly him to his home country.

 

International health insurance companies provide insurance coverage for people all over the world. No insurance company is large enough to have their own fleet of planes available in every country. Instead, they have contact with medical evacuation companies and planes worldwide and can quickly sub-contract a plane for a medical evacuation.

 

Many international insurance companies have divisions within their company that handle medical evacuation 24/7 for clients. One company GNI works with has 10 nurses and 1 Medical Officer (doctor) in their medical evacuation division. 

 

Depending on the physical location of the patient medical evacuation can happen quickly, often within 2 to 3 hours. Here is the general procedure: 

 

1)         The insurance company is contacted concerning a needed medical evacuation.

2)         The Medical Evacuation Division in the company makes a quick and complete evaluation of the illness or injury. This is generally done in consultation with a physician that works with the insurance company and medical personnel that are on the ground stabilizing the patient.

3)         Evaluation of the physical / geographic location of the patient, e.g. nearest airport and nearest adequate medical facilities are considered.;

4)         The patient is evacuated to the nearest adequate medical facility and once stabilized if medically necessary, evacuated back to their home country.

5)         If the medical condition is not overly serious they will use a common carrier for the evacuation often sending along medical personnel to assist the patient in flight. If very serious they will charter a plane from a medical evacuation company in the region.

 

 

The first few minutes are the most critical for the victim’s safety. In most cases do not resist. We say “in most cases” because sometimes resisting works. I have a friend, in his sixties at the time, who resisted being kidnapped in Kabul, Afghanistan and was left by the would be kidnappers, certainly shaken, but safe and free.

 
You can avoid being injured by controlling your natural desire to act impulsively. Make a real effort to prevent losing valuable personal items like eyeglasses. Obviously it is not easy to stay calm at such a time but nevertheless force yourself to be calm. Avoid giving information concerning your profession and income to your kidnappers. Of course you may be forced to hand over ATM cards and PIN numbers. If sick or hungry or need medication always inform your abductor. If they are kidnapping you for money they want you to stay healthy and alive.

 

If you are covered with Kidnap and Ransom Insurance you will have confidence that a crisis response team will quickly move into action to handle your situation.

 

 

If you want to get a small understanding of what it is like to go through a famine, this is a good book for you. If you want to read about an extra-ordinary example of human ingenuity, this is an extraordinary book.   It’s the story of a young African boy living in Malawi that gives a good picture of African village life, the struggle for survival and this boy’s fascination with electricity. The American government had donated some books to a local school. He found one titled “Using Energy” and studied it diligently. From the book he discovered how to build a windmill and generate electricity. Then with almost no tools and used and discarded materials he put together a small windmill that generated electricity for his family home. It is a stunning story of human resourcefulness. The book spent 5 weeks on the “New York Times” best seller list. Amazon.com listed it as one of their ten best books for 2009. You will find it a great and inspiring read.  

Don’t take out a plan that automatically includes maternity coverage! This can add 25% per month to your premium. Look for a plan that includes a maternity option. That means that you can add maternity coverage at a later date if you choose. In the past almost all international insurance plans charged single women the same as married women for health insurance because all plans included maternity coverage. Fortunately that has changed.

 

Consider your budget and reserves when purchasing insurance. If you have several thousand dollars in reserve and you are quite healthy, we would suggest you purchase insurance with a high deductible. The difference between a $250 deductible and a $1,000 deductible can be as much as $45-50 in monthly premium. And in one year, if you don’t use your insurance, you will have saved $50 x 12 or $600 which could be put towards the deductible if you have a medical problem.

 

 

We are in touch with many institutions outside the USA that are looking for English-speaking teachers. Most of these positions provide some reimbursement beside lodging and meals.   If you would like further information please contact info@gninsurance.com .

 

Also we have a NGO working in Afghanistan that is looking for a City Planner and also an Organizational Management Advisor.  

 

    [1]   Long-term health insurance for individuals working outside their home countries

    [2]   Career/long-term plans for single women

    [3]   Short-term plans from five days to three years for individuals
    [4]   Group health for international agencies
    [5]   Short-term team insurance
    [6]   Term life insurance
    [7]   Trip cancellation insurance
    [8]   Flight insurance
    [9]   Immigrant health insurance and insurance for students and visitors to the USA  

    [10] Political and/or medical evacuation insurance

    [11] USA short-term health insurance including furlough insurance

    [12] War and terrorism insurance

    [13] Disability insurance

    [14] Individual and group insurance for most states in the USA

    [15] Kidnap and ransom insurance

  

To access all of these options, please go to our corporate site: www.gninsurance.com

 

The following can be covered: Long-term and short-term workers, furloughing Americans in the USA, Americans returning permanently to the USA after an overseas assignment, foreign nationals working or studying in the USA, non-Americans working cross-culturally in another country other than the USA (e.g., Japanese working in Zaire, Indonesians studying in Australia), career overseas workers, and non-Americans who wish to purchase ?private health insurance? instead of using their government-run health care system.

 

If you want a quote on insurance, give us the age of each person to be insured, country of residence, citizenship, where you plan to go, and how long you plan to be there. State plainly all your outstanding chronic medical conditions.

 

We will also need your E-MAIL, TELEPHONE, and FAX numbers, as well as your postal addresses. If you want coverage while on furlough in the USA, give the state and zip code of your USA billing address and the type of work you do.  If you are presently in the USA or plan to furlough shortly, PLEASE INCLUDE YOUR USA TELEPHONE NUMBER.

 

NOTE: We can also provide health insurance for Americans living in most of the 50 states in the United States.

 

Are you organizing a short-term team for overseas travel? If you would like brochures on insurance for each team member, let us know how many you need. We can also provide ?group? insurance for your short-term team so that they will not need to apply individually.

 

Please feel free to photocopy any brochures you receive from Good Neighbor Insurance.  It is good to remember that insurance companies are always producing new materials and applications. If your brochures are two years old, they are probably outdated.  Please contact us for a new supply.  If you want an electronic (e-mail) brochure and application, please let us know.

 

 

Some organizations like to provide international insurance information for those traveling or living outside the USA. Here is information about Good Neighbor Insurance that you may want to make available on your website. You are welcome edit and/or shorten the suggested content.

 

 

Please note the www.gninsurance.com has a whole section of medical tips for the international traveler, a fine glossary of insurance terms and a large library of articles that will help you understand international health insurance. And since GNI represents nine international health insurance companies, a wide variety of insurance plans for the international travelers.

 

Our office is located in Gilbert, Arizona, in what is called the “East Valley”– about 30 minutes east of downtown Phoenix. As to time, Arizona is on PST in the summer and MST in the winter. Thus, in the summer when the rest of the USA is on ?Daylight Saving Time,? Arizona follows PST. We are in the office Monday through Friday by 7:00 a. m., and on most days an agent is available to talk to you until 6:00 p.m. If you miss us, please leave us a voice message or send us an e-mail. We prioritize responding to both–ASAP!!