International Private Medical Insurance – What is it?

International Private Medical Insurance is the one thing, when I’m lucky enough to go overseas, I ensure is in place to make sure my family is protected should anything untoward happen. The last thing I need would be to dealing with is a medical emergency when no cover is in place so I always make sure suitable insurance is in place. If I was lucky enough to be working outside of the UK this is the first thing I would want to make sure is in place.

The difference between when you travel to a destination for leisure and when you work abroad is that travel insurance will cover for a medical emergencies whereas International PMI covers you for routine treatment in that particular jurisdiction too.

International Private Medical Insurance is more comprehensive in relation to healthcare and covers a multitude of areas including medical emergency cover, doctors visits, maternity and sometimes treatment for ongoing chronic conditions. It also covers additional costs such as transportation or repatriation to receive medical treatment.

One of the key benefits of private medical insurance in a pandemic is some of the additional services offered. When it is almost impossible to see your GP currently all international providers I would place a client with will see you via a Virtual GP service which, with a few clicks of a button you can be talking to, over the phone and virtually face to face.

One key fact is that in some countries having PMI is required by law. Places like Dubai require this.

Another benefit of international policies is that some give access to vaccinations which is key in the current climate.

So how can we trade after Brexit with our international potential clients? Carefully!

We need to be invited by our clients or potential clients to conduct out reviews on their employee benefits requirement.

Below is a statement from the European Securities and Markets Authority:

This statement from ESMA is a warning to UK firms which are currently relying on reverse solicitation to provide cross-border services to EU clients.  UK firms which lack EU authorisation could be exposing themselves to civil, administrative or even criminal proceedings.  UK firms relying on reverse solicitation should consider reviewing their procedures and record keeping in relation to approaches from EU clients and how they might adjust their marketing communications to ensure that they are less likely to be considered as soliciting, promoting or advertising financial services to EU clients.