April Medicare Short-Term International Health Plan
April International’s new plan is international private medical insurance (iPMI) for people going abroad for a relatively short period of time (up to a year usually). That could include people on short-term work secondment, those on a gap year and others on sabbatical or world trips. Whatever the reason, this plan can cover it.
The plan’s main benefits include per certificate period:
An overall aggregate benefit limit of £250,000 (or the $ or € equivalent).
Full refund for most hospital services (inpatient psychiatric treatment is limited to 15 days).
Outpatient (including GP) services limited to £5,000.
Osteopathy, chiropractic, homeopathy and acupuncture cover.
Dental treatment. This is limited to £200 for emergencies and £500 if due to an accident.
Home country cover is included, up to 30 days.
Emergency evacuation is covered, together with emergency medical reunion and compassionate home travel.
Additional services include Red 24 (crisis management assistance), Blood Care Foundation (which provides properly screened blood) and Best Doctors (second medical opinion).
Customers can choose to add (at extra cost) pre-existing condition cover, which is available if under age 50. It provides, for ‘a small premium loading’ up to £20,000 of cover for acute episodes of existing medical conditions. Out of Area Extension Benefit provides up to 30 days cover in the USA and the Caribbean up to £20,000.
The plan is available up to age 70 and cover is worldwide, excluding USA and Caribbean. Cover can last for between one and 12 months (which can be extended up to a further six months). Direct settlement of bills can usually be arranged.
April says traditional travel insurance only provides emergency medical treatment and tends to operate on the basis of stabilising the condition and/or accident and getting you home safely where treatment can resume without insurance. So, adding this cover can make sense, although travellers still need conventional travel insurance to cover things like lost baggage and flight delays and cancellations and ideally without the medical cover that this type of plan usually includes.
In terms of cost, a 25 year old could get 12 months short term cover for £600, a 32 year old £780. Premiums are subject to any local taxes.
Comment: Far too many people go abroad with inadequate or no health insurance and this plan is designed to remedy that, at a much lower cost than for full iPMI. It does not replace the need for travel insurance, but can provide better medical cover, albeit maximum cover is relatively low.
One issue is that most travel insurance includes some medical cover, even if the aim is to get the patient back home as soon as possible, where either the NHS or their domestic PMI plan will take over the cost of treating them. That creates an insurance overlap, which could be remedied by buying travel insurance with no or only add-on medical cover. However, a trawl through Google suggests that such cover is not that easy to find. One solution could be for April to offer such cover as an easy add-on. Perhaps one for the future?
Meantime, this plan has merit, and we can see worried parents paying for such cover as their offspring set off on their world travels. Even that is not that easy – the policy has to be in the traveller’s name, although mum and dad can effectively pay the premium for them.
Plus points: An iPMI add-on to travel insurance for those going abroad for up to a year; Less expensive than conventional ‘full’ iPMI; Pre-existing conditions can be covered at low cost.
Not so plus points: Some overlaps with travel insurance, unless that is bought with no medical cover or with pre-existing conditions excluded; Some financial limits; Does not cover the USA or Caribbean as standard.
Website: http://www.april-international.com/united-kingdom.
Rating (max 10): Innovation: 9. Overall: 7.5. Silver
Tags: iPMI; April