Cigna Africa
Cigna Africa is a new international private medical insurance (iPMI) policy for expat employees of multinational companies with African offices. The plan combines Cigna’s local experience and facilities, global medical network and ongoing commitment to investments in Africa.
CignaAfrica offers a choice of five cover levels: CoreCare (the basic plan); StandardCare; EssentialCare; Executive Care, and EliteCare (the most comprehensive plan). The policies have maximum annual benefits that vary from $50,000 per policy year to $6 million per policy year, depending on the plan version chosen.
Each plan covers inpatient and outpatient treatment in a private room (with limits on CoreCare, StandardCare and EssentialCare), cancer treatment, chronic care, AIDS/HIV treatment and maternity care. Travel vaccination and preventative medication such as against malaria, are also covered.
Standard or Extra dental and vision benefits can be added to a plan, as can evacuation and repatriation benefit (with five cover options).
Customers can choose one of five areas of cover too, with cover being cheapest in Region 1. These are:
Region 1. Africa.
Region 2. Africa (including India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh).
Region 3. Europe (including Africa).
Region 4. Worldwide excluding US, Canada and Caribbean.
Region 5. Worldwide.
CoreCare and StandardCare customers must choose Region 1 or 2 cover.
Claims are paperless and customers get informative personal webpages. There is also a Cigna Health Benefits app which gives quick and easy access to Cigna’s services 24/7 worldwide. A range of other services such as country guides, a second opinion service and health risk assessments are also available.
Comment:
The iPMI sector is segmenting its customers much more now than in the past and that is evidenced by plans such as this – which is tailored to the needs of firms with employees working in Africa. Five core plan types are available, with add-ons and a choice of five geographic pricing options too. The plan even works well for those who work across continents but which includes working in Arica.
The overall impression is of a well thought out plan that offers what its customers would want. We could have done with more detail on the cover provided in the literature though as customers need to know what is and (especially) what is not covered.
Plus points: iPMI cover for firms with offices in Africa; Africa is growing in its global importance so the scope for iPMI there is increasing; The plan is specifically designed to match local needs rather than being a global plan that may not fit that well; Good support services.
Not so plus points: The brochure does not spell out some essential information such as what is actually covered; Annual limits can cause issues and most customers won’t have the experience to know how much cover they might need.
Website: http://www.cigna-africa.com.
Rating (max 10): Innovation: 8. Overall: 8. Gold
Tags: iPMI; Cigna