Medigo GLOBALCOVER
Medigo is a German based company and has launched two global healthcare products for companies based in the UK. GLOBALCOVER (the focus of this review) is for major illness treatment and GLOBALCARE is for second medical opinions and medical concierge.
GLOBALCOVER borrows from conventional critical illness insurance (CI) and private medical insurance (PMI) and pays for treatment for certain medical conditions only.
Aimed at UK based employers, the plan costs from £8.33 a month for each employee covered. Treatment is covered up to £1m in total and minimum scheme size is five employees.
The conditions covered by the plan are cancer treatment, heart surgery, neurosurgery, and live-organ transplants.
Once an employee is diagnosed with one of the conditions covered, Medigo steps in to arrange the patient’s treatment, and also travel and accommodation for them and a companion. A personal assistant helps patients choose a medical provider in one of 35 countries, compare treatment costs, book the medical treatment, arrange travel and accommodation logistics, and arrange any necessary medical record translation or interpretation. The plan is a post-diagnosis care plan and so does not cover the diagnosis itself. It does though offer a second medical opinion service.
Treatment is outside the UK and is described as expert care from a global network outside the UK.
GLOBALCOVER excludes any illness or conditions which were diagnosed, treated, or showed related medically documented symptoms in the ten years prior to the start date or relevant inclusion date for each insured person.
Comment: This is quite a different kind of cover – picking out elements of both traditional CI and PMI cover. That said, it is really a specialist form of PMI as it pays only for costs rather than providing a cash lump sum for any purpose, as CI does.
It will appeal to those who want the best medical care they can get if diagnosed with one of the serious conditions covered and who expect that care to be outside the NHS and outside the UK.
However, we are not sure how big that market might be. NHS outcomes in key areas such as cancer have improved in recent years and, to some extent, this cover could duplicate cover available elsewhere. That said, for employers wanting to offer the best care to their employees, the plan is both different and worth considering.
Plus points: A plan to supplement CI and PMI cover, providing a bespoke service to people diagnosed with one of a number of serious medical conditions; Pays up to £1m for treatment; Treatment is in selected hospitals outside the UK; Other costs such as travel and accommodation included.
Not so plus points: Not an alternative to CI or PMI as the cover is much narrower; Treatment is outside the UK – which many people may not want; A new and so unproven concept in the UK.
Website: http://www.medigo.com
Rating (max 10): Overall: 7.5. Silver
Tags: PMI: Medigo