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FEATURE INTERNATIONAL PRIVATE MEDICAL INSURANCE
Finger on the global pulse
The fast-expanding international health insurance market offers many new opportunities
for advisers. But to succeed, firms need to keep up to date with local market conditions
and regulations – and even consider joint ventures to gain a vital foothold
“
If you are a UKbased
intermediary
advising customers
living in European
Economic Area states,
you need to ensure
you have the right
passport in place
Barbara Zito, group sales
director, InterGlobal
A new website, www.aimpi.org.uk,
is being set up by the Association
of International Medical Insurance
Providers to provide information
and articles on issues affecting the
international market.
”
As economies become
increasingly cross-border
and staff more international,
the opportunities for
advisers to provide specialist
advice are growing,
whether it involves guidance
on investment, retirement,
property purchases,
tax planning, or life or
health insurance. In the last
market there have been a
number of recent developments
that advisers may
not be aware of and which
are worth highlighting.
Here, Barbara Zito,
group sales director at
InterGlobal, and Andrew
Apps, director of global
sales at Goodhealth Worldwide,
share their thoughts
on market developments
and look at how advisers
can benefit from them.
l Europe
Zito: The highly developed
infrastructure of Europe
means there is a lot of
movement between states.
In addition, there are traditional
British retirement
spots such as Spain and the
south of France.
Last year, access to free
healthcare for British early
retirees living in France
who are no longer eligible
for NHS treatment was
withdrawn.
Meanwhile, in Spain,
state healthcare is no longer
available for expats who
are under retirement age,
unless they have an E121
or E106 card or pay Spanish
social security contributions,
a move that also
affects British early retirees.
This generates potential
customers for international
private medical
insurance (PMI) plans.
If you are a UK-based
intermediary advising customers
living in European
Economic Area (EEA)
states, you need to ensure
you have the right passport
in place. To get this, you
must notify the FSA that
you intend to exercise
passporting rights in a
specified country, then
follow its procedures.
l China
Apps: There is no legal
requirement for companies
to choose a local product
for their employees, but if
they do not, they cannot
claim back tax relief. This
means that if registered
IFAs offer only locally
licensed products, their clients
will automatically
benefit from tax relief on
the product.
Unregulated non-
Chinese products are also
less attractive because they
allow – at best – restricted
access to governmentfunded
hospitals, which
represent the vast majority
of medical establishments
in the country. What is
more, unregulated products
cannot be serviced in
mainland China: no local
claims settlement or local
claims helplines exist.
INTERNATIONAL ADVISER [www.international-adviser.com] AUGUST 2008
Number of expats on short-term contracts
China
Cent/east Europe
Indian sub-cont
Southeast Asia
Western Europe
North America
Japan/Korea
South America
Middle East
Australasia
Africa
Although market figures
are sketchy on the whole,
it is clear that the size of
the market is set to grow
from the 500,000 expats in
Shanghai reported in 2006.
In 2007, Goodhealth
became the first overseas
company to be awarded
a China-wide licence to
sell international health
insurance.
By linking up with
China Life, the biggest life
and health operation in the
country, we are able to act
as an underwriting agent,
servicing clients in China
and distributing registered
products through regulated
IFAs. Others have followed,
and the regulatory regime
has become marginally
less difficult to negotiate in
recent months.
Strong joint ventures
seem to hold the answer to
reaching both the corporate
audience as well as
the rapidly growing expat
market. Enterprising IFAs
Expats coming and going
over next two years
as % of current population
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%
Source: PricewaterhouseCoopers
need to get themselves
registered to sell regulated
Chinese products, and
forming a partnership with
a regulated Chinese company
is probably the most
attractive way forward.
l Africa
Zito: Africa is increasingly
in the spotlight when it
comes to expats, with
migratory movements
throughout the continent
providing numerous opportunities
for intermediaries.
Key markets offering
plentiful opportunities for
selling international PMI
(IPMI) include South Africa,
Tanzania and Zambia, primarily
because of investment
in the copper mining
industry.
The oil and gas industry
also employs large numbers
of expat workers, particularly
in Nigeria, Angola,
the Democratic Republic of
the Congo and Libya.
incoming
leaving
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