A good International Health Insurance broker provides impartial advice to any individual or business looking to offer health coverage to its global employees.
However, all brokers have their own ways of operating – some offering their services for free, others charging, and all with varying levels of expertise.
In this blog post you will learn:
- The role of an International Health Insurance broker
- How the business model works
- The benefits of employing a broker
- Real-life examples of how a broker can help
Need help creating the perfect blend of international employee benefits and health insurance for your global staff? Contact our expert international insurance brokers on 01273 974419 or click on the chat box on the right.
What does a health insurance broker do?
A health insurance broker should be dedicated to the needs of its clients – rather than the interests of an insurance provider.
For example, there are several elements to the service at Engage Health Group:
- Initial discussion and fact-finding: Often a business will come to us with various questions related to the global health insurance market. It usually centres around how such policies work and how much it costs. We provide all our answers in plain English.
- Advice and guidance: We advise clients about the best route forward after we’ve found it about the business’s needs and scope of coverage required.
- Delivering quotes: We gather policy price-points from across the whole market, tailored to the needs of a business.
- Claims assistance: We will assist with claims, should any disputes arise or any further guidance be required.
- Review policies: We will review global healthcare policies to ensure they are providing value for money – if they aren’t we can advise a better, more cost-effective, alternative.
Using their wide connections with numerous providers, a broker’s mission is to ultimately find you the best policy at the right price point. As a client, you tell your broker what it is you want, what you need, any questions (no worry is too small!), and your budgetary requirements.
Launching or reviewing a global health insurance scheme is a daunting and time-consuming process for HR departments. But a broker can ensure the process runs more smoothly.
Insider tip: Brokers are usually paid a commission by the insurance providers meaning their services are free of charge. Look out for any brokers that come with their own fees – these are ones to avoid! Also check if they are members of the AMII as this shows they are dedicated to providing impartial advice and are not tied to an insurer.
Why turn to an International Health Insurance broker?
Ultimately, it maximises your chances of finding the optimal global healthcare policy, reduces the time and stress involved, and doesn’t have to cost a penny.
Below we have listed a few issues that can be encountered when looking into International Health Insurance for your staff:
- Location-specific requirements: for example, in the UAE it is essential to have health insurance in order to obtain a work visa.
- The breadth of providers in the global marketplace: there are a huge number of global health insurers, all with different policies and strengths and weaknesses in different territories.
- Vast range of products and options: there are potentially thousands of product combinations, exclusions/inclusions and price points to consider.
- Domestic vs international: in some cases, opting for separate domestic policies could be better than investing in a global scheme. Brokers will balance up cost factors, compliance requirements and how best to simplify its administration.
International Health Insurance brokers will essentially take on the heavy lifting to remove as much stress as possible from the process.
Further insights: How to gather the best International Health Insurance quotes.
Would you like to speak with an international insurance broker right now? Use our chatbox or call 01273 974419 for FREE no-obligation advice and support.
The benefits of using an international health insurance broker
The surge in companies employing talent from around the world has led to increasingly complex demands on HR teams. And this trend is set to continue. So, how do HR teams ensure that all employees are equally looked after no matter where they are in the world?
Here are some of the key benefits of employing a global health insurance broker:
- Global market-wide quotes: An independent broker is constantly reviewing policies available in the global healthcare market, providing the pick of the bunch to you.
- Free expert knowledge: Receive expert knowledge on each insurance company’s terms and conditions – all relayed clearly to you, entirely free of charge.
- Country-specific knowledge: Businesses can access detailed knowledge on how different health systems around the world work, what the statutory requirements are and more.
- Personalised approach: Brokers take the time to fully understand the ins and outs of your business, leading to a plan that fits your specific needs.
- Broader employee benefits advice: A broker like Engage can also advise on other areas of workplace benefits, including protections schemes, EAPs, corporate wellness, cultural training and more – and how they all fit together.
- Policy implementation: Some brokers will also help implement the scheme – providing educational materials to employees and generally help onboard employees to ensure they are fully aware of the benefits they have and how to use them.
- Claims assistance: If there are any disputes with an insurer, a broker can take it up on your behalf.
- Independent expertise: Assuming they are an impartial broker, you can be assured they are working in your best interests – and not on behalf of the insurance industry!
Examples of how using Engage International can help
The Engage International team work with a wide range of clients in various sectors, offering expert advice and industry experience. To give a bit of insight into, we’ve provided a few revealing testimonials from our client-base.
Timber Trading Agency International
Helping to establish a detailed benefit scheme for employees working in medium-high risk countries.
“Engage Health Group have been very helpful with our members, many of whom are based in third world countries. They have solved the problems raised regarding the COVID pandemic especially relating to evacuation if needed.”
Eva Maguire, General Manager of Timber Trading.
Global IT Company
Covering 60 employees in Europe/New Zealand/Australia.
In this instance, this organisation had been quickly scaling their international tech pool, hiring remote global employees working in various parts of the world from the get-go.
“They went out of their way to provide us with the best quote and negotiated with our current provider, they managed to increase our level of cover and drop the cost. They provided support during the change over to the new policy and came to our office to do an all company presentation explaining how to get the best out of our cover.”
Global Technology Business
Highly personalised guidance for two global SMEs
“Highly personalised, professional and empathetic services. Would recommend to Corporate or Individuals looking for cover.”
“Engage HG have been the appointed EB Consultants for two different SME organisations in which I have been a member of the Senior Leadership team.
“On both occasions we received highly personalised guidance for the specific needs of our organisation. They took into account the stage of our company growth, the demographic of our employee population and helped us understand what the best solutions were for us. The guidance given spanned healthcare, employee perks, international assistance and pensions.
“The team are friendly, highly professional and committed to customer service.”
Reach out to Engage!
The international health insurance and employee benefits market can be difficult and confusing to navigate through.
At Engage Health Group, we have a global reach spanning 61 countries and territories, enabling us to help international clients streamline their employee benefits across their global footprint. We offer genuine expertise and the most competitive quotes in the global market.
Contact us at [email protected] or call 01273 974419 for FREE no-obligation advice and support.
