Source(google.com.pk)
Overseas Health Insurance
Some years back, I had a post criticizing the widely cited (and often misrepresented) WHO study comparing medical care in a large number of countries. More recently, an online discussion resulted in someone pointing me at a book by Sheila Leatherman and Kim Sutherland, aimed mainly at evaluating the British National Health Service but with a number of international comparisons, in most cases among the U.S., UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Parts of the book are available online at Google Books.
Judging by the information on the pages shown, the widely believed claim that the U.S. not only spends more per capita on health care than other developed countries but also gets worse results for its money is not supported by the evidence. The webbed parts of the book contain the following comparisons (pp. viii-xviii):
---
For “mortality from causes considered amenable to healthcare,” “in 1998 the UK had the highest mortality rates of the five countries compared.”
“England continued to have the highest breast cancer mortality rates among these comparator countries.”
“Of the five countries compared, the US had the highest survival rates from breast cancer, ...”
For colorectal cancer, “New Zealand had the highest mortality rate ... and the US had the lowest.”
“In 2001, England's mortality rate from stroke ... was lower than that in Australia ... but higher than that in the US ...”
“82% of UK respondents indicated that they were treated in [Accident and emergency] in less than four hours, a figure broadly in line with comparator countries (AUS 87%; CAN 74%; NZ 86%; US 87%).
“Patient reports of access to primary care within 48 hours saw the UK … outperform both the US and Canada” (Australia and New Zealand did still better).
“In response to a question regarding whether recent [Accident and emergency] visits would have been necessary if appropriate primary care had been available … the UK had the best result.”
“The UK had the lowest level of health consequences resulting from … errors and mistakes.”
---
I think these are all of the pieces of information shown that provide information on the relative performance of either the U.S., the U.K. (or in some cases England), or both, although I might have missed something. I am not including various input measures.
By my count, U.S. medical outcomes (including things such as speed of treatment) are superior to U.K. outcomes (in some case English outcomes) on five different measures, inferior on three. On two measures the U.K. (or England) is the worst of the five countries considered, on two the best; on three the U.S. is the best of the five (counting one tied for best), on none the worst.
There are four pure outcome measures, mortality and survival rates from various causes. The US was superior to the UK on all of them, best of the five countries on two. The UK was worst of the five countries on two.
The overall conclusion, based on this (very fragmentary) data, is that U.S. healthcare outcomes are on the whole better, not worse, than UK healthcare outcomes.
These results might change if I had a chance to look at the entire book. Unfortunately, neither the library at GMU, where I’m currently visiting, nor the library at SCU, where I teach, appears to have it. If by any chance someone reading this has access to the book, I would be interested in a more complete list of comparisons.
Two other points in the book struck me. Judged by per-capita spending on health the U.S. is the worst of the five, as I would expect, but North Ireland and Wales are close behind, which surprised me a little.
Also, the text has, under “Waiting for elective surgery,” the information that “The UK in 1998 and 2001 had high numbers of patients waiting: and in 2000 had long waits for elective surgery, relative to comparative countries.”
That’s a charge often made against the English system by its critics and routinely denied by its supporters. In this case it is coming from authors whose speciality seems to be the study of NHS performance.Living and working overseas as an expatriate can be exciting and have many benefits, but you may find that access to high quality international healthcare for you and your family is not one of them.
When living in a strange country, where the traditions and ways of life are unfamiliar to you. The simple things like shopping can be a trial, so obtaining medical treatment for you or your family could be a nightmare, without a comprehensive expatriate health insurance plan.
The international healthcare arrangements for expatriates vary from country to country, and even where there are established state schemes, entitlement to such care for the expatriate worker may be restricted or non-existent. More importantly, in certain parts of the world, the standard of healthcare you might expect as an expatriate just may not be available.
1. Whatever the situation, without adequate expatriate health insurance the cost of paying for even the most basic of care could be very high - and that is if you can find the right hospital or doctor in the first place.
2. If you choose an international health insurance policy, you want the reassurance that you can count on it wherever you are in the world, at any time.
3. The health insurance plans you will enjoy the following:
THE FLEXIBILITY
Our plans have different levels of benefits and are split into geographical areas to assist with your choice of the most appropriate cover for your expatriate circumstances.
THE WIDE RANGE OF BENEFITS
Cover in-patient and day-patient hospital treatment costs, as well as offering a wide range of comprehensive out-patient benefits. In addition, there is cover available for routine dental treatment and routine maternity costs.
THE HEALTH CHECKS
Included cover for routine health checks on our more comprehensive plans as we feel prevention is just as important as treatment!
THE EMERGENCY ASSISTANCE
The plans include access to our 24 hr multi lingual assistance helpline, 365 days per year. For emergency admissions to hospital available within 48 hours. This will give the opportunity to arrange the direct settlement of your hospital bills.
THE CLAIMS SERVICE
Claims payments are wired directly to the treatment provider, or if you have paid them your self and are claiming back from us, directly into your bank account. What could be easier?
For a complete list of covered benefits please refer to the Benefits Table of your chosen international healthcare plan.An insurance survey states that only 3% of the total Indian population had health insurance coverage. Only 2 percent of total health expenditure is funded by public/social health insurance and 18 per cent is funded by government budget. India spends about 4.9% of GDP on health. The per capita total expenditure on health in India is US$ 23, of which per capita Government expenditure on health is only US$ 4. So private expenditure on health is more that is from personal savings of the individual.
As the cost of medical treatment is rising like anything and at the same time due to increase in middle class families, it is estimated that the demand for health insurance policies are rising at the rate of 25 per cent in India. Before going to the health insurance plan, one should determine the health care needs that may vary on several factors like, age, family needs, financial conditions etc. it is important to consider the following points before going to the health insurance policy.
Individual health insurance v/s Family floater
Health insurance is a hospitalization cover and reimburse the medical expenses of the covered disease or surgery when the insured is admitted in the hospital .There are various types of medical insurance available in the market like, individual medical insurance, group medical insurance and overseas medical insurance. Family floater and individual health insurance are the two options available for customers while seeking personal health coverage. Family floater is more beneficial as the same is less expensive and family members are less likely to fall sick together. At the same time, there is a higher coverage for family member who may need it in any eventuality.
Critical illness insurance
Critical illness plan insures against the risk of serious illness. If the insured is diagnosed with any critical illness, he/she receives a lump sum assured amount within a specified period of time of a illness being diagnosed. The illness may be like, cancer, coronary artery bypass surgery, first time heart attack stroke, paralysis e.t.c. The above mentioned illness is not exhaustive list and the same is vary from insurance plan to plan. It is always suggested to include critical illness cover for better health care planning.
Importance of health insurance
The following benefits makes one understand how importance to go for health insurance plan at the present scenario:
a) Health insurance protect from the risk of uncertain bills for health care which is usually huge, that arises all of a sudden.
b) Apart from hospitalization and medical bills, it also covers disability and custodial bills.
c) Health insurance provides financial security and peace of mind at all the times.
d) Proper health coverage can help the insured to go for quality care as he/she is a member of coordinated health plan.
Features of health insurance
It is important to know some of the main features of health insurance plan.
Ø Hospitalization cash benefit entitles the client to cash benefits for every completed day of hospitalization.
Ø There are network hospitals tied up with insurance companies. Those network hospitals accept medical cards issued by insurance companies to the insured and provide cashless facility at the time of emergency.
Ø Some insurance policies also cover ambulance charges.
Ø Most of the insurance policies cover upto 60 to 90 days pre and post hospitalization expenses.
Ø There is also a facility of free health check-up under some health insurance policies for the well being of the individual if there is no claim made for certain number of years.
Ø Most of the health insurance policies provide no-claim bonus if there was no claim in the previous year.
Tax benefits
There are various tax benefits available for the one who goes for health insurance policies.
a) Deduction under section 80D for health insurance premiums: All Individuals and HUFs are eligible for deduction under section 80D up to Rs 15000 for self, spouse and the dependent children for the premiums paid in respect of health insurance policies . For the senior citizen, an additional exemption of Rs 5000 is available.
b) Deduction under section 80DD for medical treatment of handicapped: This deduction is applicable for expenditure incurred in respect of assessee himself or his dependent spouse,children,parents,brothers/sisters. This deduction available upto Rs 50,000 or actual expenditure incurred, whichever is less. Deduction of RS 100,000 is allowed in case where the dependent has the disability of more than 80 per cent.
c) Deduction under section 80DDB for treatment of specified diseases: The insured can avail tax benefit if they have incurred costs for treatment of special diseases. It is applicable for treatment of self, spouse, children, siblings and parents wholly dependent. For individual assessee less than 65 years of age, a deduction is actual amount paid or Rs 40000, whichever is lesser. In case the amount is incurred is in respect of a person who is a senior citizen then actual amount or Rs 60000, whichever is lesser.
Some of the precautions to be taken before going to the health insurance policies:
Ø Check whether cashless facility is available in health insurance policy. Cashless facility means, at the time of emergency one doesn’t have to rush for arranging cash to deposit at the hospital. This facility is available only in specific list of hospitals.
Ø Most of the health insurance policies do not cover many diseases for specific period like, for the first two years.
Ø Most of the insurance policies have some limit up to which they will cover specific expenses.
Ø Many insurance companies do not renew policy beyond a particular age. So it is good to go for a policy that provides for renewal even at older age as at that time one will need it the most.
Overseas Health Insurance
Some years back, I had a post criticizing the widely cited (and often misrepresented) WHO study comparing medical care in a large number of countries. More recently, an online discussion resulted in someone pointing me at a book by Sheila Leatherman and Kim Sutherland, aimed mainly at evaluating the British National Health Service but with a number of international comparisons, in most cases among the U.S., UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Parts of the book are available online at Google Books.
Judging by the information on the pages shown, the widely believed claim that the U.S. not only spends more per capita on health care than other developed countries but also gets worse results for its money is not supported by the evidence. The webbed parts of the book contain the following comparisons (pp. viii-xviii):
---
For “mortality from causes considered amenable to healthcare,” “in 1998 the UK had the highest mortality rates of the five countries compared.”
“England continued to have the highest breast cancer mortality rates among these comparator countries.”
“Of the five countries compared, the US had the highest survival rates from breast cancer, ...”
For colorectal cancer, “New Zealand had the highest mortality rate ... and the US had the lowest.”
“In 2001, England's mortality rate from stroke ... was lower than that in Australia ... but higher than that in the US ...”
“82% of UK respondents indicated that they were treated in [Accident and emergency] in less than four hours, a figure broadly in line with comparator countries (AUS 87%; CAN 74%; NZ 86%; US 87%).
“Patient reports of access to primary care within 48 hours saw the UK … outperform both the US and Canada” (Australia and New Zealand did still better).
“In response to a question regarding whether recent [Accident and emergency] visits would have been necessary if appropriate primary care had been available … the UK had the best result.”
“The UK had the lowest level of health consequences resulting from … errors and mistakes.”
---
I think these are all of the pieces of information shown that provide information on the relative performance of either the U.S., the U.K. (or in some cases England), or both, although I might have missed something. I am not including various input measures.
By my count, U.S. medical outcomes (including things such as speed of treatment) are superior to U.K. outcomes (in some case English outcomes) on five different measures, inferior on three. On two measures the U.K. (or England) is the worst of the five countries considered, on two the best; on three the U.S. is the best of the five (counting one tied for best), on none the worst.
There are four pure outcome measures, mortality and survival rates from various causes. The US was superior to the UK on all of them, best of the five countries on two. The UK was worst of the five countries on two.
The overall conclusion, based on this (very fragmentary) data, is that U.S. healthcare outcomes are on the whole better, not worse, than UK healthcare outcomes.
These results might change if I had a chance to look at the entire book. Unfortunately, neither the library at GMU, where I’m currently visiting, nor the library at SCU, where I teach, appears to have it. If by any chance someone reading this has access to the book, I would be interested in a more complete list of comparisons.
Two other points in the book struck me. Judged by per-capita spending on health the U.S. is the worst of the five, as I would expect, but North Ireland and Wales are close behind, which surprised me a little.
Also, the text has, under “Waiting for elective surgery,” the information that “The UK in 1998 and 2001 had high numbers of patients waiting: and in 2000 had long waits for elective surgery, relative to comparative countries.”
That’s a charge often made against the English system by its critics and routinely denied by its supporters. In this case it is coming from authors whose speciality seems to be the study of NHS performance.Living and working overseas as an expatriate can be exciting and have many benefits, but you may find that access to high quality international healthcare for you and your family is not one of them.
When living in a strange country, where the traditions and ways of life are unfamiliar to you. The simple things like shopping can be a trial, so obtaining medical treatment for you or your family could be a nightmare, without a comprehensive expatriate health insurance plan.
The international healthcare arrangements for expatriates vary from country to country, and even where there are established state schemes, entitlement to such care for the expatriate worker may be restricted or non-existent. More importantly, in certain parts of the world, the standard of healthcare you might expect as an expatriate just may not be available.
1. Whatever the situation, without adequate expatriate health insurance the cost of paying for even the most basic of care could be very high - and that is if you can find the right hospital or doctor in the first place.
2. If you choose an international health insurance policy, you want the reassurance that you can count on it wherever you are in the world, at any time.
3. The health insurance plans you will enjoy the following:
THE FLEXIBILITY
Our plans have different levels of benefits and are split into geographical areas to assist with your choice of the most appropriate cover for your expatriate circumstances.
THE WIDE RANGE OF BENEFITS
Cover in-patient and day-patient hospital treatment costs, as well as offering a wide range of comprehensive out-patient benefits. In addition, there is cover available for routine dental treatment and routine maternity costs.
THE HEALTH CHECKS
Included cover for routine health checks on our more comprehensive plans as we feel prevention is just as important as treatment!
THE EMERGENCY ASSISTANCE
The plans include access to our 24 hr multi lingual assistance helpline, 365 days per year. For emergency admissions to hospital available within 48 hours. This will give the opportunity to arrange the direct settlement of your hospital bills.
THE CLAIMS SERVICE
Claims payments are wired directly to the treatment provider, or if you have paid them your self and are claiming back from us, directly into your bank account. What could be easier?
For a complete list of covered benefits please refer to the Benefits Table of your chosen international healthcare plan.An insurance survey states that only 3% of the total Indian population had health insurance coverage. Only 2 percent of total health expenditure is funded by public/social health insurance and 18 per cent is funded by government budget. India spends about 4.9% of GDP on health. The per capita total expenditure on health in India is US$ 23, of which per capita Government expenditure on health is only US$ 4. So private expenditure on health is more that is from personal savings of the individual.
As the cost of medical treatment is rising like anything and at the same time due to increase in middle class families, it is estimated that the demand for health insurance policies are rising at the rate of 25 per cent in India. Before going to the health insurance plan, one should determine the health care needs that may vary on several factors like, age, family needs, financial conditions etc. it is important to consider the following points before going to the health insurance policy.
Individual health insurance v/s Family floater
Health insurance is a hospitalization cover and reimburse the medical expenses of the covered disease or surgery when the insured is admitted in the hospital .There are various types of medical insurance available in the market like, individual medical insurance, group medical insurance and overseas medical insurance. Family floater and individual health insurance are the two options available for customers while seeking personal health coverage. Family floater is more beneficial as the same is less expensive and family members are less likely to fall sick together. At the same time, there is a higher coverage for family member who may need it in any eventuality.
Critical illness insurance
Critical illness plan insures against the risk of serious illness. If the insured is diagnosed with any critical illness, he/she receives a lump sum assured amount within a specified period of time of a illness being diagnosed. The illness may be like, cancer, coronary artery bypass surgery, first time heart attack stroke, paralysis e.t.c. The above mentioned illness is not exhaustive list and the same is vary from insurance plan to plan. It is always suggested to include critical illness cover for better health care planning.
Importance of health insurance
The following benefits makes one understand how importance to go for health insurance plan at the present scenario:
a) Health insurance protect from the risk of uncertain bills for health care which is usually huge, that arises all of a sudden.
b) Apart from hospitalization and medical bills, it also covers disability and custodial bills.
c) Health insurance provides financial security and peace of mind at all the times.
d) Proper health coverage can help the insured to go for quality care as he/she is a member of coordinated health plan.
Features of health insurance
It is important to know some of the main features of health insurance plan.
Ø Hospitalization cash benefit entitles the client to cash benefits for every completed day of hospitalization.
Ø There are network hospitals tied up with insurance companies. Those network hospitals accept medical cards issued by insurance companies to the insured and provide cashless facility at the time of emergency.
Ø Some insurance policies also cover ambulance charges.
Ø Most of the insurance policies cover upto 60 to 90 days pre and post hospitalization expenses.
Ø There is also a facility of free health check-up under some health insurance policies for the well being of the individual if there is no claim made for certain number of years.
Ø Most of the health insurance policies provide no-claim bonus if there was no claim in the previous year.
Tax benefits
There are various tax benefits available for the one who goes for health insurance policies.
a) Deduction under section 80D for health insurance premiums: All Individuals and HUFs are eligible for deduction under section 80D up to Rs 15000 for self, spouse and the dependent children for the premiums paid in respect of health insurance policies . For the senior citizen, an additional exemption of Rs 5000 is available.
b) Deduction under section 80DD for medical treatment of handicapped: This deduction is applicable for expenditure incurred in respect of assessee himself or his dependent spouse,children,parents,brothers/sisters. This deduction available upto Rs 50,000 or actual expenditure incurred, whichever is less. Deduction of RS 100,000 is allowed in case where the dependent has the disability of more than 80 per cent.
c) Deduction under section 80DDB for treatment of specified diseases: The insured can avail tax benefit if they have incurred costs for treatment of special diseases. It is applicable for treatment of self, spouse, children, siblings and parents wholly dependent. For individual assessee less than 65 years of age, a deduction is actual amount paid or Rs 40000, whichever is lesser. In case the amount is incurred is in respect of a person who is a senior citizen then actual amount or Rs 60000, whichever is lesser.
Some of the precautions to be taken before going to the health insurance policies:
Ø Check whether cashless facility is available in health insurance policy. Cashless facility means, at the time of emergency one doesn’t have to rush for arranging cash to deposit at the hospital. This facility is available only in specific list of hospitals.
Ø Most of the health insurance policies do not cover many diseases for specific period like, for the first two years.
Ø Most of the insurance policies have some limit up to which they will cover specific expenses.
Ø Many insurance companies do not renew policy beyond a particular age. So it is good to go for a policy that provides for renewal even at older age as at that time one will need it the most.
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