Health Insurance for International Schools

Group health Insurance for International Schools

International schools in Asia are far more than businesses; they play a vital role in the expatriate community. If it were not for the presence of international schools, the number of expats in Asia would be vastly reduced – in fact there would hardly be a community at all.

For most families, the thought of sending their children away to boarding school in their home countries for long periods of the year is unacceptable in itself, let alone the cost involved in boarding school fees and flights. International schools help to create a successful expat system around the world.

At Asia Expats, most of us are expats ourselves and we appreciate international schools for the role they play. Our ties with many international schools in the region run deep; our children are educated in their classrooms and our consultants provide free financial education seminars for students and advice on education fee planning for parents. We have also developed highly successful professional partnerships with schools, advising and sourcing the best possible group benefit packages to provide protection and security for their staff.

Our experience of working with schools has taught us that an appealing benefits package can attract the best quality teachers and retain them for longer.

We also understand the need to find the right benefits at the best possible price. As a company, our pledge to schools includes sourcing and negotiating the right benefit solutions to meet the needs of each individual school. Whether a school is looking for group life insurance, staff medical cover or establishing a pension scheme, as an independent international broker, we have access to a vast array of internationally recognised providers and work hard to source the most cost effective solutions for every school we work with.

Once a school has chosen a package, we work closely with the provider, the school administration and teaching staff to ensure that the scheme is properly set up and everyone involved understands how it works.

Providing benefit packages for international schools can be complicated. Schools across Asia must take into account different national legislation and most employ overseas staff from multiple countries. At Asia Expats, we are experienced in untangling the complexities and providing sensible, straightforward, flexible and portable solutions to suit the requirements of any school.

International schools that provide a good healthcare scheme give their staff the confidence that they will receive top quality medical care and this, in turn, helps attract and retain high calibre teachers. Within Asia healthcare can be expensive and often a good health insurance plan is the only practical way to provide staff access to quality medical care and still keep close control over costs.

However, for head teachers and school administrators without experience in group healthcare, the many choices and terms and conditions can seem bewildering. Asia Expats has considerable experience in arranging health insurance plans for international schools across Asia and we hope the points discussed below will help clarify some of the available options.

The type of plan

There are two types of group health insurance plans applicable to international schools:

A community plan is normally best suited to smaller schools where less than 100 people are covered. The school’s plan is pooled with other similar group insurance issued by the same provider. This spreads the risk over a greater number of people and helps keep premiums down. Premiums for individuals within community plans are calculated on age and discounted according to the size of the group.

Experienced rated plans are suitable for larger schools and premiums are generally based on the history of claims in previous years. In most cases premiums for individuals within an experienced rated plan are flat rated – in other words the premium is the same for all members of the group.

Pre-existing medical conditions

The term for the cover of pre-existing conditions is Medical History Disregarded (MHD). This is an important aspect of group health insurance plans, as without MHD cover members of staff who have prior medical conditions will not receive benefits related to prior health problems. In the vast majority of cases international schools are able to obtain insurance with MHD terms.

Portability

This is the ability to transfer from the school group scheme to an individual policy. Most providers offer this option if teachers remain expatriates; however many also have certain restrictions as well.

Level of Cover and Upgrades

Some schools take the decision to limit staff health cover to the main essential benefits. However, individual members of the scheme may be interested in additional cover, for example dental or maternity cover. It is possible to arrange a two-tier system which provides a standard level of cover provided by the school and an upgrade to those teachers who are willing to pay extra for the extra benefits.

If a school only wants to offer a local plan then it is possible to introduce an optional upgrade that provides staff with an international in-patient only plan with higher benefits and limits than a local plan.

Emergency evacuation cover

The availability of emergency evacuation cover is a crucial difference between local and international group insurance plans. Many schools choose an international plan because it enables emergency cover to be given to members of staff and their dependants who may be travelling in remote areas. Evacuation cover provides the necessary emergency assistance to get them the required level of care.

Online outpatient claims

Choosing a policy with an online outpatient claims facility can significantly reduce the administration time for a school when it comes to claims processing.

Cost Containment

This is occasionally required for schools on experience rated plans where high claims experience may cause premiums to rise on an annual basis. Asia Expats has experience in helping schools put cost containment measures in place without compromising essential cover.

When it comes to helping international schools finding the right health insurance plan for their staff, Asia Expats has a wealth of experience. As a leading broker in Asia we maintain relationships with the major international insurers and as a wholly independent adviser we are not tied to any provider. We can therefore search the market to find and help you negotiate the best possible deal. We also offer a pre and post-sales backup service that is second-to-none in the region.

All international schools need to have group health insurance for their teachers, local employees and students at their school. This is highly important for the teachers when they apply for a position at a school, and is extremely essential for the students and their families. There are a multitude of companies that supply these services in Asia and it can be a little overwhelming and rather difficult to decide which company best suits people’s needs. It can also be highly expensive, so a school needs to choose wisely. 

With teachers it can be simple because the international school may have a very good health insurance policy in their benefits package that will cover the teacher and their dependants, but some teachers may have to find their own company. This is best done by talking to other teachers and finding out which company they used.

Insurance is a protection you buy but hope you are never going to use but schools are best prepared to have it when risks turn into an incident or accident. Schools are at risk to a wide array of risks every day. A good insurance plan guards against problems with the schools name, school property, faculty, visitors, students and financial stability.

Most of the insurance companies have regular communications with their associated schools and have developed a wide understanding of the problems faced by this sector.

Standards in international schools are often high and there may be pressure on the teachers from parents that are paying a large amount of money to have their children educated.

One of the key things that need to be incorporated into this is sustainability insurance companies feel that this is highly important for the schools as there is constant change in staff turnover and an increasing change in the premiums paid by the schools.

Schools have to deal with foreign staff that are not accustom to some unusual methods required to get medical treatment in overseas countries. Foreign teachers are high maintenance for the schools as they want the best in medical attention at high cost facilities and require rapid and high quality treatment. This places a large financial obligation on the schools and can lead to problems with the staff when insurance claims do not go as planned.

Major hospitals can cover all types of problems. Some are a great deal more expensive than others. So teachers need to look around carefully. Many of these hospitals will have English speaking doctors, some also have professors working at them.

They will provide guidance on general medicine, vaccines, lab tests, medical certificates. Most will be open on the weekends but their might be a lack of doctors on these days. In some cases it may be difficult to book an appointment with a doctor ahead of time.

They offer different packages to suit the individual patient needs. They have the best of accommodation available including deluxe, supper deluxe, VIP, President Suit International and Premium. They will have an orthopaedic center, health screening center, children’s (Paediatric) center, cancer center, digestive center. Western and international patients are always welcome at these hospitals.

All areas of Asia have these facilities, including Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, Hong Kong and Malaysia. They also have then in Laos, such as Mittaphab Friendship Hospital and the Alliance International Medical Center. The Australian Embassy also have a clinic but it does not have emergency facilities. So basically no matter where you go they can cater for your needs.

Many of these insurance companies not only assist with claims but also help in where and how to seek the best medical attention in the country where the claimant resides.

These insurance companies also provide presentations at the schools to interested people and arrange hospital tours to newly arrived teachers and students.

The insurance companies also provide assistance in providing the best budgetary and administrative needs and the specialised needs of the students, teachers and dependants.

To gain the best coverage for a schools needs and to cover your teachers, students and employees it makes perfect sense to find an international insurance professional specialist. These companies can provide your school with expert and independent support and service. They provide the best international insurance plans for international schools that will permit your teachers, students and administrators to see clearly the educational problems that may need to be dealt with in a timely professional manner.

They will provide all people concerned with the best international insurance companies from all over the world. The insurance plans they offer give the best protection for your school, teachers, students and administrators. They can handle any size of school and all problems relating to it.

They will provide accurate and precise data on insurance with a dedicated and unique experience, along with the knowledge that is required in the above.

These companies provide access to wide array of experience and data and international insurance contacts that will help to deliver the best international insurance plans for your needs.

So the basis of all of this is to find the best company that suites your needs. There are huge amount of them. The best idea I can think of is to talk to other contacts in your local area. Then do some checking on the information they have provided you with. There are some companies in South East Asia that will take your money and you will receive little or no help. Stay with companies that are used by other international schools or used by close associates. 

You really do need to do your homework on this some companies will only cover you up to a certain age. After that it may be a problem for you. You need to think very carefully on this.