Cashless health insurance for Digital nomad ?

[troubled soul]

I find many health insurance for Digital Nomad....But none are cashless.....meaning You have to pay upfront charge than They will give your money...
I am looking for Cashless Digital nomad insurance ...
Do anybody Know this type of health insurance ?
Has anybody experience about claiming the health insurance ?

Thanks

 

[bigdaddyleon]

Passportcard, but have no experience with it except that the sales and support is extremely annoying and incompetent.

https://www.passportcard.de/en/how-it-works/

 

[troubled soul]

Passportcard, but have no experience with it except that the sales and support is extremely annoying and incompetent.

https://www.passportcard.de/en/how-it-works/

That's actually Great idea

 

[scooterguy]

One option that I've seen is that some Asian banks, such as UOB, provide health insurance, and there's no need to submit a claim, they just pay for the treatment.

However, coverage is usually limited to some countries in SEA, and in addition to the premium payments you need to open a bank account with them and have a minimum deposit (not that high though, around 1000 USD).

But it can be an option to be covered in that area of the world.

 

[JustAnotherNomad]

Not sure what you are talking about. Just get a proper expat (international) health insurance.

 

[sergeylim88]

anyone using passportcard.de?
how much are you paying for it? just need apx cost

 

[scooterguy]

anyone using passportcard.de?
how much are you paying for it? just need apx cost

It's relatively expensive, you can get a quote here: International Health Insurance for expats & digital nomads | PassportCard International Health Insurance

 

[JustAnotherNomad]

Read the fine print, seems like the maximum payout is rather low.
Might be better to go with something like this:
https://www.april-international.com/en/long-term-international-health-insurance
You really have to be careful with these international policies, they aren't well regulated.

 

[sergeylim88]

what kind of figures are we talking about?
i just need the rough idea?

 

[JustAnotherNomad]

You'll ideally want something without a cap (or at least really, really high, in the millions), with unlimited validity (not just for X years), and limitations on increasing the prices.

There's different ways how these insurance companies can screw you over:

1. You sign a contract for a certain number of years. If they think you're too expensive, they just refuse to renew your coverage when the time is up. Then you have a preexisting condition - good luck getting coverage somewhere else.

2. They simply increase your premium till you can't afford the insurance anymore, so you cancel voluntarily.

3. They simply limit the payout. This could be done through some obscure wording you didn't think was relevant. There are some conditions that can get really expensive really fast, like some rare disease that isn't a problem if you get the medicine that's $100k a month, but deadly if you don't. Then you're screwed with your $50k annual cap.

 

[sergeylim88]

where do I get that?
i need it to cover world wide excluding usa

 

[JustAnotherNomad]

Where do you get what? Read the fine print. Or better yet, ask a trusted insurance broker to read it for you.
Allianz (the underwriter for that PassportCard) isn't that bad either, but you'll really want to check the specific terms.
Generally speaking, April, Foyer, Globality, Bupa, Cigna, Allianz are all large and reputable insurance companies, but I would always compare the terms and get nothing but their top-tier coverage.

Forgot another way how they can screw you over - they can sell you group coverage (i.e. you buy the coverage through a reseller) and they just choose to cancel the group plan. Then you're screwed, too.
So it might be better to get individual coverage directly from the insurance provider.

You could also go for something cheaper, but then you should have some sort of backup plan, like coverage from your home country kicking in if you go back there.

 

[sergeylim88]

by asking "where do i get that?" i meant which company would you recommend
sorry, i have no knowledge about insurance, but i would like to have one

does it matter which branch i contact? should i contact the branch of mentioned companies in the country where i am resident

 

[scooterguy]

Read the fine print, seems like the maximum payout is rather low.
Might be better to go with something like this:
https://www.april-international.com/en/long-term-international-health-insurance
You really have to be careful with these international policies, they aren't well regulated.

PassportCard has a maximum payout of 1.5M USD, I wouldn't say that's low, at least not for most people.

I agree that you have to be careful about these international policies though. Always better to not get sick and try not to do anything stupid.

 

[JustAnotherNomad]

PassportCard has a maximum payout of 1.5M USD, I wouldn't say that's low, at least not for most people.

You have to read all the details. I believe for medicine, the maximum payout was $50k per year or something. Have to admit though I'm not an expert and I didn't read the fine print either.
I'd just strongly advise everyone to be careful with this - the big risk is having an expensive preexisting condition and not having any insurance. If you have a fallback for the worst case scenario (such as a home country with a strong welfare state), then you may be willing to take that risk.
I would also look into options from your home country - local insurance provider are typically much more regulated, so they can't pull off the same thing "international" insurance providers can. In the case of Allianz, I believe they are a separate company and only license the use of the brand.

I'm not an expert on health insurance in any way, this is just what I learned from doing my own research.

 

[JohnLocke]

Not sure what you are talking about. Just get a proper expat (international) health insurance.

Maybe you could suggest a few that may work for people?

 

[scooterguy]

You have to read all the details. I believe for medicine, the maximum payout was $50k per year or something. Have to admit though I'm not an expert and I didn't read the fine print either.

That's for outpatient medicine. For inpatient medicine you have full coverage. The premium plan actually has coverage up to 5,000,000 EUR per year.

Here you have the full table of benefits: https://www.passportcard.de/wp-content/uploads/sites/12/2023/02/PCDE_TOB_Individuals_ENG-MGEN.pdf.

 

[JustAnotherNomad]

Maybe you could suggest a few that may work for people?

Posted above. April, Foyer, Globality, Bupa, Cigna, Allianz. But always check the terms and conditions.

That's for outpatient medicine.

Exactly. Like I said, there are illnesses where you just take a pill every day and you're fine. But the pills are $50k a month (or a similar very high amount). No pills, you die.
Sure, you probably won't get that. But I get insurance for unlikely events that would be catastrophic. You don't get insurance for events that are likely and wouldn't be a big deal if they happened.
Or what about outpatient cancer treatment? I guess chemotherapy is often done as outpatient treatment - you get the treatment, then you go home to rest. I doubt that $50k would cover that.
Or you have a stroke and need to learn everything from scratch, eating, walking, everything. The stroke has been treated, you had surgery, but will all the followup treatment be covered?
And I know next to nothing about this stuff - talk to an experienced insurance broker and they'll tell you about the true costs. As a layman, $1M may sound like a lot, but things can get expensive really fast.

Also, I would strongly advise you to read the actual terms and conditions once you're considering a plan. The table of benefits is worthless marketing fluff.

 

[kkein]

If i don't mind paying upfront instead, what travel/health insurance would be to recommend?