Global Protective Solutions is “medical travel” accident cover developed to meet the needs of medical tourists for an accident occurring outside of the medical tourist’s home country. It was designed to address the potential financial costs of accidental complications or travel accident related expenses.
Medical travel (also called medical tourism, health tourism or global healthcare) is the practice of travelling outside a person’s home country for the purposes of receiving medical care. The most common medical tourists are travelling to save money, to obtain services not available in their home country or to have elective procedures in conjunction with a restful vacation. Additionally, some large self-funded companies have implemented a medical travel benefit option to mitigate medical care costs.
US News and World Report Posted: February 12, 2010
Growing Reasons to Consider Medical Tourism
By Philip Moeller
“In an update of that study released late last year, Deloitte concluded that the recession had caused the number of people traveling outside the United States for medical care to drop from 750,000 in 2007 to 540,000 in 2008, before rebounding to 648,000 last year. The strengthening economy, Deloitte forecast, will support 35 percent annual growth rates, which would mean an estimated 878,000 medical tourists from the United States this year, nearly 1.3 million in 2011, and more than 1.6 million in 2012. Still, these forecasts are sharply lower than Deloitte’s bullish forecast in the earlier report. Then, it had predicted 100 percent growth rates and 6 million Americans traveling outside the United States for medical care in 2010. Research from McKinsey & Co. places the numbers at roughly an eighth of Deloitte’s estimates, but Keckley says the big difference is that Deloitte includes out-patient procedures in its figures and McKinsey does not.”
International Business Times Monday, October 18, 2010 3:02 PM EDT
Medical Tourism Witnesses Unprecedented Growth
By Don Pathak
"Eight-to-ten years ago, medical tourism was hardly large enough to be noticed. Today, more than 200,000 patients per year visit Singapore alone and nearly half of them are from the Middle East. This year, approximately half-a-million foreign patients are expected to travel to India for medical care, whereas in 2002, the number was only 150,000. This gives an idea about the rate of growth of this industry that has been showing a northward trend in the last couple of years. Factors that have accelerated medical tourism include the high cost of health care, long wait times for certain procedures, the ease and affordability of international travel, and improvements in both technology and standards of care in many countries."
Every medical procedure has risks. Many of these risks are the same risks you would have no matter where you were having a medical procedure. Pre-trip planning and review of your current health condition can help mitigate the unintended risks. Further, it is important to use credible medical travel facilitators or medical travel programs that will typically require the use of a Joint Commission International (JCI) Accredited facility or a facility that has an international equivalent to this accreditation. Please ask your facilitator about the credentials of your provider or look at the JCI website. www.jointcommissioninternational.org
GPS was developed to reimburse participants for costs associated with complications of a medical travel procedure or an accidental injury while travelling for an approved medical procedure.
In addition to participants receiving regular travel accident benefiets, GPS has been enhanced to include covered complications for up to 6 months after the initial procedure. (Note home country coverage may vary according to the country's specific insurance regulations) Regular travel accident insurance excludes coverage if you are travelling for the purpose of receiving medical care. Other medical travel accident policies only include corrective procedure limits for complications of a covered medical procedure. Further, they typically exclude complications from the rest of the policy.
GPS includes benefits for participants resulting from complications that result in death, disability, additional medical or surgical treatment, physiotherapy and rehabilitation, residence modification, severe disfigurement, loss of reproductive function and dependant care/family coordination.
Provisions have been made for comprehensive 24 hour travel assistance, by simply calling the Specialty Assist™ telephone numbers provided on the ID Card.
GPS participants will receive no benefit to cover the orginal procedure. Participants in GPS can submit for reimbursement of expenses associated with a complication that occurs in the country of treatment. Eligible home country expenses can also be submitted for reimbursement but will be subject your home country's regulations.
Normal follow-up care which is not the result of a covered complication is not included. Additionally, there are no benefits for the patient’s failure to follow pre and post operative medical instructions.
Yes, your travel companion can participate in the travel accident benefits. . It is recommended that travelers have the same coverage. This helps in the case of an accident where both parties may be involved. It can help make claim assistance easier if you have one set of benefits that is the same for all and one assistance company coordinating assistance services.
GPS coverage is provided through a master policy issued to International Helpers (Guernsey) Trust and coverage is subject to the terms & conditions of the policy. Benefits are paid by reimbursement of covered expenses to the participant following adjustment of the claim.
In order to be reimbursed, a participant submits a claim form, any required physician’s reports, bills and other documentation. This information is then presented to adjusters to determine if benefits are payable under the terms of the policy issued to the trust.
In some instances, claim payments for expenses that are incurred but that have not been paid by the covered person can be settled directly by way of an “assignment of benefits” to a second party such as a hospital or other provider.
In non-emergent situations, a claim form can be submitted with receipts for costs associated with the claim. Claims should be reported within 30 days of the time of occurrence and paid receipts will be required for reimbursement.
To report a claim for reimbursement or in the case of an emergency contact Specialty Assist.
TO USE THIS SERVICE, IDENTIFY THE POLICY NUMBER AND/OR GROUP NAME ON YOUR ID CARD.
Please report all emergency claim or assistance service needs to:
Specialty Assist™
5-11 Lavington Street, London SE1 0NZ
T +44 (0) 207 902 7405
F+44 (0) 207 407 9206
By completing, the online Participation Agreement you can easily access the benefits provided by the Master Policy. Contact your International Travel Insurance Agent for the referral details or apply easily on-line at www.globalprotectivesolutions.com.
This summary is meant as a general overview of the master policy terms and is for illustration purposes only and is not meant to describe coverage details or specifics. Please refer to the master policy for coverage details and specifics.
