Expat health insurance
 

Do any expats have experience with Bupa health insurance in Malaysia or know of those that do. Have those experiences been good or bad? Any other health insurance suggestions?

Re: Expat health insurance
 

We have BUPA International insurance (in Singapore, although I live part-time in the US). Never had a problem with them, only 'bummer' is that you do pay the first 10% of claims for admin costs but you can choose to go to any doctor or hospital you like. Actually we've been on two expat postings in Singapore and the company uses BUPA International for all of their non-US based expats.

However, a few weeks ago I was flying from Singapore to New York and just as the first meal service began, part of a rear tooth broke off. I saw my dentist in the US and she said I needed a new 'cap' (crown). With BUPA you can send IM's to their customer service reps, so I contacted them and got the treatment pre-authorised. My dentist submitted the bill directly to BUPA (in Brighton, England) and they actually sent the cheque to me! I just handed it over to my dentist. Oddly enough they didn't deduct 10%, although they do when I have the usual check-ups. They always have English-speaking reps if you wish to contact them and they will call you back if you prefer - although I always use Skype.

I've only seen GP's in singapore for minor ailments (eg. eye infection) so no need to call BUPA beforehand, I just pay the bill on the spot and send the form in (signed by the doctor and myself) with the medical bill/receipt for re-imbursement. You can also scan it in and e-mail to them. You can choose from a number of currencies for re-imbursement and can have a cheque mailed to you or have it credited to your bank account.

All our claims have been dealt with and re-imbursed really quickly (spouse had an operation with a general anaesthetic in Singapore last year as a day-patient at the Raffles Hospital) and again he contacted BUPA to get the treatment pre-authorised - I think in this case the hospital was paid directly by BUPA.

(Not sure if this is relevant, but neither my spouse or myself had pre-existing conditions and we had no need to consider pregnancy. I believe that for most medical insurers though, one needs to have the policy for 10 months before pregnancy is covered. You may also want to check if contraception is covered too, if that is a concern).

Re: Expat health insurance
 

I don't know of anyone here in Penang on BUPA. We have med insurance with Allianz. They seem okay but have not actually made a claim (yet).

My OH had BUPA med insurance for 1 year while we were in Thailand and it was jolly expensive so didn't carry on with it in the second year - just not worth it.

When we were trying to get quotes for med insurance in Malaysia, some companies would not touch us as we weren't "permanent" enough and did not have the MM2H visa at the time. A bit of a Catch 22 as you need the med insurance (or waiver) to get the visa :(

I have friends using AIA and they are pleased with the med insurance. I may get a quote from them when my Allianz one comes up for renewal.

Tried to get a quote from Kurnia but they had so many hoops to jump through, just gave up on them in the end.

Re: Expat health insurance
 

I set myself up with BUPA healthcare last year as the policy my work provides me with is not up to my own personal standards (ie I want to be able to go to Singapore hospitals if anything happens and not rely on the private hospitals in JB, which have caused more harm than good for friends that have used them - 1 passed away and another nearly had his leg amputated until BUPA moved him to Singapore).

So far though I have (fortunately) not had to make use the service, which is making me reconsider whether I will renew next year (as bakedbean has mentioned it is jolly expensive). I think I will look into other options and see which is the cheapest / offers best value for money when my policy is up for renewal and go with them.

Re: Expat health insurance
 

Thanks for all the comments, they are helpful.

Re: Expat health insurance
 

This is one of the things I need to look into and plan to do a comparison write up on my blog in due course. It will be some time coming though as I have too much to do just now. All of the people I mixed with on a recent month visit were locals and I tended to get the view from them that there are three main players that they consider:

Great Eastern
Prudential
AIA

There is also a package offered by Hong Leong Insurance which I plan to go through as one of my friends there also deals with this insurance.

Re: Expat health insurance
 

Medical Plan under AXA called International Exclusive. International health insurance that provides a range of options up to age of 80 years old.

Comprehensive medical expense annual insurance plan that covers eligible inpatient and outpatient expenses as a result of illness or accident. Yearly maximum limit from RM7 million to RM9 million.

Option to include health screening, pregnancy and delivery benefits, routine dental and optical care. Also International emergency assistance, 24 hour claims enquiry and preexisting and non pre existing chronic conditions covered.

Medical treatment not only in your country of residence but also in any other country within the chosen area of cover

Please contact 6013 4886898 if you are interested to know more about this plan.

Re: Expat health insurance
 

Medical Plan under AXA called International Exclusive. International health insurance that provides a range of options up to age of 80 years old.

Comprehensive medical expense annual insurance plan that covers eligible inpatient and outpatient expenses as a result of illness or accident. Yearly maximum limit from RM7 million to RM9 million.

Option to include health screening, pregnancy and delivery benefits, routine dental and optical care. Also International emergency assistance, 24 hour claims enquiry and preexisting and non pre existing chronic conditions covered.

Medical treatment not only in your country of residence but also in any other country within the chosen area of cover

Please contact 6013 4886898 if you are interested to know more about this plan

Re: Expat health insurance
 

Yes i'd come across their site before, just not got round to looking yet. Thanks for link anyway. God question as to whether Malaysian, a wider Asian or a more international provider will be better VFM etc. :confused:

Re: Expat health insurance
 

I did a quick online quote with William Russell (I think the post relating to it was an ad and got deleted - thought it was strange I must admit) but in any event the quote was £133 pm for bronze (I'm assuming basic!!) cover - that's some premium!! Think I'll be crossing them off the list of options. Might come down following a telephone call maybe but at a starting price of £133 I think they would be one of the last companies I contemplate using. I hope their cover would be excellent at that price, have to say, with the headline figure, I didn't bother looking any deeper :D

Re: Expat health insurance
 

haha.

Fair enough.

I think I will be avoiding them too! That is some hefty pricing.

(Lol @ my post being deleted, but an obvious salesman post just above mine is still sitting there! The thanks you get for trying to help.)

Re: Expat health insurance
 

You posted a link to your blog. The post above is just sharing info about a company/site they are not affiliated too.

It's ok to share useful info as long as posts aren't made to plug one's own site/product ;)

Re: Expat health insurance
 

I don't mean to rock the boat, but from the wording and general sense of the post, I would HUGELY surprised if they were not affiliated to that site they were plugging.

Just saying. :D

Re: Expat health insurance
 

Well lets just agree to disagree, because it doesn't look a plug to me.

:)

Re: Expat health insurance
 

back on track- we found Allianz excellent. Whatever you do stay away from Nordic (seriously expensive, promise the world but fail to deliver) we should have trusted our instincts and stayed with one of the know insurers like Allianz.
[edit:Allianz, not Alliance]!