Axa Global Healthcare has launched a modular international private medical insurance (IPMI) plan for small businesses of up to 74 employees.
The Global Health Adapt plans will be available for all new business from January 2025, replacing the previous offering.
Two geographical regions are available for the plan, worldwide or worldwide excluding USA, and a choice of excess levels with a higher excess meaning a higher reduction on employer premiums.
A core module is included along with eight optional modules, almost all of which require the outpatient module to be selected:
- Outpatient
- Drugs and dressings (requires outpatient module)
- Health check (requires outpatient module)
- Pregnancy and child berth (requires outpatient module)
- Assisted fertility (requires outpatient module and either of two highest pregnancy module benefits)
- Upgraded dental care (requires outpatient module)
- Optical (requires outpatient module)
- Semi-private room for Hong Kong only.
Modular benefits
The core module includes two benefit levels £2,000,000 / €2,500,000 / $3,200,000 or £5,000,000 / €6,250,000 / $8,000,000.
Treatment covered under this module includes:
- Hospital charges as an inpatient or a day patient
- Cancer treatment including radiotherapy, chemotherapy and biological therapies
- Emergency evacuation and repatriation
- Surgery
- Ambulance transport
- Parental accommodation
- Accidental damage to teeth
- Inpatient psychiatric treatment
Outpatient module
The outpatient module covers employees for outpatient consultations with medical practitioners, diagnostic tests, outpatient psychiatric treatment, physiotherapy and Chinese medicine.
It offers a choice of four limits for the maximum amount of treatment covered under the module, per person, per year.
- £3,500 / €4,375 / $5,600
- £7,500 / €9,375 / $12,000
- £10,000 / €12,500 / $16,000
- Paid in full
The smallest two limits are only available to those choosing the smaller core benefit value, the largest two limits are only available for those selecting the highest core benefit.
For those selecting the outpatient module the insurer’s healthcare payment card will be included for employees to pay for outpatient treatment.
Companies based in Hong Kong taking out a plan insured by Axa General Insurance Hong Kong Limited can utilise the semi-private room option.
This means employees will be treated in a semi-private room rather than a fully private room and will therefore result in cheaper premiums.
The higher costs associated with fully private rooms in Hong Kong and the pressure on medical inflation in the area were highlighted in Health & Protection’s Hong Kong IPMI roundtable earlier this year.
App for all
A new all-in-one app makes insurance details, wellbeing and telehealth services available 24/7, everywhere in the world.
This will allow employees to manage their policies, benefit from personalised wellness features, and receive medical support through virtual care services.
The insurer said the plan provides “comprehensive, modular healthcare coverage that adapts to the evolving needs of SMEs and their employees” by offering SMEs customisable health insurance options that scale with their workforce.
Axa Global Healthcare CEO Xavier Lestrade (pictured) said he was thrilled to bring forward the product tailored to SME businesses’ unique needs.
“While the IPMI industry has previously lagged behind in product innovation, we’ve created a solution which adapts to the evolving needs of SMEs,” he said.
“Human experience matters in insurance and is just as important as digital-based experience, and this is where we are aiming to make a difference with a new proposition.”
In February Axa said it would be focusing on IPMI as part of its five-year growth strategy.
“The SME market is a core pillar of this growth vision,” Lestrade added.