ESSENTIAL READING FOR TRAVEL INSURANCE INDUSTRY PROFESSIONALS WWW.ITIJ.CO.UK NOVEMBER 2010 • ISSUE 118 Canadians warned The Travel Health Association of Canada (THIA) has told Canadian snowbirds they should have proof of private health insurance in place prior to leaving the country this winter. Sarah Watson has the details THIA states that private insurance is ‘essential’ for all winter destinations, but in particular for the US, where soaring health costs and uncertainty about the future of healthcare reform is forcing many economically stressed hospitals to demand up-front deposits or direct payment arrangements for patients who cannot prove they have insurance coverage. David Hartman, current president of THIA, commented on the situation: “The relentless increase in healthcare costs worldwide makes international travel insurance absolutely essential, even for one-day trips, as provincial health insurance reimbursements for out-of-country medical services don’t come close to covering foreign hospital bills Strength in numbers Mondial Assistance UK is calling for fellow travel the fi rms to prevent multiple fi ctitious claims – made of concern is personal possessions and baggage’. insurers to get behind a number of industry to a number of insurers – even if the policyholder has “In some cases,” he continued, “the whole claim initiatives to tackle fraud. Mandy Aitchison reports used different names in their attempt to defraud. is false and the growth of websites that sell fake Other moves by Mondial that could easily be receipts is further adding to the problem. We “There’s no question that the travel insurance adopted by other travel insurers is expert training estimate that up to 50 per cent of all claims for that can total thousands of dollars per day.” sector is facing tough times,” says Mike Webb, chief of call handlers, according to Webb: “Training has baggage and personal possessions may be infl ated, THIA has offered a number of helpful suggestions executive offi cer of Mondial Assistance in the UK. been given to the Mondial travel claims teams or completely false.” to travellers, including one that will resonate with “There is no need to list the catalogue of events that to help them identify the behavioural ‘shows’ Webb went on to ask: “As this is such a costly problem travel insurers around the globe: don’t buy on have made 2010 a year not to be remembered! that could suggest fraud. There is also a system for all travel insurers, why is there such a lack of focus price alone – all policies need to fi t the health However, the industry has the ability to deal with its of ‘red-fl agging’ customer responses to key on this? It is enormously disappointing that even after profi le of the person travelling. Hartman added: two largest problems – low premium income and questions asked as part of the claims process.” If many years of discussion, the travel insurance industry “There are a lot of travel insurance products in the fraud, but still fails to tackle these issues.” Mondial a claimant makes three ‘red fl ag’ comments, the still haven’t joined forces to create a generic system to marketplace and very few Canadians who don’t Assistance has been working with four other insurers case is passed on to a fraud manager for further prevent fraud. It is a relatively simple problem to resolve qualify for some level of coverage. For those with in order to create a shared database for all claims, investigation. According to Webb, although the and it’s worked in other sectors of the insurance industry medical conditions, the best way to purchase travel which creates a risk score, allowing the companies to company does see some attempts at fraudulent such as the Claims Underwriting Exchange.” insurance is to deal with a qualifi ed adviser who improve their fraud detection rates. It has also helped medical and cancellation claims, ‘the major area ITIJ asked Julie Remmington continued on p5 deals extensively in travel insurance.” 4 NEWS IN THIS ISSUE ITIJ CONTRIBUTORS REGULARS Tatum Anderson is a freelance international health and technology business writer with a decade of experience. Her News continued 5 specialist subjects include emerging markets, business, health and public health policy. She has written for a variety of publications, Editorial comment 6 including The Economist, Guardian Weekly, BBC News Online, Wall Company brief 9 Street Journal Europe and the Financial Times. Insurance matters 10 Gerry Bolger MHM, RN, is a freelance in-flight nurse Health matters 15 and policy advisory on pressure ulcers at the Department of Travel matters 16 Health, England. He is also the programme director for the Quality in Caring work within the Chief Nursing Officer’s (CNO) IPMI news 18 Directorate at the Department of Health. As well as being a Cross-border care 20 registered nurse, Gerry also holds a Masters’ degree in health management. He formerly led the Royal College of Nursing Air ambulance news: 22 In-flight Nurses Association as their chair for eight years and has ITIJ Awards 26 been involved in clarifying issues on medicines administration in that role. Service directory 43 Grapevine 50 Milan Korcok is an award-winning freelance health policy On the move 51 and economics writer who covers travel insurance, public health, and medical education issues in Canada and the US. He has been writing about health financing and policy issues in these countries since the 1960s, is a frequent contributor to leading North American professional journals and consumer media, and is publisher of the consumer website www.travelinsurancefile.com. FEATURES He lives in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Feature: Doctors! Please do no harm! 28 ITIJ asks if general practitioners know enough about travel insurance rules Feature: In the line of fi re 30 Evacuating clients from war zones takes a particular set of skills Assistance & Healthcare World Markets: Belgium 36 A small European country with plenty to offer a tourist in need of help ITIJ TEAM Editor-in-chief: Ian Cameron ITIJ Published on behalf of: Voyageur Publishing & Events Ltd, Editor: Sarah Watson Voyageur Buildings, 43 Colston St, Bristol BS1 5AX, UK Voyageur Buildings, 43 Colston Street, Bristol BS1 5AX, UK Title editor: Mandy Aitchison Telephone: +44 (0)117 922 6600 The information contained in this publication has been published in good faith and Copy editor: James Paul Wallis every effort has been made to ensure its accuracy. Neither the publisher nor Voyageur editorial dept: Ext. 3 Ltd can accept any responsibility for any error or misinterpretation. All liability for loss, Conference manager: Denise Clements disappointment, negligence or other damage caused by reliance on the information advertising dept: Ext. 1 contained in this publication, or in the event of bankruptcy or liquidation or cessation Production: Helen Watts of the trade of any company, individual or fi rm mentioned is hereby excluded. Kirsty Diclaudio fax: +44 (0)117 929 2023 Advertising sales: David Fitzpatrick Printed by Pensord Press, South Wales, United Kingdom email: [email protected] Copyright © Voyageur Publishing 2010. Materials in this publication may not be reproduced in any James Miller web: www.itij.co.uk form without permission Finance: Elspeth Reid INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL INSURANCE JOURNAL ISSN 1743-1522 Louise Goddard Would you like to make a comment? Design: V Creative Design WOULD YOU LIKE TO SUBSCRIBE? Please get in touch with Ian Cameron, vcreativedesign.co.uk VISIT www.itij.co.uk Editor-in-Chief of ITIJ on +44 (0)117 922 6600 ext205 InternationalInternational TravelTravel InsuranceInsurance JournalJournal ■ www.itij.co.uk NEWS 5 Executives told to Strength in check policies numbers continued from p1 Business travellers have been urged to check the from The Travel Insurance Claims Committee small print of their travel insurance to make sure it is (TICC) her view of how insurers deal with fraud up to date and contains all the necessary coverage, in the UK. She said: “The TICC has been trying as the Association of Corporate Travel Executives to assist in launching a database along the lines of (ACTE) reports that the sale of such policies will rise the household and motor Claims Underwriting in tandem with the increasing number of corporate Exchange for a number of years now, but with very travellers. Ron DiLeo, executive director of ACTE, little support until recently. The major resistance to said the improving economy and better outlook for the database has been cost, as the margins in travel the travel industry has contributed to more business insurance are very low and there has also been a excursions being booked: “Everyone is expecting debate as to whether the cost should be borne by their travel activities to be up.” the insurer or the claims handler. While everyone at TICC agrees the idea in principle, trying to move the project up the agenda of senior decision makers in certain insurers has been painfully slow.” Julie added: “A number of claims handlers and some insurers have been working together to try and prove Brits abroad uncovered the benefit of the idea and last year we were able to get some historical data analysed by one of the The Association of British Travel Agents (ABTA) repatriation.” ABTA’s survey also found that in the database hosts. There is still a lot of work to do on has presented new research, which shows that past five years, 12 per cent of respondents had made the project, but the team now has the backing of the around one in five holidaymakers is taking a risk by a claim on their travel insurance policy, with three per Insurance Fraud Bureau (IFB) and a tender has just going abroad without any travel insurance.