The purpose of international health insurance is to cover relocated employees and their families for conditions that occur after the policy has begun. It is therefore important to understand what is, and isn’t covered before joining.

If you have a medium or large number of employees to be covered, you might be able to benefit from something called ‘Medical History Disregarded’ which can mean that your employees don’t need to go through an underwriting process and if you’re transferring from another policy, that cover can continue uninterrupted with waiting periods for things like dental and maternity benefits waived. If you have a small number of employees to be covered however, then it’s likely that your group will need to be underwritten. Group sizes where underwriting is imposed vary between providers but generally if your group is under 10 members, then some kind of underwriting process will be required. Underwriting is the process whereby an insurance carrier examines the medical records of a prospective insured in order to decide what they can be covered for, and at what cost.

The two main ways insurance providers assess applications for cover are moratorium underwriting and full medical underwriting. Both have their own advantages and disadvantages, and there is some debate among providers as to which is better for the customer.

Moratorium underwriting is where only three or four questions are asked about medical history. These are as straightforward as ‘Have you been to a doctor in the last two years?’ If you state that you have been free of symptoms, treatment and advice for a medical condition in a given period before the policy starts (usually between two and five years), you’ll receive cover for it.

There is no need to fill in a detailed health assessment questionnaire, and any pre-existing conditions for which you have received treatment or advice are automatically excluded. However, cover for these conditions is usually reinstated after two continuous years from the start of the policy, should you remain symptom, treatment and advice-free in that time.

The upside of moratorium is that it’s fast to implement. The downside is that the policyholder will most likely get underwritten every time they make a claim, which is not a welcome prospect for overseas assignees.

The fundamental selling point of any kind of insurance is peace of mind. An employee in unfamiliar territory will sleep easier knowing that they have done everything they need to at the time of purchase, and that should they require treatment, their insurer is ready to take care of it promptly and without issue.

Full medical underwriting is arguably the preferable option in such circumstances. This is where the insurance provider asks detailed questions about your medical history at the time of application. This process can take some time – generally up to a week to gather all the information. They then make a decision on what will and won’t be covered on the policy.

The advantages here are numerous: you know exactly what you are and aren’t covered for; the process only happens once when you apply; when you claim it is processed quicker and with the minimum of fuss. In short, full medical writing provides employees with peace of mind and allows them to put health concerns at the back of their mind, regardless of location.

This is not to say that full medical underwriting is entirely free of drawbacks. As the name implies, it is comprehensive and therefore takes longer. This also means that the insurance provider will want to know lots of intimate details about your employees.

However, health insurance is too important a purchase to be made in haste, and the more the insurance provider knows about the insured, the better for them. By taking the time before relocating to provide the necessary information for the most efficient cover possible, they can focus on their assignment without the niggling worry that any medical claim they make will require further underwriting.

Both underwriting options have a similar outcome, and moratorium is not without its advantages, but peace of mind is crucial in new and potentially volatile surroundings and full medical underwriting goes a long way to deliver this.