Who pays travel insurance for business travel abroad?

[johncrossley]

Who pays travel insurance for business travel abroad? For most people this is only a few pounds but if you are going to the United States and have serious health problems, that might cost over £1,000, if cover is available at all. What happens if the insurance company doesn't pay out? Does the employer pay for treatment while abroad or do they expect the employee to go bankrupt?

 

[Bletchleyite]

Who pays travel insurance for business travel abroad? For most people this is only a few pounds but if you are going to the United States and have serious health problems, that might cost over £1,000, if cover is available at all. What happens if the insurance company doesn't pay out? Does the employer pay for treatment while abroad or do they expect the employee to go bankrupt?

Assuming the business traveller is an employee, this would always be provided by the employer. How it's done varies, in big firms there's normally a corporate policy, whereas in smaller ones it's often a case of "find a policy you're happy with the cover on and put it on your expenses", I've had both.

It is simply a travel expense. You'd not buy your own flights or hotel for a business trip, so you'd not pay for your own insurance either. If my employer refused to pay for my flights I'd not be forking out myself, I'd just refuse to go, same with insurance.

The insurance will pay out if its terms and conditions are adhered to. A sensible employee reads these, seeking advice from HR as needed, and if they can't comply (e.g. due to a pre-existing condition) flags them up to the employer, and if the employer doesn't resolve the matter then they don't travel.

Obviously if self-employed you are the company and are responsible for yourself, though if the contract involved billing expenses to the contracting company then it's just another expense to bill.

 

[johncrossley]

The insurance will pay out if its terms and conditions are adhered to. A sensible employee reads these, seeking advice from HR as needed, and if they can't comply (e.g. due to a pre-existing condition) flags them up to the employer, and if the employer doesn't resolve the matter then they don't travel.

That's tricky though. It is not always clear what needs to be declared as a medical condition and for some people it is difficult to remember all illnesses in their life. So there is a chance of not being covered because of a technicality.

 

[Bletchleyite]

That's tricky though. It is not always clear what needs to be declared as a medical condition and for some people it is difficult to remember all illnesses in their life. So there is a chance of not being covered because of a technicality.

I've never considered it unclear at all. Insurance companies always provide long lists of conditions covered and not. And if you do consider it unclear, you provide the details to the insurance company and they give you a decision in writing. And you do this, obviously, PRIOR to the travel.

If you don't remember it and it's not on your NHS records (which you can ask your doctor for), then they aren't going to have a way of finding out either, they don't have some sort of crystal ball.

Thus only if you intend to be dishonest (and why would you if someone else was paying? You've nothing to gain and lots to lose) are you likely to have any sort of problem. Most problems people have with travel insurance are where they've failed to declare things or where they've bought a budget policy that doesn't cover what they think it does.

If this is too much of a worry for you, I'd suggest business travel - or any international travel - isn't really for you. There's far more that can go wrong than that.

 

[johncrossley]

If this is too much of a worry for you, I'd suggest business travel - or any international travel - isn't really for you. There's far more that can go wrong than that.

Will the NHS give you your entire medical history that they would give to an insurer on request? That might run into many pages, maybe over 100 with all the blood tests and scans etc. There is bound to be scope for error if you have to translate that into something watertight for insurers.

Travelling to countries with reciprocal health care agreements should be safe enough and healthcare in most developing countries isn't too expensive. The USA and other developed countries without a reciprocal agreement are problematic.

 

[ainsworth74]

Will the NHS give you your entire medical history that they would give to an insurer on request? That might run into many pages, maybe over 100 with all the blood tests and scans etc. There is bound to be scope for error if you have to translate that into something watertight for insurers.

Yes, walk into your GP surgery and make a Subject Access Request for your medical record. There is no charge for making such a request. This is the same information that your GP would give an insurer if they requested a copy of your medical records. I typically request records covering the past two or three years for the people I work with and they vary in length from thirty or forty pages to two or three hundred pages. It all depends on how ill you are really! On the odd occasion I've been sent someone's full record rather than them correctly sending only a few years as requested they can push five hundred pages or so.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Will the NHS give you your entire medical history that they would give to an insurer on request? That might run into many pages, maybe over 100 with all the blood tests and scans etc. There is bound to be scope for error if you have to translate that into something watertight for insurers.

Nobody is asking you to write formal diagnoses. Insurance is a contract of good faith, you answer honestly and openly and provide anything you think may be relevant.

In the vast majority of cases, only current conditions are relevant, and you're going to know about those. There are odd cases where "have you ever had" is relevant, and your insurer will have that clearly in their T&C and on the application form.

If you choose a reputable insurer (don't just pick the cheapest, unlike car insurance there's not a legal minimum of cover), read the policy and you are honest when providing the information they request, then short of the underwriter going out of business during your trip (very unlikely - probably less likely than you dying in a plane crash on the way there) you will be covered as per your contract of insurance.

 

[edwin_m]

As an employee of a large company, I've never been asked to declare any medical conditions prior to travel, so I assume the insurer takes the rough with the smooth and bases the premium on the past record of claims by that company, probably accounting for things like number of employees and amount of travel undertaken. The cost of an occasional serious medical claim arising during travel is likely to be small compared with the total premium payable. It's problematic for confidentiality and incurs costs and delays if a company has to ask employees to declare personal medical conditions and get insurer's specific approval prior to every journey. There is one country I've been to that requires Covid insurance from a list of approved providers prior to granting a visa, but that is just rolled up in the visa fee and charged to whichever project or other activity requires someone to go there.

There may be a list of places it is forbidden to travel to, or where special permission is necessary. A responsible employer should be enforcing this anyway as part of their duty of care to employees, but it may also be influenced by the insurer refusing cover or charging an extra premium if anyone visits. I guess specific individuals with known medical conditions may be barred from travel to a longer list of places or at all, but I'm not aware of any such cases and nor should I be.

 

[johncrossley]

For big companies, it might be cheaper simply not to insure and just pay for any treatment out of pocket. Or maybe pay a small premium to cover any cost over, say, £1 million.

 

[Bletchleyite]

For big companies, it might be cheaper simply not to insure and just pay for any treatment out of pocket. Or maybe pay a small premium to cover any cost over, say, £1 million.

Yes, it's possible for large companies to self-insure. In which case, what you want to be doing is asking them what their policy for payouts is. And if you don't trust them, what you need to do is find a new job - the employment relationship is fundamentally one of mutual trust.

 

[Old Yard Dog]

A key issue to consider is whether you are still covered if you extend your stay for a couple of days at your own expense, taking leave if need be, to enjoy the places you are visiting.

 

[najaB]

A key issue to consider is whether you are still covered if you extend your stay for a couple of days at your own expense, taking leave if need be, to enjoy the places you are visiting.

With my employer you are if doing so results in lower costs (the additional cost of a hotel for the weekend can be less than a Friday evening flight), but not if you extend purely by choice.

 

[Trainbike46]

With my employer you are if doing so results in lower costs (the additional cost of a hotel for the weekend can be less than a Friday evening flight), but not if you extend purely by choice.

and my employer's insurance covers up to 7 days if directly before or after a work trip, policies on this definitely vary.

Worth checking though, and if you are staying for a personal trip and it isn't covered, getting your own travel insurance is certainly advisable for many destinations.

If you're going somewhere that a uk-issued Global Health Insurance Card is valid it is definitely worth getting one; they are free, and from experience I can say that it makes processes in EU hospitals a lot easier!

 

[Tetchytyke]

If you’re travelling a lot then it’s worth having an annual travel insurance policy for yourself anyway. I have one as only emergency treatment is covered by the reciprocal agreement between the IOM and the UK; everything else, including repatriation, is chargeable.

But for off-island business travel my employer has insurance. Extended stays are not, to my knowledge, covered. But as I’m often in the UK I have the annual personal policy anyway.

 

[Bletchleyite]

With my employer you are if doing so results in lower costs (the additional cost of a hotel for the weekend can be less than a Friday evening flight), but not if you extend purely by choice.

If you are doing that make sure you read your policy for any extra insurance you take - some insurers won't cover a trip that doesn't start and end in the UK, which moving from business to personal on the same trip technically isn't. Some will though, and some need notifying of it so they know what date they start being on risk for that trip (normally just the date of the outbound flight etc).