How does Azimuth pack so much into their international insurance plans?
Sometimes there are just so darn many benefits squeezed into the Azimuth portfolio of international health, travel medical and employee benefit insurance plans, I can barely pick up the brochure without throwing my back out. All right, so maybe my back had more to do with trying to pick up that bag of Cheetos. Hey, buying them in bulk only makes good financial sense. So maybe the benefits really don't weigh all that much, but they sure are powerful. Sorta like the Melinda Cooper
of the insurance world.
It's not uncommon for us to have prospective clients contact us to ask if our premiums are really correct. After being exposed to the current US rapidly escalating premium rates for health insurance, these clients sometimes just want to be certain that we're not too good to be true. I inform them that while I may be too good to be true - or was that too bizarre to go far? - the plans are really, really good. The premium that tags along with them, much like those fish that swim along right below the sharks, is really, really true and really, really small when you look at it in light of all the benefits intrinsic to the plan. They still want to know how it is we do it. First, we're a smaller (yet growing at a furious pace) company and since we are better at remembering people's names that we are titles, Azimuth takes pride in the fact that even though one of us may not know all the answers, (okay, the other folks here may have all the answers and I get distracted, but you get the idea) we will get you the assistance you need and extend every effort to make sure you're more satisfied than the cats that live next to the tuna cannery dumpster. Now that we've established that you're not paying for my inflated salary and layers of extra management the next benefit to the market Azimuth masters is controlling the costs of eligible expenses. Because medical services outside of the US are typically 20-60% lower than US charges you wind of being the lucky recipient of a lower premium rate that reflects the reduced cost of the offshore charges. Pretty slick, huh? Slicker than greased whale droppings on an iceberg, I think. Finally, Azimuth is able to offer a really great value because our plans do not qualify as standard domestic insurance plans. This means that we are able to choose our risks much more effectively. For those applying for the Beacon Series, there exists restrictive wording for existing conditions. This means that while the plan will generally cover most negative developments to our insureds health, we do limit or exclude benefits for existing conditions to a very large extent. For those considering making an application for a Meridian Series plan, we are able to accept the great majority of applicants. However, we often issue riders for existing conditions. A rider is an exclusion specific to an individual and to their existing condition(s). These riders are usually denoted with a time frame, e.g. a 48 month wait for hypertension, etc. This helps us to accept more insured members, limits Azimuth's exposure to known risks and perhaps most important to those clients who are already insured through Azimuth, keeps both the new and renewal premiums as affordable as possible. We will also apply rate increases for those clients who are....um, let's say "under-tall" in relation to their weight. Why are our underwriters so tough? I mean they are Chuck Liddell tough. But if you take a look at how your renewal premiums stack up in comparison to what you would be paying with competing plans in the market, you'll find them soft and cuddly. I mean Mr. Whipple soft. Don't squeeze them though; I find they get very agitated when I try.
PS. Insurance is the Brussels sprout of subjects. You know you need to understand it for your own good and I'll work to make it palatable (if it doesn't work, feed me to the dog under the table). So, if you enjoy learning a little more about it in an (occasionally) entertaining way, then someone else might too. Share the love via social media or get on the subscriber list. After all - Don't cost nuttin'
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| Melinda Cooper - quite a knockout |
It's not uncommon for us to have prospective clients contact us to ask if our premiums are really correct. After being exposed to the current US rapidly escalating premium rates for health insurance, these clients sometimes just want to be certain that we're not too good to be true. I inform them that while I may be too good to be true - or was that too bizarre to go far? - the plans are really, really good. The premium that tags along with them, much like those fish that swim along right below the sharks, is really, really true and really, really small when you look at it in light of all the benefits intrinsic to the plan. They still want to know how it is we do it. First, we're a smaller (yet growing at a furious pace) company and since we are better at remembering people's names that we are titles, Azimuth takes pride in the fact that even though one of us may not know all the answers, (okay, the other folks here may have all the answers and I get distracted, but you get the idea) we will get you the assistance you need and extend every effort to make sure you're more satisfied than the cats that live next to the tuna cannery dumpster. Now that we've established that you're not paying for my inflated salary and layers of extra management the next benefit to the market Azimuth masters is controlling the costs of eligible expenses. Because medical services outside of the US are typically 20-60% lower than US charges you wind of being the lucky recipient of a lower premium rate that reflects the reduced cost of the offshore charges. Pretty slick, huh? Slicker than greased whale droppings on an iceberg, I think. Finally, Azimuth is able to offer a really great value because our plans do not qualify as standard domestic insurance plans. This means that we are able to choose our risks much more effectively. For those applying for the Beacon Series, there exists restrictive wording for existing conditions. This means that while the plan will generally cover most negative developments to our insureds health, we do limit or exclude benefits for existing conditions to a very large extent. For those considering making an application for a Meridian Series plan, we are able to accept the great majority of applicants. However, we often issue riders for existing conditions. A rider is an exclusion specific to an individual and to their existing condition(s). These riders are usually denoted with a time frame, e.g. a 48 month wait for hypertension, etc. This helps us to accept more insured members, limits Azimuth's exposure to known risks and perhaps most important to those clients who are already insured through Azimuth, keeps both the new and renewal premiums as affordable as possible. We will also apply rate increases for those clients who are....um, let's say "under-tall" in relation to their weight. Why are our underwriters so tough? I mean they are Chuck Liddell tough. But if you take a look at how your renewal premiums stack up in comparison to what you would be paying with competing plans in the market, you'll find them soft and cuddly. I mean Mr. Whipple soft. Don't squeeze them though; I find they get very agitated when I try.
PS. Insurance is the Brussels sprout of subjects. You know you need to understand it for your own good and I'll work to make it palatable (if it doesn't work, feed me to the dog under the table). So, if you enjoy learning a little more about it in an (occasionally) entertaining way, then someone else might too. Share the love via social media or get on the subscriber list. After all - Don't cost nuttin'
PPS. Living or traveling internationally now or soon? Contact your insurance agent and demand to see what Azimuth Risk Solutions can do for you. Or, visit www.AzimuthRisk.com to learn more
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