Treat Me Better Than I Deserve

Azimuth's Client Service - An Astoundingly Good Experience

It's kind of like the weather, everyone talks about it, but nobody does anything about it.  Actually, that's not true.  After all, doesn't that phrase insult the American Indian's rain dance?  Feathered headdresses aside, I'm referring to customer service.  Frankly, the condition of it is generally dismal.  If you have never experienced the anguish of a botched drive through order - is it really that difficult to keep your stinkin' pickles?  After all, they are the most vile vegetable matter ever conjured by demons.  But I digress. Despite the prevailing winds of unpleasant, unhelpful and bored customer service standards that exist at many businesses and particularly permeate the insurance industry, Azimuth's staff of dedicated professionals offer the most pleasant surprise since Grandpa got you that Red Ryder BB gun that you'd been asking for.  After 28 years, you either proved you were responsible or just finally wore the old fellow down. I just hope you are reading this with two functioning eyes.  

It's really about the people.  Azimuth is fortunate to have assembled a group of the most talented, dedicated and intelligent folks in the industry.  Here in the Midwestern part of the USA, where Azimuth is headquartered, finding nice folks is happily not that difficult.  Finding staff like Azimuth's is a great deal harder.  Every candidate is carefully screened for skill and knowledge - our staff averages over a decade of insurance industry experience - but it's the X factor that makes things tick like a Swiss watch for our clients.  Unlike the one I bought from that guy on the street - he said it was a Rolex.  I should have known that it's not spelled, "Rollax", sigh.  Back to our people. That X factor isn't the ability to hit a high note or juggle flaming chainsaws.  Although, that would be really cool if I could just get them to try it.  The Azimuth staff's X factor is their sincere desire to help our clients and apply their skills and knowledge to doing exactly that. Whether you call to ask a question, need a health care provider referral, have a claim or are in the middle of a life threatening emergency, the folks behind the scenes at Azimuth will be friendly, professional and ready to help any time of the day or night.  A whole lot better than what you probably experienced at your local driver's license branch.  Try calling them at 2:30 in the morning.  Tell the janitor 'hello' for me.

So, if you want to be treated in a manner to which you could become accustomed, make sure you take a careful look at AzimuthRisk.com before your next international trip or international work assignment.  

Banging My Head Harder Than Usual

Pre-existing conditions and how they are(not) covered with travel medical insurance plans

   The other day, some guy I know had a fender-bender. When did 'fenders' become 'quarter panels'?  The body shop guys run the world I guess.  He was fuming that he'd been calling around to different insurance companies and couldn't find one that would take him as a client and at the same time, pay for the prior damage to his car.  Hey, I never said this guy was smart. This sort of thing has me banging my head harder than Greg Louganis at a Metallica concert.  Still, it got me thinking about how shocked and appalled some people are when they find out that travel medical plans won't cover the medical conditions they have full knowledge exist on or before the day the coverage begins.  Let's think this through a bit.  If an insurance plan offered coverage for existing conditions, it might be logical to expect that the insurer would get A LOT of claims for medical services related to them.  Many of them more expensive than Eddie Griffin's driving habits. As a result, one of three things would happen. First, because of the losses, the premiums for the insurance would rise to a level where only those who bathe in caviar and rinse in champagne would see it as affordable.  Second, the insurer would see the losses and it were Azimuth, Lloyd's would end our relationship faster than a Lindsay Lohan relapse. The third option is we could say we covered it and then didn't.  Nice trick, but it only works once, it's fraudulent and we'd see Lindsay Lohan results with this one too.  

So, what do you do if you do have an existing health condition?  Good question; which I'll answer if you can tell me where I left my keys a couple of weeks ago.  I still can't find them.  I'm really troubled because I can't unlock the Cheetos cabinet until I do.  It's particularly aggravating considering all the trouble I went to 'borrow' and copy the warden's key *sigh*.  Okay, I'll go ahead since you're not talking.  The Beacon Series offers a Sudden Onset of Pre-existing condition benefit up to $15,000.  Now, I just got done saying that existing conditions aren't covered.  My ADD is bad but it's not Michael Jackson Bad. I always wondered how he came up with the one glove thing.  Didn't his other hand get cold?  So, pre-ex isn't covered as a general rule, but the Sudden Onset benefit allows for a little wiggle room.  It won't pay for maintenance medications, meaning that if you're using an ongoing prescription drug, that's still your responsibility and won't be an eligible expense.  However, if you are traveling and have a sudden recurrence, what most of us would call an attack (note: there are certain plan wording specifications regarding this, please see here for the description), the Sudden Onset benefit rides to the rescue with up to $15,000 worth of benefits.  Pretty sweet, huh?    It's a whole lot better than banging your head against the wall; which is what you will feel like doing when working with other insurance providers.

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

Eeeny, Meeny, Miney Oh No!

What to consider when you look at travel plan options

Okay, so maybe I'm not the smartest guy (However, I do possess an annoying penchant for pointing out the obvious - obviously) but when faced with a lot of choices for things I don't understand very well. I'm pretty a less intelligent version of Dumb & Dumber.

 When the waiter asks,"would you like that with a creme fraiche sauce?"  Uh, no?  Yes?  Can I get it on the side?  When the mechanic queries me, "You want 10W 30 oil, right?"  Um, right..would it be better for me to get 11W? 9W?  Or maybe I should stick with the W and go for a 40.  Do I have to carry it around in a brown bag?  Anyway, the point is most all of us have come face-to-face with the prospect of having to answer something when we have little idea what we should be considering.  It's a routine, mild intimidation that's sort of on par with the neighborhood kid.  You know, the one who shoots you a dirty look when you ride his tricycle without permission.  Don't laugh - he seems pretty tough for a three year old and he doesn't always let me ride it when I ask.  So I can fully sympathize with clients who may be a smidgen unsure exactly what to do when going through Azimuth's quoting/application/fulfillment system for the Beacon Series travel medical insurance plan.

Fortunately, while I may be Forrest Gump's duller brother, I am a savant when it comes to travel insurance.  As you go through the system, you'll be asked a few questions (fortunately, none that inquire about why you were eating Cheetos in your underwear while staring off into the distance at 3 am.  Okay, so maybe fortunate just for me) including your date of birth (sorry, but if you don't know this one, you are on your own), the date you want the insurance to begin & end and whether or not you want the optional Sports Rider - you know you do, you wild animal you.  Make sure you select it if you think you may finally muster the guts to do that para-sailing you've always said you would or if you decide that it's finally time to do some rappelling down  the mountainside.  For some of us, it's not necessary as the biggest risk we will face is getting accidentally sprayed in the eye with lime juice as we squeeze it poolside.  Next, you will be asked to choose your deductible (for more detail, click here for my older post on this topic).  The best suggestion is to choose the highest one you can reasonably afford, Ms. & Mr. Moneybags.  The next question is to decide how to pick the best overall maximum limit for the time you are traveling.  This one has some trick in the pickin'.  The general rule is pick the highest one you can afford.  After all, since the whole idea of buying insurance is to have the insurer pick up the tab if things go worse than the next William Hung album, you'll want to have as much coverage as possible.  Still, insurance buyers want to have options and options Azimuth has.  Something unexpected can happen to a person's health at any time, but the longer someone travels the bigger the opportunity for a health challenge and for the cost related to it to be larger.  This is a long way of saying that the longer you intend to be traveling, the bigger the overall maximum benefit you should consider purchasing.  If you're going to be away for just a few days, then maybe the $60,000 or $110,000 maximum benefit level is right for you.  Planning on going to the mountain top and spending a few months studying with the guru? Go with $110,000.  Finally taking that year (or more) away from it all and trying carny work in another country?  Better go with the $1.1 million or $2 million maximum benefit and brush up on how to growl "Keep your hands inside or lose 'em on this ride.  She's a mean one." in the local dialect.  Staying permanently or sorta permanently?  By the way, why do they call hair coloring a 'permanent'?  After all, it's gone in a couple of weeks - darn ADD thing.  Then have a look at the Meridian Series for expatriate health insurance needs.  

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

Coulda Been Worse... I Might Have Been Having a Good Time

 A Collection of the Misunderstood

I suddenly had a big flash of insight and compassion for Nick Nolte, James Brown and that lady who really, really likes to visit her plastic surgeon.  I'll leave it to you to determine who's who, or who's whom or what's what.  I got sick.  Not you're standard issue runny nose, play hooky from work or school and go noodling for catfish kinda sick.  I got the flu.  Yes, the lie in bed, try not move, feel my joints ache from that annoying breathing habit and generally wish for a meteor strike to come crashing through the roof and instantly turn me into a former blogster.  The mid term result of this journey through viral Valhalla compelled me to take a photo to document the slog of sickness.  I mean, after all why should I be the only one who's been made queasy?  So, back to my epiphany.  Most everyone has seen the pictures of celebrities above (okay, I'm no celebrity, just a kid with a dream) and assumed they have simply reaped what they've sown as a result of drug and/or alcohol problems and other unhealthy quirks, such as smacking their wives around.  I've got a new theory.  After the shocking experience of seeing myself in the mirror, I think maybe they just had a bad cold & flu season.  Maybe not.  All I know is that I'm really, really glad I wasn't off having a great time basking in the sun, enjoying a cool drink by the pool or hiking off to see some majestic hilltop or other point of interest while in another country, only to be waylaid by the vile microorganisms that invaded my system.  Until I began working in this business, I never even considered getting travel medical insurance when I was out of my home country.  I figured, "heck, I've got health insurance if anything were to happen to me".  Nah, that's not true.  Truth is, I didn't think about it at all. Most people don't.  What they don't know is that many policies issued in the US have time and/or geographic limitations that limit or eliminate coverage. Many domestic plans indicate they provide "emergency coverage" and never bother to define exactly what constitutes an emergency - by the looks of me, I was in the throes of an emergency, but I'm not sure the insurance company would have thought so if I'd been overseas. The Beacon Series travel medical plan offers benefits for both emergency and non-emergency conditions.  But going on about standard domestic plans, even if they do have some benefit, the person insured is out of luck if they need an emergency medical evacuation,  trip delay benefits or lost checked luggage coverage.  Just think about how many of these pictures would never have had to appear if they had just had good travel medical protection and could have replaced the Nyquil they had in their luggage.  Then again, maybe they hit the Nyquil a little too hard anyway.  

I'm a Lousy Shopper - Sometimes

Details, (policy) Details....

The other day I noticed how ratty my wardrobe was getting.  Ever the frugal consumer, I decided to embark on a quick shopping trip to my local T.J. Maxx (for the uninitiated, it's where clothes and other sundries that failed to be scooped up from the 'Clearance' section go to die).  I found what I believed to be some superb deals on some nice stuff.  In particular, I found a lightweight rust'ish' colored merino wool number made by an Italian guy I'd never heard of, but hey, why not?  Since I'm still tall, but not the larger figure I once was, I opted for the size large. I pretty much get everything in large.  Sometimes the clothes give me a skosh more room than necessary, sometimes a perfect fit and then there's this sweater.  Apparently lost in translation was the fact that this size large sweater was only that way when worn by dwarf hamsters.  Naturally, after having removed all the tags and any other vestige that would evidence my proof of purchase, I threw it on and headed out the door before the error of my transaction had fully been realized in my mind.  As I cruised along to a holiday gathering, I noticed that my forearms had seemingly grown to elephantine proportions.  I had an irritating, Popeye-like sensation that was definitely not what I'd planned to have.  Worse still, was that the sweater was so unforgiving that should I decide to steal an extra helping of Aunt Cheryl's homemade sweet potato casserole, it would announce it's presence beneath my sweater before fully making its way past my gullet. Perhaps the one saving grace of this article of clothing is that it was clinging enough to make some needy ex-girlfriends look detached and ambivalent.  So, at least my calorie count was down for the gathering.  The point with all this blather is the danger of assumption.  One former workplace had a mantra that I had failed to remember: "Assumption is the mother of all screw ups".  Granted, this is a paraphrased, sanitized,PG, version of the mantra, but the message is the same.  It is often crucial to have a thorough understanding of details.  

Now by now, you may be asking yourself what my personal shopping habits have to do with insurance.  As much as we may wish to skip over them and move forward with the next thing we sometimes have to get down and roll around in the weeds of minutiae for a least a little while.  And believe me, coming from a guy who's personality is filled with more ADD holes in my  attention span than your favorite block of Swiss cheese, this is not the easiest of suggestions to make.  Azimuth is continually trying to find ways to make the process easier, more streamlined and better understood, but until we are able to inject plan wordings into our client's brains (clinical trials didn't work out so well) we will implore you to delve into the finer points.  We have made it easier by giving clear explanations of how terms are defined, where details can be found and expressing them in terms as plainly as we are able.  So take a few minutes - please don't assume that something is covered just because you have insurance.  Examine your plan wording a bit, maybe call and ask a question of your insurance professional or of us.  You are welcome to connect with us any time via Service@AzimuthRisk.com or just pick up the phone and give us a call at 317-644-6291 and we'll do our best to make it understandable.  Anybody know how I can use a crowbar to remove a sweater without ripping it?

This story from the BBC has some pretty good suggestions about how to plan for your currency exchange before you arrive at your destination.  It may still be smart to research the local cultural and currency exchange outside of 'official' channels.  For example, if you travel to Caracas, Venezuela you will be met with a host of locals attempting to exchange Bolivars. Keep an eye out for Bolivar Fuentes (you want this one) and old Bolivars - their value is different) for hard currency at a much superior exchange rate than is officially quoted.  Keep in mind your personal safety and security and use common sense when making such exchanges.  Better yet, establish a local contact, perhaps through the hotel staff where you will be staying who may be able to put you in touch with a local resident who will be happy to arrange a mutually beneficial exchange.

Like many people who are deeply entrenched in office work, I fantasize about learning to scuba dive and having a deep sea adventure.  I was particularly drawn to the idea of doing this in Greece and quickly began thinking about the civil unrest that's been happening in sections of Athens in particular.  If you are planning international travel, how much does news of events such as these play into your travel plans and planning?  Are you deterred completely?  Plan around and learn about the area you'll be visiting in order to avoid the hot pockets? Or, are you completely undaunted and want to go see what all the fuss is about for yourself?