At Medibroker International, Independent Healthcare Insurance Advisors, we provide clients who visit our Website, with free quotes, comparing benefits of major specialist expatriate insurers against cover levels offered for such benefits. Secondly, we look at premiums to suit the client's budget. Generally, a Comprehensive or Ultra/Premier/Special/Deluxe Plan will cover both Inpatient care whilst offering a series of add-on options. These can range from routine dental/optical/ routine maternity, emergency evacuation, travel cover elsewhere and personal accident. Some Plans even include a period of Income Protection in their Options. Standard or Budget Plans are usually basic emergency and hospital care Plans. They do not offer Outpatient cover, Options, specialist Outpatient cover, nor Complimentary Medicine care.

The majority of expatriate Plans expose clients to paying the bill themselves (for Outpatient costs) and later arguing about settlement with the Insurance Company. Nevertheless, a few insurers are now opening their eyes to global advances in telecommunications (digital satellite) and electronic mail (e-mail) allowing their medical insurance staff to quickly contact doctors and hospitals abroad. Thus "pre-authorisation" systems are now offered by companies such as InterGlobal Insurance Services Limited, where clients only have to call their International Help line to take care of financial negotiations and settlement with hospitals surgeons etc. Inpatient hospital costs are always pre authorised by insurers.

Moving on to the minefield of how to compare and assess premiums. The Insurance Companies and their Underwriters have split the world broadly into three zones. The first zone is Europe, the second 'the rest of the world', excluding the US/Canada/Carribean, and the third is Worldwide, including the USA/Canada and Carribean. The exception being IHI danmark who have an international blanket Plan.