How to get Group Insurance for Foreign Employees?

For foreign employees working in China, they will need medical coverage for international hospitals in China, and hospitals that offer are catered for foreigners with English speaking doctors. However, such hospitals could only be covered by private medical/health insurance, and such a requirement is an essential one when a foreigner looks for a job in China. Group insurance is catered for foreign employees working in China, and employers should look for a group medical insurance policy when hiring foreigners.

So how to choose a group insurance plan for your company? There are many options available, and choosing accordingly is key to obtain a good insurance plan for your employees.

First off, underwriting terms

 

In group insurance, underwriting terms are available in FMU (Full Medical Underwriting). LMHD (Limited Medical History Disregarded) and MHD (Medical History Disregarded).

 

FMU refers to full declaration of medical history of each insured person, and the insurance company will give underwriting results according to the medical history declared by the insured. The insurance company would either provide cover under standard terms, cover any pre-existing conditions with extra premium, excluding certain conditions or decline the application. This is a basic underwriting option that is available for all kinds of applications.

 

LMHD refers to declaration of only partial medical history, where conditions other than what the insurance company required are disregarded. This option is usually available for a small group of insured persons. For insured persons whom have pre-existing conditions but do not belong to the conditions that needed to be declared, then it could be approved under standard terms; if the insured person has pre-existing conditions that belong to one or more conditions that needed to be disclosed, the insurance company will accept cover, apply exclusions or decline coverage approval.

 

MHD refers to no declaration of any medical history by the insured, regardless of what pre-existing conditions the insured might have upon application. This option is usually only available when the there is a medium/large size of the insured group. The insurance company will grant approval for all insured persons if it is in an MHD underwriting basis.

Now, area of coverage

 

Area of coverage options for group insurance classifies into Mainland China, Greater China, Worldwide excluding US and Worldwide. This is similar to an individual policy, where you could choose the area of coverage according to your needs.

 

High-cost provider coverage

 

High-cost providers refer to certain hospitals listed by the insurance company that provides an option to whether to provide full coverage for them, apply a co-payment or exclude them from cover. This could be chosen accordingly according to the hospitals you wish to cover for your employees.

 

Direct-Billing Network

 

Different insurance companys direct-billing network would be different. Some international insurance companies will operate a global direct-billing network, where the insured could enjoy cashless claim worldwide. While some might operate a direct-billing network in selected regions, or in China only. Take note that each insurance companys networks hospital coverage also varies, hence make sure the insurance company you choose could have direct-billing coverage at the hospitals you wish to cover.

 

Dental / Health-Screening / Maternity Coverage

 

Usually the main insurance coverage could cover only regular medical expenses, and if you wish to cover dental, health-screening and maternity, they could be selected as optional cover to your main coverage. They could be chosen accordingly onto your coverage plan, according to your needs.

 

Dependent coverage

 

Not only group insurance could cover your employees, but you could also add in their dependents into the coverage as well. Dependents including spouses and children could be included in the group insurance. Parents of employees however could not be included into the group insurance. For some employees who came to China along with their family, this could provide great relief for the employee.

 

What would be required for apply a group insurance policy?

 

Usually you would need documents such as insureds ID, companys certificate, employment status of each employee etc. Only employees could be the main insured persons in a group policy, where their spouses and children could only enroll as dependents.

 

What happens if someone leaves the company / joins the company?

 

Group insurance policy is a yearly policy; when an employee leaves during the coverage term, and then a new employee joins, the new employee could be enrolled with the remaining coverage term of the previous employee. Group insurance will only be renewed once a year for all employees.

About the author

Jimmy Sun is an insurance broker from Mingya Insurance Brokers, based in Beijing. Jimmy graduated from university in Singapore and received professional insurance training in Singapore, as well, with experience working as an insurance agent at AIA Singapore. Jimmy became an insurance broker at Mingya Insurance Brokers in 2017, and has received multiple awards relating to the health insurance in the company. He's an expert in his field and is delighted to assist with inquiries related to getting insurance in China.

Mingya offers health insurance, travel insurance, corporate insurance and so on for foreigners in China, where Mingya works with multiple international insurance companies providing insurance solutions for foreigners.

Could tap and hold the QR code to add Jimmy for insurance inquiries:

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