With the Covid-19 pandemic meaning many employees are now working from home, lots of companies are waking up tot the fact that their businesses can still operate just as effectively with their employees working remotely. Could working form home be the future? Who knows. But once the pandemic is over, it’s likely that some companies will allow their employees to continue working on a remote basis.
If you happen to run a business with a team of remote staff, then you’ll probably want to offer healthcare for your team members. While it’s not legally required, it’s definitely a perk that will attract the best talent. Enter SafetyWing, an insurance company that’s specifically targeting digital nomads and global businesses.
SafetyWing Remote Health
SafetyWing Remote Health offers full coverage for employees in over 175 countries with an annual maximum of $1 million. Coverage in Singapore, Hong Kong and the US has an additional costs involved.
You can add members of your team to the same plan regardless of where they’re located and you can add or remove them at any time. So whether they’re full time, part time, or work for you only occasionally, you can have the flexibility to include them on the plan whenever you like. You can also choose whether employees can add dependents or not.
Not all employees or contractors have to be added, but all members within a specific category need to be added to the plan. For example, if you want to add “directors” to the plan then all directors of the company would need to be added.
There are certain countries where employees can travel to but cannot be a local citizen and there are no countries in the world where your staff can’t at least receive emergency treatment on planned trips up to 30 days. To see which countries offer restricted coverage you can view the exclusions are listed here.
Here’s a table of what’s included in the Remote Health plan:
As you can see above, your team members are covered for things like hospital treatment, cancer treatment, reconstructive surgery, emergency outpatient visits, prescription drugs, surgeries, physical therapy, organ transplants, ambulances and repatriation (must be following an evacuation).
Remote Health also has no exclusions for pandemics like Covid-19.
Members receive an insurance ID card and they can reach out for 24/7 assistance to have any treatment pre-approved, or show up at any hospital in the world to get reimbursed later. For more serious emergencies, members should head to the nearest hospital and the payment will be taken care of directly between the insurance company and the hospital (direct billing). For things like outpatient visits members must pay out of pocket and claim reimbursement after. Reimbursement usually takes around 7 days or less.
Pricing
Your exact price will depend on several factors, including: age, your company size, and what add-ons you choose. As a rough example, the estimated monthly fee for employees aged between 18 and 39 would be:
1-2 employees – $153 per person per month
3-9 employees – $117 per person per month
10-19 employees – $139 per person per month
20-29 employees – $116 per person per month
30-39 employees – $107 per person per month
40-49 employees – $83 per person per month
As you can see above, the price jumps when you reach over 10 employees, but that’s because extra benefits are included for larger teams. The price then becomes lower the more team members you have. Check out SafetyWing’s pricing page to calculate how much it would cost your company.
Premium Add-Ons
There are several add-ons you can include on the plan. These are:
Dental – Team members receive $1.5K in dental coverage for things like routine check-ups, fillings, crowns and dentures. If you sign up as a company with less than 10 team members then in the first year there is a 9 month waiting period before the benefit becomes available.
$0 deductible – The default annual deductible is $250 but you can choose to reduce this to $0.
Outpatient – You can choose to include outpatient care for medical services outside of the hospital. This comes with a 10% co-pay.
Maternity – The maternity add-on offers coverage for pregnancy and routine check-ups, scans and delivery costs. Members are covered for up to $5,000 USD for routine maternity care with a co-pay of 20%. There’s a 12 month waiting period before coverage activates for groups of less than 10 members.
Screenings & Vaccines – You can also choose to add coverage of up to $250 per year for things like routine screenings (think cancer screening, vital signs) and vaccinations.
What’s not covered
Everything is covered except the following things:
- treatment of injuries sustained from base jumping,
- cliff diving,
- flying in an unlicensed aircraft or as a learner,
- martial arts,
- free climbing,
- mountaineering with or without ropes,
- scuba diving to a depth of more than 30 metres,
- trekking to a height of over 4,000 metres,
- bungee jumping,
- canyoning,
- hang-gliding,
- paragliding or microlighting,
- parachuting,
- potholing,
- skiing off piste
- any other winter sports activity carried out off piste.
What about pre-existing conditions?
If you have a larger company with more than 10 people then SafetyWing won’t ask for pre-existing conditions and your employees will be covered. For teams of less than 10 people, the underwriting team will take a look at your team member’s application within 48 hours and give one of three decisions. Either they’ll cover it, cover it at a higher price (or you can exclude it) or they’ll deny the application.
Verdict
If you’re hiring employees that are scattered across the world then SafetyWing is a great and affordable health insurance option. Many insurance companies only cover you when you’re at home OR when you’re abroad but SafetyWing offers coverage for both. It’s important to note though that Remote Health does not currently provide coverage for Americans and Canadians living in Canada, although they hope to add this option soon. It’s also important to check out the excluded and restricted countries list, as some countries are included for travel and short trips but they cannot be your employee’s primary country of residence.