Billy Craig Insurance Brokers is now offering more affordable international health insurance coverage, with greater options for access to overseas medical care.

William Craig, the company’s chief executive officer (CEO), explained how this new level of coverage in the market has been made possible through Billy Craig’s connection to international risk management markets.

“We have been doing international health for a few years but what has happened is that we now have three markets that we go to for our clients,” he outlined. “If I am not mistaken, I believe we have more international health markets accessible to Billy Craig than any other broker in Jamaica.”

This allows the company to offer a wider variety of health insurance options to its

clients.

“A decent limit for health insurance in Jamaica is about five million Jamaican dollars,” Craig pointed out. “When you get international health insurance from us you would get a minimum of a million US dollars. It’s a huge difference.”

According to Loretta Anderson, the company’s employee benefits manager, an international health plan provides clients with the option of going overseas to get access to medical procedures that may not be present in Jamaica.

“Some people may have a local health plan, but what that gives in terms of coverage to access providers outside of Jamaica is quite limited,” she said. “So by making sure they have an individual plan they can get better benefits with access to a wider range of professionals — some of whom may not operate here.”

The main factor that influences premiums is age, and it is possible for someone under 30 years to get an international plan in the region of US$2,500 per year from Billy Craig. Premiums for an international plan range from US$2,500 to US$7,000.

“To give an example, a family of a husband and wife, both 52 years old with two children, can pay a premium of US$5,500 for the whole family with access to top-line hospitals worldwide,” Craig revealed.

“We’ve done some comparisons with other typical offerings in the marketplace and what we can accomplish, based on the three markets that serve us is easily a 25 per cent reduction on premiums that other markets locally are offering, ” he further emphasised.

In addition to actual medical care, health plans can cover air ambulances in case of an emergency, or a car to meet a patient at the airport. A hotel room for a spouse can also be paid for as well as some out of pocket, daily expenses.

Craig assures that the markets his company deals with are all A-rated by international rating agencies.

To meet the demand for better health coverage Craig says the company has taken the necessary steps to engage with its customers.

“On the international health side, over the past couple of months we have beefed up our employee benefits department so that we have additional personnel specifically here to serve those clients,” he informed. “We also recently mounted a social media campaign through an Irish entity that uses artificial intelligence, to put out smart ads to help us target clientele locally.”