Norwich Union Healthcare announced today enhancements to its international medical insurance product.
Norwich Union Healthcare announced today enhancements to its international medical insurance product. New look Global Care and Global Care Plus launch on 27 July 2004.
The Global Care product range has an invaluable new Global HR Assistance service provided by ECA international the world’s largest membership organisation for international human resources.
ECA’s expertise offers all the information and support required to manage international assignments with maximum efficiency. Corporate Global Care customers will have access to a range of useful services including country profiles with an HR focus, an international HR helpline and a bank of articles looking at global HR management issues.
Whilst some of the information contained on the website is geared towards HR and the employer, it also contains information useful to employees moving abroad for the first time or to an unfamiliar country.
Shah Rouf, head of international at Norwich Union Healthcare, said: "It’s often said that moving house ranks among the top five most stressful events we face in our lives. It follows that being posted abroad and moving your entire life to another country, is an even more fundamental life shift."
Rouf continued: "A recent Harvard Business Review article, ‘The right way to manage expats’, discovered that an alarming number of international assignments fail in one way or another. Many return home early, others leave the company within a year of being repatriated, whilst others finish the assignment, but do not perform as well as expected.
"However, if a company has access to the right information, via organisations such as ECA, coupled with the peace of mind of knowing that any health problems can be taken care of, with access to high quality healthcare wherever their employees are in the world, it helps make the move smoother and less stressful for all concerned."
Key benefits of the Global Care range include:
- in-patient, day-patient and out-patient treatment
- no hospital restrictions giving policyholders an unlimited choice of hospitals (with help locating an appropriate hospital if required)
- elective home country treatment option
- compassionate travel benefit
- 24 hour medical emergency helpline
- 24 hour medical information
- global HR assistance services for corporate customers
- 60 day world-wide travel extension
- chronic conditions benefit.*
Norwich Union Healthcare was one of the first medical insurers to divide the world into five rating areas to make premium rates more affordable and to reduce cross-subsidy. Our five rating areas provide progressive cover. Outside the selected area individuals are covered in all lower rated areas and in higher rated areas Global Care provides emergency treatment and evacuation cover up to 60 days per policy year.
This new range of products is aimed at individuals and groups covering three to 1,000 employees. Premiums and commission payable will depend on the size of the scheme.
For further information intermediaries should contact their usual Healthcare Sales Consultant or call the Healthcare Bureau on 0845 3000 649.
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*Available on Global Care Plus only.
Press office contacts:
James Evans 01904 452791 Out of hours 07790 487105
Lorna Wiltshire 01904 723236 Out of hours 07788 471849
Louise Soulsby 01904 452617 Out of hours 07810 057362
David Gwyer 01904 452828 Out of hours 07800 699508
Rob Pell 01904 452659 Out of hours 07968 934091
Notes to editors:
- Norwich Union is the UK's largest insurer. It is a leading provider of life, pensions and investment products and one of the leading IFA providers. IFAs provide around 70% of the company's long-term savings business in the UK
- Norwich Union has strategic alliances with building societies and other leading UK brand names including Tesco Personal Finance and The Royal Bank of Scotland Group
- Norwich Union’s news releases and a selection of images are available from Aviva's internet press centre at www.aviva.com/media.
Norwich Union Healthcare
- Norwich Union Healthcare was founded in 1990 as the healthcare arm of Norwich Union and now provides a range of income protection and private medical insurance products that cover over 750,000 lives. It is one of the largest providers of income protection and private medical insurance in the UK
- Norwich Union Healthcare is a member of the General Insurance Standards Council, the Association of British Insurers and the Financial Ombudsman Service.