Boy. In the USA, at least, the Affordable Care Act (AFA) has thrown the insurance paradigm topsy-turvy, eh? Let’s collect our senses and try to make a new list of long-term and short-term medical and travel insurance companies. We should also make notes on who seems savvy about the AFA (if in the USA) and which plans don’t seem to care. Somewhere in all this madness, there’s still bound to be at least SOMEONE who can sort out great solutions, right? If you have a contact or a plan that works, please click ‘comment’ after the web version of this item. Thanks in advance for your help.
One of the best and least expensive providers for long term plans (individual and group) are the WEA Signature plans from the PA Group. Click this link for more info:
http://www.bit.ly/WEADirect
We represent over 20 international plan providers from Cigna, Aetna, GBG, WEA, IMG, Seven Corners, GeoBlue, William Russell, Generali, and many others. Let’s talk!
Brotherhood Mutual. We have used them for all of our mission trips. They specialize in things like that.
http://www.brotherhoodmutual.com/index.cfm/insurance/mission-travel/
Expat plans are currently exempt from ACA (Obamacare).
http://www.MissionTripInsurance.com represents all of the major carriers, some of which offer ACA compliant plans – even for expats and long term missionaries. For groups, we offer ACA compliant plans as well as less expensive, non-compliant plans.
For short-term mission trips our TripArmor plan can’t be beat! Check it out at http://www.missiontripinsurance.com/triparmor-travel-protection-plan-2/ .
Feel free to email me at mark@missiontripinsurance.com, or call me at 800-576-2674 Ext. 103. * In sensitive locations feel free to email me at mark@globalhealthinsurance.com .
Mark, does this mean if I have an expat plan that I won’t be hit with the fee/fine/tax thing?
I have a plan (GeoBlue) that covers us both in the US and internationally. I’m not sure what would qualify it as an expat plan other than that it does cover us internationally…
Thanks for any information you have.
We have an ACA page on our site at Good Neighbor Insurance at https://www.gninsurance.com/aca-ppaca_how_does_it_affect_me/
We also have a .pdf about IRS penalties for U.S. residents WITH overseas insurance but spending more than 90 days in the USA in any 12-month period at: https://www.gninsurance.com/documents/ACA-Individual-Mandate-and-Expatriates.pdf
Good Neighbor Insurance will be hosting four of our carriers representatives speaking on an ACA panel/superworkshop for both missions group health insurance as well as individual international health coverage on Friday, September 30at 8:30am at Missio Nexus.(https://missionexus.org/mission-leaders-conference-2016/schedule/).
If you CANNOT attend Missio Nexus, or were not intending to attend anyway, we may be able to get you a transcript or CD/mp3 recording of the panel presentation (Email pei@gninsurance.com if you’d like a copy).
We have been faithfully serving the missions community for over 19 years and have 12+ companies we represent so that you can be the best steward of your resources and of your supporters’ donations. some of our long-term plans incl. 2 children free.
We help travelers, frequent fliers, short-term missions, church missions projects and small team travel, as well as mission agencies from 2-5 staff up to large 500+ staff as well as local nationals, third country nationals and long-term career missionaries and their families.
Based out of the UK, we use SALT (Short and Long Term) Insurance. A Christian company who understand missions. They have been excellent for anyone we know who has used them.
Not sure how their pricing compares to others. We get a discount because we get a group rate with our sending organisation
Yvonne and I have enjoyed since the early ’80s (that’s 1980, NOT 1880!) a program of Christians sharing each others medical needs: CHRISTIAN HEALTHCARE MINISTRIES. It is a non-insurance “assurance” that our medical needs will be cared for by a group of like-minded Christians. It is NOT affected by ACA. It works in the USA and around the world. This is NOT for short term trips. Our “premiums” have not risen in I-don’t-know-how-many years. I could give much more detail, but: http://www.chministries.org. Tell them “Neal sent me.” Or, contact me for more information.
Looking into Medi-Share now (https://mychristiancare.org/medi-share/medi-share.aspx) after ObamaCare experience.
For short-term I use Good Neighbor Insurance and when I first re-entered the USA 3 years ago I used GNI’s “Geo-Blue” and was happy.
Good Neighbors Insurance solved our problems with insurance both for full time missionaries on the field as well as group travel. https://www.gninsurance.com/
Compliance matters. You might be surprised to learn that ALL international health insurance plans currently on the market for individual expatriates are NOT compliant with the Affordable Care Act (ACA).
That’s right, many missionaries may face steep penalties because their plans are not compliant with the ACA.
If you have more than 50 employees/missionaries on staff, it’s critical you have an ACA-compliant policy or your organization as well as your missionaries could be subject to IRS penalties.
The good news is, there are ways around these penalties. For example, mission organizations have an option for an international group health insurance plan which is ACA-compliant but also retains the flexibility to customize benefits. International missionaries can be assured they will not have to pay any penalties when insured by an ACA-compliant international group health insurance plan.
While it’s becoming more and more clear that the ACA (Obamacare) is complex, there is no need to worry. Contact us today and we will be happy to help chart your course as painlessly and inexpensively as possible.
We will listen to your insurance needs, educate you about the ACA and any penalties, and then find the most affordable and appropriate option for you.
Don’t wait another day to get answers. Call today at 800.647.4589 within the US or 480.821.9052 from outside the US, or email us at health@missionaryhealth.net.
Here’s a great starter list from a global missions advocate/mobilizer serving in the Philippines and internationally with Commission To Every Nation (CTEN). (Thanks for this list!)
Clements Worldwide – http://www.clements.com 800-872-0067
Expat Financial – Global Financial Security http://www.expatfinancial.com/ 800-232-9415
Faith Ventures Insurance — https://www.faithventures.com/
Gallagher Charitable Intl. Ins. Services http://www.aaintl.com/index.cfm 800-922-8438
Global Health Insurance – global health and travel insurance plans — Personal Attention Delivered Worldwide http://www.globalhealthinsurance.com/
Good Neighbor Insurance http://www.gninsurance.com 866-636-9100 They are well known and offer a variety of plans. They were missionaries in Indonesia.
Insurance Services of America http://www.missionaryhealth.net 800-647-4589
International Citizens http://www.internationalcitizens.com/ toll free 866-758-4436
International Medical Group http://www.imglobal.com 800-628-4664
New York Intl. Group http://www.nyig.com/products/globalmission/ 800-804-5763
Seven Corners, Inc. http://www.sevencorners.com/insuranceplans/worldwidemedical/
800-335-0611
Talent Trust Consultants http://www.talent-trust.com (Malaysia) Michael Lyon started this as a group coverage plan for YWAM SE Asia.
Non-Insurance Alternatives (Christian sharing ministries)
Christian Care Ministry – Medi-Share http://www.mychristiancare.org/ 800 772-5623
Christian Healthcare Ministries http://www.chministries.org/ 800-791-6225
Samaritan Ministries http://www.samaritanministries.org 888-268-4377
Short-Term
Missionary Insurance.com http://www.missionaryinsurance.com/ 800-488-4302
Mission Trip Insurance http://www.missiontripinsurance.com/group-short-term 800-576-2674
Hi, this is Nathan Lyon from Talent Trust Consultants. Thanks for including us in your list. Just a quick note, although we were started for a YWAM group, we now work with over 1,200 different missions groups in about 180 countries. All our staff are believers and we only serve missionaries. We also do short-term plans if you need them.
Nathan – Please respond to the comment ” ALL international health insurance plans currently on the market for individual expatriates are NOT compliant with the Affordable Care Act (ACA)” in regards to TTC. I am a single person getting insurance just for myself for long term.
This list is a starter page given to each of our new CTEN missionaries. It’s been awhile since I’ve checked each of these providers so there may be some changes since I last worked on it.
Hi everyone,
This is Mark at Good Neighbor. Thanks for your kind comments!
Just a note, we have a quarterly newsletter very similar to Brigada. It highlights important changes, new products and even travel safety tips you should know about regardess of whether you are a client or not. It doesn’t matter.
Simply request “Qtrly Newsletter” at info@gninsurance.com (Thanks Brigada for being a great example to us, faithfully looking out for all of us over the years! Ours has been going out for over 10yrs!)
We had a recent story in our Quarterly e-Newsletter about ACA-related IRS fines (Called the “Individual Shared Responsibility Payment”). This is important if you have an overseas insurance plan, and come back to the USA for more than 60 days in a 12-month period.
You can get that apecific paper at https://www.gninsurance.com/documents/Individual-overseas-ACA-healthcare-requirements.pdf, but better to sign up so you don’t miss important notices like this in the future.
Hey all
I see a great list of insurers/agents above, but also want to throw in this one below:
https://www.pacificprime.com/health-insurance-plans/individual/
They offer expat insurance (i,e when you are constantly working between countries), i found global insurance is often needed more if you an expat