Medical Travel Today (MTT): How long has CBG been offering medical travel products? David Monteiro (DM): Compass Benefits Group has been in business since 2004. Since that time, we’ve been offering insurance solutions to international travelers. A little over a year ago we expanded our offering to include medical complication insurance plans for international travelers. It really was a natural extension of what we do…it involves many of the international insurance carriers we were already dealing with, and it called on our understanding of international travel. It also tapped our expertise and understanding of the components of health claims. Our medical travel offerings include Medical Tourism Complication Insurance, Medical Tourism Employer Liability, Employer Group Medical Tourism Insurance, and Medical Tourism Facilitator Liability Plan.   MTT: Which of your medical travel offerings is the most popular? DM: The medical complication plan.  The medical complication insurance plan offers worldwide coverage to an international patient in the event of an accident or complication resulting from a medical procedure abroad.   MTT: And where are most of your customers coming from and going to and for what type of care? DM:  Most are from Australia, Norway and Canada, with the majority travelling to Thailand, Costa Rica, and Mexico. The most popular treatment we’re seeing is the MS liberation treatment, chronic cerebro-spinal venous insufficiency (CCSVI). It’s particularly popular with patients from Canada and Norway where the treatment is not offered. In Canada, too, there’s a very strong and active MS association promoting the treatment. Our Norway connection is actually a gentleman who works with the government.  He essentially facilitates medical travel to Germany for Norwegians who need the treatment. Other treatments that are popular include cosmetic surgery, gastric bypass and dental.   MTT: What types of employers are most actively purchasing or considering your policies? DM: The ones that are most seriously considering a policy are those looking to go to a self-funded plan to help reduce their costs on major medical-type procedures.   Most are US-based and tend to be smaller, with 1,000 employees or less.   MTT: Is this a tougher sell than the consumer policy? DM: Definitely yes. On the employer side, medical travel is still very new. We’re in what I consider the early development phase of the product. On the individual side, especially abroad, medical travel has always been there. Aussies and Canadians have always gone abroad. There’s not much of a learning curve in those markets, unlike in the US In fact, outside the US, many of the hospitals don’t even differentiate international patients.  That’s just doing business for them.   Percentage of Compass Benefits Complications Policy Customers by Country of Origin Canada                                       44% Australia/New Zealand           38% United States                             16% Europe                                          7% Other                                           16%   MTT: What has the response to the facilitator liability product been like? DM: The liability policy was designed for US facilitators to protect them from the exposure of an act, error or omission in the performance of professional services. While I field several inquiries a week for the product, most facilitators are hesitant to purchase. The liability application is pretty involved. It requires a lot of documentation and legwork on the part of the facilitator. Because many US facilitators are in the start-up phase it’s difficult for them to purchase a policy that may cost up to $10,000.   MTT: Obviously there’s data collected regarding outcomes, complications, etc. Do you have any plans to publish or make that information public? DM: Not now. While the results have been favorable, there has not been enough experience with the product to make it truly credible.  We also want to protect our client’s data. However, this experience will contribute to our next phase in which, instead of offering a general complications policy, we’re creating policies for specific procedures based on the unique risks, etc.  For example, using our census data we can create a policy specific for IVF or CCSVI that’s both less expansive and with higher benefits. We’re very close to coming out with the offering. It will definitely launch in 2012.   MTT:  Any other new products in the works? DM: Inbound coverage is a strong area of interest. Up until a month ago there hadn’t been a policy to address the inbound patient. Now we have that. We’re looking to build relationships and specific policies with hospitals that are actively promoting inbound medical care. This would work as an overall policy for the entire hospital to cover any type of patient coming to the facility from outside the US. We think this could serve to accelerate the growth with which US hospitals develop their international patient program.   MTT: You’ve certainly come a long way from the original travel insurance product. DM: That’s true. But it makes perfect sense. Now that consumers are travelling specifically for care, they need a different kind of coverage. If you buy a regular trip insurance policy but actually go for medical care, that policy is immediately void. Our policies cover you for everything from additional treatments and rehabilitation to emergency evacuation and, in the absolute worst case scenario, repatriation of remains. The needs of consumers, providers and employers are evolving and expanding. We’re working to make sure our products keep everyone covered.   About David Monteiro David is the Business Development Manager for Compass Benefits Group.  He is responsible for developing customized international travel insurance programs and the technology to support those programs.  David joined Compass Benefits Group in 2009 bringing 10 years sales and product management experience from the insurance and financial services industry. Feel free to contact David [email protected].