Medical Claims Inflation
6 December 2023
The impact of medical inflation on the global economy has driven up costs in healthcare significantly. We have previously updated you on escalating costs of medical claims for expats and medical evacuations. See all your Expatriate Medical Insurance queries HERE.
Following on from this, we are also seeing the impact of medical inflation globally on both expatriate and corporate travel business.
Traditionally we have seen high claims costs in USA, Singapore and Japan, however post covid pandemic claims costs are escalating worldwide. In 2022 India’s cost increased by 23% and Malaysia and Philippines were 16% and 14% respectively. Additionally, evacuation costs have tripled.
The Willis Towers Watson 2022 Global Medical Trends Survey Report reported that ¾ of health insurers surveyed 61 countries. From this, the average increase in 2023 is expected to be:
To contend with the inflationary rise in medical costs, Telehealth has appeared as a cost management method and expanded in use during the pandemic.
Please read the following telehealth document where Australasian Assistance (AA) have provided us with a list of the types of claims telehealth has been used for and a recent case example.
Click HERE to review the 'Telehealth and Claims Scenario' Document.
At DUAL as always we continue to create efficiencies in our business. We offer Corporate Travel via our online WebRater platform for brokers and for Expatriate Medical Expenses, contact our specialist Accident and Health Underwriting team here.
Source: 2022 Global Medical Trends Survey Report, Willis Towers Watson. 209 leading insurers are surveyed from 61 countries. Global results are weighted using GDP per capita. U.S. medical trend data is taken from the Willis Towers Watson National Trend Survey.
