Many of the expat medical insurance plans that China Health Insurance works with offer a large variety of benefits either as part of the central coverage of the plan or as part of optional benefits packages that can be added on top. As part of the conditions of the plan, some benefits may have what is referred to as a waiting period attached to them. Plainly put, a waiting period on an insurance plan is the period of time that must pass between the policy going into force and the time the policyholder will be able to make claims on the benefit that the waiting period applies to.

A waiting period on an expat medical insurance policy is typically applied to certain benefits or conditions. Generally speaking, most international insurance companies will automatically apply a waiting period to benefits such as dental, psychiatric, maternity and new born child coverage; however benefits may also have a waiting period applied depending on the medical history of the policyholder at the time of application. Most waiting periods are generally between 10 to 12 months in duration, especially for such benefits as maternity and new born child coverage.

To clearly illustrate how a waiting period may work on a policy, let’s take maternity coverage as an example. If the policy had a waiting period of 10 months on the maternity benefits contained in the expat medical insurance policy, then any maternity treatments sought before those 10 months have passed would not be covered by the policy. So, if the policyholder or their spouse were already pregnant when taking out the policy, the policy would typically not cover any pregnancy-related treatments and would deny claims on them.

There will be some variation between the waiting periods applied to different expat medical insurance plans from different insurance companies, so make sure that when taking out a policy that you fully understand the waiting periods that are part of your plan, if any are applied. In some cases, usually with large group plans, especially those with Medical History Disregarded, it may be possible to remove any waiting periods that typically would have applied either to particular benefits or coverage of pre-existing conditions.

Expat Medical Insurance Plans

Waiting periods and the benefits and coverage that they apply to are important to consider when shopping for expat medical insurance, especially since the duration and the benefits that the waiting period is applied to may differ between insurance companies. Our expert advisers work with many of the best international insurance products available on the market and can help you find and manage the plan that best suits your coverage needs. If you would like to get in touch with our advisers, you can either use the short form at the top of the page to get started on receiving a free comparative quotation of expat medical insurance plans, or you can click here, and follow the link to our contact page and set up a time for our advisers to call you.