IMG unveils new travel medical insurance product

International Medical Group (IMG) has unveiled its new PTOgo travel medical insurance product.

The policy, which will be offered as an employee benefit, provides accident and sickness coverage to employees and their families for international trips during paid time off.

The policy includes a range of benefits including up to US$1 million in eligible medical coverage per trip and access to a 24/7 global assistance hotline with multilingual support.

The policy includes a customisable number of days of travel insurance coverage, offering flexibility to meet the needs of individual businesses in the year following the company’s open enrolment period.

In addition, PTOgo can also be offered either as a voluntary benefit via payroll deduction, for what IMG says equates to ‘often for less than $5 per day,’ or as an employer-paid programme.

IMG also says that the policy can also be easily integrated with third party benefits providers.

Gap in coverage between insurance and employee benefits

The policy is intended to address what IMG says is a gap in insurance coverage and employee benefits. According to Steve Paraboschi, IMG President and CEO: “Based on research we conducted for PTOgo, we found that most US employees are underinsured while traveling abroad, with many incorrectly assuming that their employer-provided health insurance will cover them outside the country.”

Insurer SiriusPoint has been confirmed as one early adopter that will be rolling out the policy to over 1,000 employees from this year. Sid Sankaran, Chairman and CEO of SiriusPoint, said that: “With ongoing uncertainty of Covid-19's impact on international travel, PTOgo offers our employees some security when booking leave and traveling abroad.”