Global health insurance premiums are on the rise

In its report, Cost of International Health Insurance for Individuals and Families – 2019,Pacific Prime carried out a global study of 100 countries and found that the average international health insurance premiums for individuals ranged from US$8,887 in the US to $2,728 in Thailand. For families, the average cost ranged from $26,883 in the US to $10,842 in Thailand.

The study also uncovered the top five most expensive countries for both average individual price plans and families. For individual price plans, Israel ranked fifth ($4,799), while Dubai ranked fifth for families ($14,147). Singapore, one of the two standout locations (the other being Australia) that witnessed a large jump in its ranking compared to 2018, came fourth across both individual and family price plans ($5,458 and $15,055 respectively). Third most expensive in both categories was Hong Kong ($5,738 for individuals and $17,140 for families), and second most expensive in both categories was Canada ($7,045 for individuals and $18,264 for families), which was the third most expensive for individual and family IPMI in 2018. Unsurprisingly, perhaps, the US was ranked the most expensive country for both average individual ($8,887) and family ($26,883) price plans. Indeed, Pacific Prime’s study revealed that the Americas is a dominant region in the top 20 most expensive countries, with 15 of the 29 countries in the region featuring in the top 20 ranking.

The least expensive countries across both categories include Thailand, Poland, Slovakia, Romania, Croatia, the Netherlands and Norway. And elsewhere, the study also highlights that African countries have some of the highest premium inflation rates of the 100 countries surveyed, and that China’s premiums are going through correction after years of increase – the premiums of many insurers have remained the same in 2019, while others have reduced their premiums.

Pacific Prime cites the reasons for this global price inflation as: increased demand for international quality private care; an increased global cost of healthcare, which sees the rise of chronic conditions and higher medical treatment costs; evolving and expanding regulatory requirements, which insurers around the world are struggling to meet; increased challenges with fraud regulation; and the accelerated use of insurtech, which has both a disruptive and transformative effect on the industry.

Read the full report here.