Bucharest, 17th July 2016. From an HR professional’s perspective, summer provides a golden opportunity to mix up the workplace routine by providing unfettered access to outdoor activities — team buildings, picnics in the park, golf tournaments or company barbeques. At the opposite poll, for businesspeople summer means more than traveling for pleasure, as there are meetings, conferences and other opportunities to network, learn new skills and prepare for the fourth-quarter time.
Team building events are considered occupational accidents and therefore their liability extends to these events. According to a Health and Safety Executive (UK) study, approximately 30 cases of such outside of workplace non-fatal injuries are registered during the summer season. Physically-extreme outdoor adventures, such as rock climbing, hikes, lengthy bicycle rides, kayaking trips, dreaded ropes courses, paintballing can result in a variety of injuries and the treatment for something as ‘minor’ as fractures, dislocations and sprains could cost as much as 1,000 euros, while more serious injuries can go over 10,000 euros.
“Our corporate clients have a high understanding of what healthy employee – happy employee means. Today, healthcare costs are increasing at twice the rate of inflation and if you want your employees to take care of your company, first you need to take care of them. Individuals purchasing a health insurance do not have the same buying power as large businesses and end up paying much higher prices to cover administrative costs and risks. Companies also have a higher deductibility over individuals for buying health insurance for their employees.” said Zahal Levy, President of MediHelp International.
Travelling overseas on a business trip can also quickly become a financial burden and an international insurance policy is always advisable. World Health Organization (WHO) specialists estimate that 18%–24% of deaths among travelers in foreign countries are caused by injuries. Infectious diseases accounted for only 2% of deaths to travelers abroad. Contributing to the injury toll while traveling are exposure to unfamiliar, risky environments or unfamiliar rules and regulations. Other situation have implied serious injuries related to natural disasters, aviation accidents, drugs, terrorism, falls, burns, and poisoning.
People have the idea that a travel insurance provides the necessary cover in a foreign country, without being aware of its limitations. Basically, a travel insurance is just intended to provide cover for short-term emergency medical treatment, to the point that you are in the condition to return home.
At a different level, international health insurance covers treatment for both emergencies and health situations that might appear due to pre-existent conditions.
International health insurances cover hospitalization, check-ups, cover for pre-existing conditions and also allow you to choose the medical providers.
