With a new born and a step son I have had to think more carefully about the whats and ifs for the whole of the family. As with the cost of most things rising health care is one thing I am always worried about. After the birth of Jeremy, the scare in month 4 and some other hospital visits, the one thing more alarming than the service and standard of health care is the cost of the care provided and the fact that deposits and guarantees have to be put down first before care is provided.
10 million for a case of dengue, 20+ for the birth and care of Jeremy and Yovita and the money has to come from somewhere and well, the savings are not bottomless. So lessons learnt and fingers burnt, I set out to find a way to help sort out any concerns in the future.
At the end of the day, this is not England where healthcare is free and given and the worry is removed until you need to buy the prescription or medicine. Here everything costs. My major concern has been the fact that what will happen if someone is sick and I don't have enough up front to pay straight away so I have been looking for a company and a policy which allows me to show a card or a piece of paper and everything gets taken care of. And finally through a good friend and a recommendation I now have just that.
I will mention Prudential once or twice as I have opened an account with them for all and this means that each month I pay them money and should the kids get sick then I am assured and insured enough to know that they will cover the bill.
The scheme is a long term saving/health cover scheme or in simple terms life insurance and this allows me to save for the boys futures as well over the years.
The payouts are after 15 or more years and the sums will help them with their futures which is another useful thing.
The monthly amount paid is split into savings and health cover with the majority in the health cover. The health cover then allows for a more 'generous' if thats the right word, amount of cover and care. Shared room, doctors visits, operations, medication etc are now all covered and for as long as it is needed. However this being insurance there is a ceiling on cost. So, for example if we choose to mover Jeremy to a private room, then I have to pay the difference between the shared and the new one. This is OK for me. There is also a daily hospital allowance which can reimbursed which again is plus.
What is not covered is the trips to the doctor for minor ailments and medicine, which I am sure I could have had if I had spent even more money, but we are OK with that. Jeremy is currently costing a million a month for his inoculations and they will soon slow down and finally stop....
So it all sounds shiny and rosy. I actually hope I never ever have to find out if this actually happens. Peace of mind is the most important thing.
Back to the process. Through the agent we discussed the costs and implications, looked at the projected figures and health coverage. So we signed up and waited for the coverage to start. For my step son, Belvan he has to wait 90 days to be 100% covered due to the restrictions in the policy and pay the full amount. We received his health card 3 weeks after we paid for it, which was a little annoying but what can we do. The agent was not the quickest with this but it meant we have just over 2 more months to wait for him to be fully covered.
For Jeremy, because he is a new born, Prudential won't insure him for anything until he is six months old ( November ) and so for now they will through reimbursement cover the cost of the hospital bed only. With just over 5 weeks to go to him being 6 months old that is nothing to worry about. At 6 months he gets his health card.
To make matters more complicated, and hey aren't they always, I am the named parent for Jeremy only and Yovita is for Belvan. I could not be for both due to the rules and regulations. This means 2 separate policies and clause and costs. Yovita had to provide supporting documents which could only be emailed to the insurer and then they spelt her name wrong, despite it being written in triplicate because they took her name from her ID card which was a scanned copy. That policy document is being rewritten.
Mine, well. Being western makes life more hard. I have had to provide, passport details, visa details, photos, Police book details, employer guarantee letters, all in various forms of copy (mainly photo or pdf). But eventually everything was approved.
Quite a long saga. But it is over. I have peace of mind (hopefully) with the main point of this being that I really hope I never have to use the insurance and the boys continue to grow up healthy and happy.
Health insurance in Indonesia is a developing and new choice but I think overall I chosen correctly and I have been looking for a long time. There is not a lot of helpful information out there to help choose, especially if you are expatriate or clueless like me.
If you are looking for insurance for belongings then that is an even more of a challenge to find and sort out. Luckily for me, Yovita works in insurance and so she sorted that out quickly and very easily. The health insurance is not something that her company deals with.
So the next things to insure? probably, me and the bike.
10 million for a case of dengue, 20+ for the birth and care of Jeremy and Yovita and the money has to come from somewhere and well, the savings are not bottomless. So lessons learnt and fingers burnt, I set out to find a way to help sort out any concerns in the future.
 |
| We paid a visit to the man from the Pru |
I will mention Prudential once or twice as I have opened an account with them for all and this means that each month I pay them money and should the kids get sick then I am assured and insured enough to know that they will cover the bill.
The scheme is a long term saving/health cover scheme or in simple terms life insurance and this allows me to save for the boys futures as well over the years.
The payouts are after 15 or more years and the sums will help them with their futures which is another useful thing.
The monthly amount paid is split into savings and health cover with the majority in the health cover. The health cover then allows for a more 'generous' if thats the right word, amount of cover and care. Shared room, doctors visits, operations, medication etc are now all covered and for as long as it is needed. However this being insurance there is a ceiling on cost. So, for example if we choose to mover Jeremy to a private room, then I have to pay the difference between the shared and the new one. This is OK for me. There is also a daily hospital allowance which can reimbursed which again is plus.
 |
| VIP room in an Indonesian hospital; bed, shower, TV, Fridge, hot and cold nurses and machine that goes ping |
So it all sounds shiny and rosy. I actually hope I never ever have to find out if this actually happens. Peace of mind is the most important thing.
Back to the process. Through the agent we discussed the costs and implications, looked at the projected figures and health coverage. So we signed up and waited for the coverage to start. For my step son, Belvan he has to wait 90 days to be 100% covered due to the restrictions in the policy and pay the full amount. We received his health card 3 weeks after we paid for it, which was a little annoying but what can we do. The agent was not the quickest with this but it meant we have just over 2 more months to wait for him to be fully covered.
For Jeremy, because he is a new born, Prudential won't insure him for anything until he is six months old ( November ) and so for now they will through reimbursement cover the cost of the hospital bed only. With just over 5 weeks to go to him being 6 months old that is nothing to worry about. At 6 months he gets his health card.
.jpg) |
| Jeremy's hospital, YPK Mandiri Theresa in Menteng is great but not cheap |
Mine, well. Being western makes life more hard. I have had to provide, passport details, visa details, photos, Police book details, employer guarantee letters, all in various forms of copy (mainly photo or pdf). But eventually everything was approved.
Quite a long saga. But it is over. I have peace of mind (hopefully) with the main point of this being that I really hope I never have to use the insurance and the boys continue to grow up healthy and happy.
Health insurance in Indonesia is a developing and new choice but I think overall I chosen correctly and I have been looking for a long time. There is not a lot of helpful information out there to help choose, especially if you are expatriate or clueless like me.
If you are looking for insurance for belongings then that is an even more of a challenge to find and sort out. Luckily for me, Yovita works in insurance and so she sorted that out quickly and very easily. The health insurance is not something that her company deals with.
So the next things to insure? probably, me and the bike.
No comments:
Post a Comment