Hello guys! And welcome to our very first studio sessions video. And this one, we're
gonna talk about global health insurance. We're at a very transitional point in
our lives. And I'm gonna lead in because Rebecca totally did all the work on this
project. I need to have something to say in this video...I'll make you feel useful... Yeah... But she was an
employee for a corporation. Her job status changed to contractor. Which means
she lost benefits....and part time... But it also means we can
travel the world internationally now. And not be restricted to like a Monday
through Friday 9 to 5 deal in the United States.....So when we first realized we're
gonna be making this transition. We weren't exactly sure when we're gonna be
leaving the states. So I did check into health insurance that would just cover
us in America. And what that means at this time in our country, is that you
have to go on to the marketplace. And there are restrictions on when you can
apply and register and become part of it. And..... it's a joke!Truthfully.. If you don't you have health
insurance in our country right now, you have tax penalties that you have to pay.
So.... And of course for us particularly being and having had a health care
background. It's not something that we want to skimp on or not have. So it's
really important for us to find a good plan and something that kind of fit our
lifestyle...So.... And didn't break the bank..... No kidding! So when I went on the
marketplace and started having a look... Breaking the bank for really crappy
health insurance was kind of what I was looking at. And I started thinking about
alternatives. Knowing that in 2018 we were planning on leaving the country at
some point.... For an extended period of time guys.... Not just like a two-week
trip...No! This is not a two-week trip. We're talking the next three to five years.
We'll be out of the United States traveling in other parts of the world...
Making videos... That's right! And we are going to need health
insurance for that. Whenever you go anywhere else, whenever you get a visa
anywhere else, you have to bring health insurance with you. And so I started
looking at options that would cover us in the United States as well as once we
leave and go overseas. And that's what brought us to this. I looked
at about 14 different companies. I made this little table and you know check
marked all the boxes for all the different things they had to compare
them. I ran all the numbers.... I do need to say this is not a sponsored video guys!
This is just us sharing this really cool insurance that we found and what we've
learned... Yeah! because I started from scratch and I really had no idea what we
were getting ourselves into. I read some articles that suggested some different
companies. And then I found this really nice comprehensive list. We'll share it
in the comments below... So that you can see it as well. The different options. But
I really narrowed it down to the point of two companies. And one was in Europe
and one was here...What were the names again?.... So I don't remember the one we didn't
choose...It doesn't matter now!...The one we did choose was Cigna... Which is kind of a
household name..... It is! Absolutely! And I didn't even know they provided global
health insurance until I started looking. But a lot of the international travel
living magazines and websites that we follow, they recommend Cigna. And then
when I started looking, It's not that they're the cheapest but they have the
best coverage that I could find particularly for what they wanted to
charge us. And so.... The other place I would have chosen them but they were about two
hundred dollars more expensive. And they didn't have some of the extra tiny
little features that I just really loved about the Cigna plan. So.... Kind of moving
into that... Let's talk about what that means. For us we had really good health
insurance before. I was an employee for a Native corporation. So that meant that we
had federal employee health insurance.Which in the United States is like the
Cadillac of health insurance...Yeah!...And even when I was filling out the paperwork when we first
signed up for it, I'm like..... "I think there's something wrong!"..... Too good to be
true.... Health insurance like this don't exist anymore... This is like health insurance my
parents had when I was born kind of insurance. So.... The only major difference
that changed for us is of course the premiums that we pay. And secondly our
deductible is about 10 times higher than what it was. But still...When my employer was paying part of it... That's not bad.
Yeah!... Three thousand dollars a year for the two of us.... Yeah! It's three thousand dollars a
year. And I actually broke the deductibles up into two separate
components so that we could get our premiums a little lower. And the guy that
I worked with at Cigna was great! I mean he sent me like eight different ways
that I asked him... We'll combine it this way, combine it that way, how about if we
do these numbers?..... He was awesome! He never got frustrated with me at least that I
felt. And, and we finally found the right combination.....And we got our monthly
premium to..... So we got the monthly premium to 897 a month. Now then! That is
not just for health insurance. So let's talk about what that includes. That
includes inpatient care. So if you're in the hospital, If you have to have x-rays,
MRI, CT scans, the whole nine yards. If you get cancer, if you get pregnant and have
a baby, if you have to have surgery.....All of those things are covered under that.
And we pay a fifteen hundred dollar deductible for that portion. Then we have
our inpatient stuff. And that is.... I'm sorry! Our outpatient stuff. And that's
like going to see the doctor, getting your pap smears, your mammograms...... All of
those kinds of things are covered under outpatient. And that's $1,500 deductible
for that side of it. So..... Sometimes if we don't go to the hospital we may never
pay that first fifteen hundred dollar deductible. It may only be the second for
our annual visit stuff.So it covers inpatient, outpatient. Then it covers
emergency evacuation. Now Ben and I have always had this kind of coverage because
we live in Alaska where a plane, a helicopter ride to Anchorage is thirty
thousand dollars. So we've always paid for that kind of coverage. But this is....
Included!... Included in the plan. You don't have to include it.... But we chose to for
obvious reasons.... And the places we're gonna be traveling..... Seriously.... We may need it!
Where we're going, there are no roads...... You may need somewhere you can get to. And they'll
transfer the patient and they'll transfer their spouse. And they'll put
the spouse up while the patients in the hospital. And then they'll fly you back to
where you came from or fly you home. You pretty don't get good coverage for that.
It's just peace of mind to.... Here's the best part!
Sorry....You know that junk that's offered on the marketplace here in the United
States, It's just crappy health insurance at an overly inflated price. And here we're
looking at like eleven to fourteen hundred dollar premiums for the two of
us. For just health insurance....Yeah!... Not all of this other stuff....And she's 36 years old right now and I'm
41.....Yeah! So.... Then it also covers health and well-being. Which is like immunizations
and mammograms and all of your stuff to keep you healthy. Preventative stuff...Yeah!... Then
it has vision and dental. So you get an eye exam every year, glasses every other
year, dental exams and cleanings every year and any dental work that you need done.
I was kind of shocked when it included.... All of this for $897....Yeah!Dental and vision for like $900.... The
other really cool thing and this actually is a feature that swayed me
towards Cigna versus the other plan I talked about..... Is that as part of the
emergency evacuation insurance, they pay for what are called compassion visits. So
let's say Ben gets really sick and he's in the hospital in Paris.They'll fly one
of our parents out to see him. Give them a place to stay while they're there and
fly them back home. So that they can see....their son....That's unheard of.....
It's insane right!...Yeah!... Like, I don't know if the rest of the world has insurance that's
this good... But in the United States...No.... Come on! You're screwed!
Yeah! yeah!.... So.... And that brings us to another point about this health
insurance. One of the reasons that our premium is higher is because we chose to
include the emergency evacuation, the preventive care, the vision and
dental.Those are all at heart things that you choose. What you do and don't
want. And then.... You can choose whether or not you're covered in some of the really
high cost places in the world for health care. So that's like Japan, Hong Kong
Singapore and the United States. Give or take!If you want year-round
coverage in those places, you have to pay extra premium. We chose to do that
because, If you don't... We are Americans.... Yeah! if you don't then you can only be
in those high cost centers for up to 60 days a year, three weeks at a time. And
it would be fine for just about anywhere else in the world...
But because we're from the United States.... If we want to come home, We don't want to
be like..."On day 20, we gotta get out of here!".... We have to be able to stay...."We got to go to Mexico!"... Yeah.... "We can't stick around!" We want to be able to stay as long
as we want. And so we opted to have US coverage as well.... But if you aren't from
the United States and you might just be visiting here. You wouldn't need that and
the price would be about a hundred and fifty dollars a piece less per month. So
now... You, you know, totally jumped into all this research! How did you find all these
health insurance options that covered us internationally?..... Well, so I did some
research...First with the International Living magazine coz.... She loves that magazine.
I'm totally addicted!!... Like ask Ben.... When it shows up every month I'm like.... Yeeeeiiiy!!!....And
it doesn't even show up every month because we are fabulous...So we get a mail drops...I only like three of them at
once and then I'm like "Just leave me alone! I'm gonna go read!"..... And I read it cover to
cover. But... International living, the expat websites that I belong to, the expedition
vehicle companies.... A lot of them recommend Cigna. And so that was the
first one I went looking at. But then I thought... Okay well you can't take the
first thing you see. So I started doing some research and I actually found this
article that we'll share in the description section below. But it listed
out, either 10 or 14 different companies that offer international health coverage.
And so I went and asked for quotes from every single one of them. And so the
bottom line was is that.... It wasn't that Cigna wass the cheapest
But.... It provided us the most coverage for the dollar amount we were gonna pay.... So
also just because we like to share some.... Squeaky! First video, I'll have to fix that!...Ahhh.....Just because
we like to share real life and like both sides of the coin here. There are things
they can rider. Just like in the United States they're gonna rider things...
Well! This is a US company they'll rider you... Well okay!They ridder things..Yep!They
did!And there were some things that we were expecting and then some things
we were like..... "Are you effing kidding me?" It was unbelievable!... Like my back....
We knew that was gonna happen....Yeah!...We totally knew that was gonna happen. And I'll share
something really personal. I had a breast lump last year. And I was completely
benign. I just have Fibrocystic breast disease. And they switched my thyroid
hormones and that's what made it happen. And..... I had to go have the whole workup
done. Well they riderd my "benign breast lump"...And we were like..."Are you kidding?" Like..No!They actually wanted to rider your
breast...I know.... I was so mad! I was so mad. I'm like "I can't take hold the insurance that
they're not gonna cover my boobs!!" Anyway.... We got....Boobs and backs are rider guys.... We got them to put in
writing that if I got cancer or something not benign, that they would
cover it. It was only for the benign breast lump I had.... And we can also appeal
after one year because like.... Okay how many times do we go to the Chiropractor?...Once in a while.... Yeah!...
I can't even remember the last Chiropractor visit I went to but you have to be honest on
your records. And I've been clumsy over the years and I've hurt my back!... Yeah.... And so
that was the thing that I went back and forth with him for a while. But they
finally said like.... Okay this is covered and in a year you can appeal these
things. So we went with it!..... Alright! So this video is getting rather long....It is!....
Nitty gritty... Cigna is who we're going with mm-hm... We'll put all the stuff in the
video description below.... Any closing thoughts?
I'm just looking here through my notes to see if there's anything else.... The
whole world is ours.... Really, really important!If you are going to be getting a long-term
visa for any countries, then you need to go look at their requirements for health
insurance before you purchase health insurance. Example.... Germany offers long
term visas and it's apparently one of the better countries to get a long term
visa from. But then they require that you get their insurance from Germany
which won't cover you all over the globe. France on the other hand just has
parameters on how much coverage you have to have while you're on a visa with them.
And so it's a better option! So be sure before you buy any health insurance that
you go and look at the visa requirements that your country is gonna have.... Okay!
Battery's low! So two more things! This is not travel insurance. This won't
cover you if you lose your luggage, if your trip gets interrupted, if you need a
place to stay or whatever it is. That's not what this is. This is health
insurance while you are traveling...Yes... Okay! And then.... The last thing is that you can
buy different levels of coverage. So if you are a healthy person or you don't want
to have such high premiums...You can pick and choose and dial again... Yeah! For us, I
really liked the big one. The one at the end that said "Covered in full! Covered in
full! Covered in full!"......So we went with the premium plan that they had.But it's very
malleable. You can pick and choose what you want and make it what you personally
need. Which is really cool for health insurance.
Are we done?... We are done... I think our battery's done! Alright guys! We are gonna be
traveling the world. Very, very soon and we're gonna make videos the entire way.
So make sure you hit that subscribe button! Leave a comment below if you have
any questions. And..... That's a wrap!!