Friends Life launches worldwide healthcare policy

You can choose to be treated privately overseas with new Global Treatment policy.

Insurer Friends Life is launching a private healthcare product called Global Treatment which allows you to get medical treatment overseas.

It is being sold as an add-on to new customers taking out a protection policy.

What is Global Treatment?

If you or your children are diagnosed with a serious illness, you may want to pursue treatment overseas if a hospital there is renowned for a particular specialism. Global Treatment will cover the costs of pursuing that treatment abroad.

Treatments which are covered include:

all cancers (including pre-malignant cancers);
neurosurgery;
coronary artery by-pass surgery;
heart valve replacement or repair;
bone marrow transplant;
liver donor organ transplant.

Not only will 100% of your treatment be covered, you’ll also get travel and accommodation for you and a companion. If your children need treatment they’re entitled to two adult companions on the policy.

You’ll also receive an allowance of £100 a day allowance per night of your hospital stay.

Multiple treatments are covered up to the value of £1 million per insured person per year or £2 million per insured person in their lifetime.

Care costs of up to £50,000, which aren't covered by the NHS, will be provided upon your return.

All of this comes in at £4 a month for an individual policy and £8 for a joint policy. No other insurer currently offers a policy like this.

Who can get it?

It’s open to anyone taking out a Friends Life Protect+ policy which includes life cover, critical illness cover and income protection from a financial adviser. Unfortunately, it won’t be available to existing policyholders at this stage.

You don't need to wait for an allotted period of time before you claim; you can call from the moment Global Treatment gets added to your Protect+ policy.

If you've disclosed a pre-existing medical condition and it has been included in the risk assessment, there won't be a problem if you make a claim if you've already been accepted. However, if you're making a claim for your child then pre-existing conditions will be taken into consideration to ensure that people don't apply when their child is already ill.

The claims process

If you’re experiencing adverse symptoms, you just have to phone Global Treatment to make your claim.

From here, your medical records will be collected remotely and partner company Best Doctors will create a summary of your case.

You will then be issued with a comprehensive report listing treatment options, follow-up questions and international centres that offer appropriate treatments for your ailment.

If you have a heart condition, for example, you could go to a range of locations to get treatment. The USA, France, Turkey, Thailand and Japan are renowned for treating heart problems.

But if you want to stay nearer to your loved ones, there’s also the option to be treated locally.

Claims are based on a fast-track model so that the most urgent conditions can be treated within around seven days of the initial phone call.

Shop around first

While this may sound like a very tempting policy to take out, remember that you should always shop around for protection products such as life and private healthcare insurance. You need to find the right policy for you in terms of price and cover.

After all, there's no point paying out lots of money for protection you don't need.

Get a free, no obligation private medical insurance quote