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New report focuses on the average cost of international health insurance

Pacific Prime is excited to announce the release of our latest report: The 2017 Cost of International Health Insurance. Now in its third iteration, this free report takes an in depth look at the average cost of international health insurance in 100 countries around the globe. Download your copy from our website today.

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As with previous versions, this year’s report is divided into sections that together provide an important overview of the current state of international health insurance and the factors contributing to the costs seen in 2017. This information, in turn, has proven to be a useful tool for both companies and individuals looking to get the most out of their health insurance.

Open version of the cost of international health insurance report

Section 1: Ranking the top 20 most expensive and bottom 5 least expensive locations

The first section of this report provides a brief overview of the average cost of health insurance and ranks the 20 most expensive locations along with the 5 least expensive locations. Before we look at this ranking, it is important to explain the data used to generate this report.

To generate these averages and provide readers with a sound benchmark we have combined data from 10 of the top international health insurers who each offer three levels of plan:

  • Plan 1: Inpatient cover only
  • Plan 2: Inpatient + outpatient cover
  • Plan 3: Inpatient + outpatient + maternity

For each plan we have pulled premiums for four major demographics:

  • Individuals: Male, aged 36
  • Couples: Male aged 36, Female aged 35
  • Families: Male aged 46, Female aged 35, and two children aged 10 and 5  
  • Retirees: Male, aged 60

By taking the premiums for each of the demographics above along with the three levels of plan and averaging them together for each country we have come up with our ranking for 2017.

This year, average premiums are spread out from between USD 19,724 and USD 7,027 with the US again taking top spot as the most expensive country for international health insurance: Angola, Ethiopia, and Mali are all tied as having the least expensive average premiums.

Click here to view the ranking on our website. We have also provided the full ranking based on the demographics above in the Appendix section of the PDF, which can be downloaded here.

Section 2: In-depth analysis on the cost of international health insurance

When analyzing this year’s premiums we uncovered six major findings, which are discussed in-depth in the Analysis section of the report:

  1. Premiums in the US increased by an average of nearly 14% from 2016 to 2017.
  2. Singapore has replaced China as having the third highest average premiums.
  3. South East Asia has seen a marked increase in ranking in 2017, with 5 countries ranked in the top 20.
  4. Average premiums in Dubai actually decreased in ranking slightly in 2017.
  5. A number of countries saw a decrease in average cost between 2016 and 2017.
  6. Many countries have the same average premium.

For each of these six major findings, we have included an analysis of why these are important and the factors behind them.

Aside from that, we have also included an update on the four primary global drivers behind the cost of health insurance. These four drivers being:

  • There is an increasing demand for international quality health care.
  • Almost every country in this report has seen an increase in the cost of health care.
  • There is a trend of increasing regulation in many countries and regions included in this report.
  • Many countries and insurers face continuing challenges related to fraud.

Two versions of the report

We have two versions of this report available. The first is the online version which presents a paired down look at the ranking and first part of the Analysis sections along with an interactive overview of the average costs in different regions.

The second is the full written report in PDF format which can be downloaded. This version includes our full analysis (the four drivers along with the six findings) along with a complete ranking of the average cost of international health insurance in each of the 100 countries for each of the demographics.

Where to get your copy of the 2017 Cost of International Health Insurance Report

As mentioned above, there are two versions of the report available. Both are free and can be found on our website, or by clicking the links below:

Download the PDF – https://www.pacificprime.com/cohi-2017/download/

Read the online version – https://www.pacificprime.com/cohi-2017/

Should you have any questions about the cost of health insurance, or your premiums, please do contact us. Our expert staff can help you find the best plan for your budget today.

Content Strategist at Pacific Prime
Jessica Lindeman is a Content Strategist at Pacific Prime. She comes to work every day living and breathing the motto of "simplifying insurance", and injects her unbridled enthusiasm for health and insurance related topics into every article and piece of content she creates for Pacific Prime.

When she's not typing away on her keyboard, she's reading poetry, fueling her insatiable wanderlust, getting her coffee fix, and perpetually browsing animal Instagram accounts.
Jess