International private health cover for chronic conditions is designed to protect you if you have ongoing medical needs — such as diabetes, hypertension, asthma or heart disease.
With a policy that covers chronic conditions, you can access private healthcare without unexpected bills, wherever you are in the world. This is particularly useful if you want to be covered for any new chronic conditions, and you live abroad, travel a lot for work or want to access private medical care globally.
A chronic condition is a disease, illness or injury that has one or more of the
following characteristics:
If you develop a new chronic condition since the start of your insurance plan, you can rest assured that you’re covered for this with our chronic cover.
Feel reassured with our cover for chronic conditions. Get access to fast, reliable treatment options around the world, whenever you need.
Having international private health insurance means you can speak to a doctor anywhere – at home or on the move.1
The cost of treatment for chronic conditions worldwide can be expensive.2 Having global health cover aims to reduce the worry of a large bill.
At AXA Global Healthcare, everything we do starts with you. And we know that navigating a chronic condition abroad can be overwhelming.
That's why we're here to support you with quick, expert care and peace of mind if you’re diagnosed with a chronic condition.
Any new chronic condition you develop will be covered from day one of your plan. This includes treatment, medication and monitoring.
The best thing to do is to get a quote online before speaking to us over the phone. This way, you can get an idea of how much your cover could be before tailoring your quote over the phone.
We offer three levels of cover that include cover for chronic conditions:
Understanding cover for chronic conditions can be confusing if you’ve opted for cover that doesn’t include this.
The example below highlights how a chronic condition is treated through our Foundation or Standard cover. These only cover for acute flare-ups. But you can include outpatient care as an add-on, which changes how chronic conditions can be reimbursed.
For our Comprehensive, Prestige and Prestige Plus cover, chronic conditions are included, which includes all ongoing monitoring, treatment and medications for new chronic illnesses.
This example isn’t a real case. As always, we recommend you speak to the team to make sure you understand your cover before going ahead with your purchase.
Eve has been with AXA Global Healthcare for five years and has our Foundation cover.
She develops breathing difficulties. Her medical practitioner refers her to a specialist who arranges for a number of tests. These reveal that Eve has asthma.
Her specialist puts her on medication and recommends a follow-up consultation in three months to see if her condition has improved.
At the consultation, Eve says that her breathing has been much better, so the specialist suggests she has check-ups every four months.
Eve’s Foundation cover doesn’t include chronic cover, so she’s not automatically covered for ongoing treatment or medication, even when it’s a new condition.
If Eve includes optional outpatient cover, we’d cover her first tests and consultation to diagnose her condition, and a following consultation to see if there’s been an improvement.
However, we wouldn’t cover Eve’s regular check-ups as her plan doesn’t include chronic cover.
If Eve doesn’t include optional outpatient cover we wouldn’t cover her consultations or tests as they’re outpatient consultations.
Eighteen months later, Eve has a bad asthma attack.
If Eve needs to be admitted to hospital for inpatient treatment to stabilise her condition, we’d cover the cost as all our cover includes inpatient treatment. We’d also pay for one further consultation after she’s left hospital.
However, if the flare-up becomes chronic, she wouldn’t be covered for this as her plan doesn’t include chronic cover.
It’s important to understand what exactly is and isn’t included in our chronic conditions cover. This way, you can plan ahead with confidence and know exactly where we can help you.
What's not included in our chronic cover:
This is available under our chronic cover on our Comprehensive, Prestige and Prestige Plus plans:
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An acute flare-up of a chronic condition is a sudden and unexpected worsening of a chronic condition. With treatment, the aim is to return you to the state of health you were in immediately before the flare-up, leading you to recovery.
All our cover includes inpatient treatment for acute flare-ups. This means that you’re covered if you have to be treated in hospital.
It’s best to speak to your health insurer to fully understand what’s offered before going ahead with your purchase.
This all depends on which insurance provider you choose.
At AXA Global Healthcare, we don’t increase our customers’ premiums if they claim. With us, you can claim any time you need without the worry of your premium increasing.
While we won’t increase your renewal premium as a result of your claims activity, your annual premium may still increase in line with inflation and age.
Ongoing treatments and medications for chronic conditions can be covered by private health insurance, depending on your level of cover and what your insurance provider offers.
At AXA Global Healthcare, the majority of our plans include chronic conditions cover*, which includes ongoing treatment and medications for new chronic illnesses that develop after the start of your cover.
The best thing to do is to speak to your insurance provider to fully understand what’s offered before going ahead with a purchase.
This is where things get technical. Firstly, let’s start off by defining these terms.
A moratorium automatically excludes any medical condition you’ve had, or any symptoms you’ve suffered from, five years prior to your cover starting. This means you don’t have to declare whatever health condition you had more than five years ago.
If you claim for a medical condition after two years of your cover starting, you must be able to prove a two-year trouble-free period. This means that for the medical condition you need treatment for, you haven’t in the last two years:
For full medical underwriting, you must declare your medical history on an application form before your insurance cover begins. Our Underwriting team will then decide what’s included in your cover.
If you have a chronic condition, your condition may not be covered under a moratorium. This is because you wouldn't be able to meet the two-year trouble-free period if you're managing and/or treating your symptoms.
If you have a chronic condition, opting for full medical underwriting gives you immediate clarity about what you’re covered for before you purchase your plan. If you declare your chronic illness, our underwriters will tell you whether it’ll be covered or not.
This all depends on which insurance provider and the level of cover you choose.
We recommend you speak to our team to make sure you’re covered for what you need before you purchase.
Unlike local insurance, international health insurance provides worldwide cover. This means you’ll have direct access to private healthcare globally.
This is particularly useful if you develop a chronic condition. You can have peace of mind that you can access a medical professional if your condition worsens, or you develop an acute fare-up.
If you opt for a plan that includes chronic cover, you can get support no matter where you are in the world.
All our plans include emergency ambulance transport.
Included as standard and available 24/7, 365.**
Book a doctor’s appointment 24/7.1
Access six sessions of support from a qualified psychologist.3
Get reassurance from another medical expert.
We aim to settle your claim within 48 hours.4
*Lines are open Monday to Friday, 8am-5pm (GMT).
Calls may be recorded and/or monitored for quality assurance, training and as a record of the conversation.
*Chronic cover is available on our Comprehensive, Prestige and Prestige Plus cover.
**Terms and conditions apply for using AXA Global Healthcare’s evacuation and repatriation service. Please speak to our sales team for these by phoning +44 (0)1892 708119.
1 The Virtual Doctor service is provided by our third-party provider Teladoc Health and is part of the Virtual Care from AXA offering. Telephone appointments can be booked 24/7, 365 days per year. Callbacks are typically within 24 hours. Operating hours and availability may vary according to region. Find out more on our Virtual Care FAQ page on our website.
2 According to the National Library of Medicine, the cost of treatment for chronic conditions worldwide can be expensive. According to this article on the US National Library of Medicine, the estimated cost of chronic disease is expected to reach $47 trillion worldwide by 2030: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10830426
3 The Mind Health service is provided by our third-party provider Teladoc Health and is part of the Virtual Care from AXA offering. The service provides up to six sessions with a psychologist per non-emergency mind health concern, per year. Find out more about the Mind Health service and consultation availability on our website.
4 We aim to settle your claim within 48 hours. 83.2% of eligible claims submitted online between Jan 25- Dec 25, were paid within two days.