A domestic plan stops at the border, and most employers find out too late.
A US group plan is built around US networks. When an employee works, lives or relocates abroad, what the plan covers changes, and the right answer is usually something other than the domestic plan alone.
There is a difference between a business trip, a long assignment and an employee who has moved overseas and kept working for you. Each is handled differently, and the middle one is where employers are most often surprised by a denied claim or a coverage question nobody answered in advance.
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What is actually true when an employee works abroad
What Is Actually True
- A US network does not follow the employee. Routine care outside the US is generally not covered the way it is at home, and emergency coverage abroad varies by carrier.
- Many plans require the employee to live or work in the plan’s service area, so a long stay abroad can affect eligibility.
- Hiring someone who lives in another country can trigger that country’s employment and social-insurance rules, which is a question for local counsel or an employer-of-record provider.
- Hours worked abroad for foreign-source income are generally treated differently for the employer mandate, and your tax adviser confirms how that applies.
What CFH Does About It
- We read the plan and the carrier’s rules and tell you plainly what stops at the border.
- We separate three cases, short trips, long assignments and permanent relocation, because each needs a different answer.
- We help you decide when a domestic plan is enough and when you need a different arrangement.
- We arrange group international medical coverage for business travelers and for employees on long-term assignments, alongside your domestic plan, so the gap is closed rather than just described.
Four sizes, four different problems.
Find your headcount. What changes at that size for employees working abroad, and what we do about it.
One remote hire in another country is a policy question for a small employer, and the answer has to be written down.
What we do about it: Writes a short policy on who is covered where and what happens when someone moves.
Crossing fifty means the hours of employees working abroad have to be classified before the first reporting cycle.
What we do about it: Works out which hours count for the mandate with your tax adviser and keeps the record.
Several people on assignments in different countries need a consistent policy and a record of who is covered where.
What we do about it: Maps each arrangement and flags where the domestic plan ends.
Large mobile populations need a defined position on travel, assignments and permanent moves, applied the same way to everyone.
What we do about it: Builds a standard position and a decision path for exceptions.
The three things employers ask us first.
Does our US plan cover an employee who moves overseas?
Often only partly, and sometimes not at all after a period of time. We read the plan and the carrier’s rules for the specific case and tell you plainly.
What about employees who travel for business?
Short trips are handled differently from relocation. A short-term group travel plan can cover business trips of up to about six months, often with telemedicine, and it is set up before employees travel. We check what your domestic plan provides and arrange the travel coverage where there is a gap.
Can you arrange international coverage for us?
Yes. We arrange group international medical coverage for business travelers and for employees living abroad on long-term assignments, with plans that can include pharmacy, dental, vision and wellness support, and that can be combined with life and disability coverage for expatriates.
Send us your renewal.
We’ll tell you whether it looks competitive, where we see opportunity, and the five questions we’d put to your carrier. No cost, and no obligation to move anything.
The renewal letter
Your current plan summary
Contribution split by tier
Enrolled counts by tier
Four documents — two more if your group is 50 or more. Nothing else; every extra one is a reason to postpone.
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