Maximum Insurance / Guides

An employee is hospitalised abroad: the sequence, seen from the company

In brief

An employee in hospital on the other side of the world is, before anything else, a question of sequence: who calls, what the company has to produce, what it must never do. The right order comes down to four steps: have the hospital desk ring the contract's emergency number (+41 22 ••• •• ••), keep the general certificate ready, advance nothing on a personal card, file the claim once the emergency is over.

The first minutes: one number, and it is the hospital that rings it

The useful move fits in one line: ring the contract's single emergency number (+41 22 ••• •• •• — in full on the insured card), or have the hospital front desk ring it. It is the single Maximum Insurance emergency number, reachable 24 hours a day for medical, security and travel matters — your employees never have to work out who to call. The assistance desk then identifies the facility, sends it the direct payment guarantee and follows the case until the employee is home.

That is where the weight shifts for the company. Nobody at head office has to build a file overnight to convince a finance department on the other side of the world; and the employee fills in no form from a hospital bed.

What the company needs to have to hand

Three things, and they fit in a shared folder the office manager can open from a phone.

  • The general certificate of cover. It carries the company name, the plan subscribed, the headcount covered, collective policy no 20 00 479 and its twelve-month period of cover. It is the document that establishes a contract exists, and which one.
  • Something linking the employee to the company. The contract carries no names: employment is evidenced afterwards, from ordinary employment records — payroll register, employment contract, mission order. The mechanism is set out in the file on insuring a team abroad.
  • The invoices and medical reports. They are for the claim, later. Chasing them while the employee is still in hospital helps nobody.

If the trip was activated in the Duty of Care OS, the company already holds the employee's nominative certificate and insured card, downloadable at any time, along with the list of covered employees and the file of proof. That is the point of activating a trip before departure rather than after the accident: the Duty of Care OS sets out how it works.

The four moves to avoid

  • Letting the employee pay before the emergency number has been rung. A card has a limit, a bank has opening hours, and a patient is not always in a state to settle anything. The direct payment guarantee exists precisely so that the first payment does not rest on them.
  • Paying in their place, from the company account. An emergency wire goes out fast and is hard to unwind afterwards; the undertaking is the insurer's to give, and it is worth calling before paying.
  • Promising the hospital that the bill will be settled. An employer cannot commit the insurer: the payment guarantee is sent to the facility by the insurer, and that is the undertaking the finance department is waiting for. Whatever may remain payable depends on the contract and is set out in the policy conditions.
  • Pointing to a facility as a partner, or sending a named list of employees. Neither exists here: the guarantee is arranged case by case, and the company pack asks for no names.

Who settles the hospital, and up to what amount

On admission, The insurer sends its payment guarantee to the facility and settles the bill: the employee does not have to put up the deposit demanded. What that changes compared with an advance of costs reimbursed later, and what the bank card booklets say about it, are covered in the direct payment guarantee. Outside hospital admission, the policy conditions of the contract apply.

On the limits: emergency medical expenses abroad up to CHF/EUR/USD 1,500,000, medical evacuation and repatriation unlimited anywhere in the world, search and rescue up to CHF 50,000. Those are the Pack VIP limits, at $990 per employee per year, and the Pack VIP Extreme, at $2,290, carries them unchanged. On what medical transport actually costs, country by country and with sources, see the cost of a repatriation.

Why no hospital is named in advance

Because the guarantee is arranged for a given admission, in the facility where the employee happens to be — rarely the one anybody would have picked from a desk. Promising in advance that a named hospital will accept would be a promise nobody can keep. What is verifiable is the network the desk relies on to identify the facility and send it the guarantee: a worldwide medical network of 40,000 accredited hospitals and providers.

Once the employee is stable: filing the claim

From the online area, on the insurer's official forms. You pick the situation — medical expenses among them — and your answers fill the forms; identity, policy and trip are already pre-filled from the contract. Because the contract is in the company's name, the first question asked is who the insured person concerned is: the subscriber, or an employee. You sign on screen, and the official PDFs go to the insurer in one click, with a copy for the company.

The form also asks whether a health insurer has already been approached and what it paid: cover applies outside the country of residence and is subsidiary to compulsory schemes — it complements them, it does not replace them. The programme is underwritten by a Swiss insurance company (collective policy no 20 00 479), on a worldwide medical network; distribution WinHealth Group, a Swiss broker registered with FINMA under no. F01210623.

Terms and conditions are quoted from the issuers' public documents, with article and version. General information, not personal advice.

Frequently asked questions

Frequently asked questions.

The issuers' documents prevail.

Contract documents
What should a company do when an employee is hospitalised abroad?

Have the hospital front desk ring the contract's emergency number (+41 22 ••• •• •• (full number on the insured card and in the client area)), or ring it yourself: it is the single Maximum Insurance emergency number, reachable 24 hours a day for medical, security and travel matters. The assistance desk identifies the hospital, sends it the direct payment guarantee and follows the case until the employee is home. The company keeps the general certificate to hand, keeps invoices and medical reports, and files the claim once the emergency is over.

Who should ring the emergency number: the employee, the company or the hospital?

Any of the three, by design: there is one number, +41 22 ••• •• •• (in full on the insured card), reachable 24 hours a day. In practice the hospital front desk often rings it, because it is the one asking for a guarantee before admitting the patient; but a colleague on the spot or the office manager at head office reaches the same desk, which identifies the facility and sends it the direct payment guarantee.

What should a company get ready while an employee is in hospital abroad?

Three things. The general certificate of cover, which carries the company name, the headcount covered and collective policy no 20 00 479. Something linking the employee to the company: payroll register, employment contract, mission order — the contract carries no names. And the invoices and medical reports, which will be used for the claim once the emergency is over.

Can an employer give the hospital an undertaking instead of the insurer?

No, and it is not what the finance department is waiting for. The payment guarantee is sent to the facility by the insurer: that undertaking is what allows admission without a deposit. An employer who promises settlement, or wires a deposit in a hurry from the company account, is stepping into a mechanism that already exists. Whatever may remain payable depends on the contract and is set out in the policy conditions.

Does Maximum Insurance have partner hospitals named in advance?

No, no list of partner facilities is published: the payment guarantee is arranged case by case, for a given admission, in the facility where the employee happens to be. What is verifiable is the network the programme rests on: a worldwide medical network of 40,000 accredited hospitals and providers. The emergency number is reachable 24 hours a day: +41 22 ••• •• •• (full number on the insured card and in the client area).

Does the employee have to be declared in advance to be covered?

No. The company pack covers a headcount, not a named list: no name is disclosed at subscription, and the certificate is general, in the company's name. Employment is evidenced afterwards, from ordinary employment records — payroll register, employment contract, mission order. No nominative card is issued on this route, since there is no named insured.

How does the company file the claim once the emergency is over?

From the online area, on the insurer's official forms: you pick the situation — medical expenses among them —, your answers fill the forms, and identity, policy and trip are already pre-filled from the contract. Because the contract is in the company's name, you are first asked who the insured person concerned is. You sign on screen and the PDFs go to the insurer in one click, with a copy for the company.

Travel covered, even where others exclude.

VIP Pack: 990EUR for twelve months, unlimited trips. 1.5MEUR in emergency medical costs, unlimited evacuation and repatriation, direct payment guarantee in hospital.