A corporate-sponsored hospital plan is one of the fringe benefits that employees value the most. But when they leave their company or retire, they also generally lose the right to their corporate hospitalisation insurance. Fortunately, this coverage can always be continued on an individual basis. As an employer, you have an important role to play when it comes to informing your staff members about this option. With AG, your staff members can continue their coverage with AG Care Hospitalisation, our comprehensive individual hospital plan.
Right to individual continuation coverage
Staff members who retire or leave their company, and lose the right to their corporate hospital plan as a result, can always continue this coverage on an individual basis. This is the safety net provided by the Verwilghen Act. Under this Act, you as an employer are also required to inform your departing employees about this option.
If they decide to go for individual continuation, their corporate hospital plan will be converted into an individual plan with the same, if not better, covers. Family members enrolled in the group plan may also convert to individual continuation coverage.
The right to take out individual continuation coverage will be exempt of any medical formalities as long as the staff members have been continuously enrolled in a corporate hospital plan for at least two years prior to leaving the company.
What do your staff members need to do to continue their hospitalisation coverage on an individual basis?
- Staff members interested in taking out individual continuation coverage must notify AG within 30 days of leaving their company.
- If they decide to continue their coverage with AG, they must send in this document completed and signed by both the employer and employee to AG. They will then receive a non-binding quote for individual hospitalisation insurance.
Individual continuation: AG Care Hospitalisation
At AG, individual hospitalisation insurance is called AG Care. It offers the same comprehensive base covers as your group Hospicare Flexible hospital plan:
- hospitalisation
- pre-admission/post-discharge outpatient care
- critical illness-related treatment
- coverage and assistance abroad
- Medi-Assistance third-party payer agreement (only available in Dutch or French)
With AG Care, your staff members and their family can count on same level of protection they had with your corporate plan. DECAVI also spotted the many benefits and awarded AG Care Hospitalisation (NL-FR) best "healthcare insurance" honours for the second year in a row (see box).
AG Care Vision: one of the only pre-financing solutions on the market
With the promise of equivalent if not better covers, individual continuation coverage is always a worthy successor to a corporate plan. The only catch is that it often comes with a hefty price, particularly for staff members nearing retirement. This is because the premium is based on age at the time of continuation.
Which is why AG is the only private insurer to offer a pre-financing option with its AG Care Vision product. With this so-called "waiting policy", staff members get to lock in their premium at the time they sign up for the AG Care Vision policy, and are charged the applicable rate at that age when they convert to individual continuation coverage.
This pre-financing option can be taken out by you for the benefit of your staff members (AG Care Vision Full). Your staff members can also take out this option individually (AG Care Vision NL-FR). In both cases, the insurance coverage works the same way. For the full details, go to My Global Benefits, the website for your insured staff members. We have summarised the key benefits of our Vision solution here:
Assessment by Belgian consumer association Test-Achats: AG Care Hospitalisation earns number one spot in test
In these times when health and wellbeing is a priority for many Belgians, Test-Achats compared several hospital plans on the Belgian market. In its article "Which hospitalisation insurance is right for you?", Test-Achats measured various key indicators such as customer satisfaction, hospitalisation for pre-existing conditions, and outpatient care to treat a critical illness. Among the many insurers assessed in the test, AG got the best score (83/100) for its product AG Care with the SL option and Delta coverage.
AG Care Hospitalisation wins DECAVI 2021 insurance award
AG Care Hospitalisation has been an established name in the hospital insurance segment for many years. With its extensive covers and unique level premiums - the premium remains the same throughout the life of the insured - AG Care Hospitalisation (NL-FR) took home the DECAVI trophy in the Healthcare Insurance category for the second year in a row in 2021.