William Russell Health Insurance Review

This article was last updated on September 25, 2019

Continuing my review series of popular investment and insurance providers, I will review William Russell today.

They are a health and life insurer focusing on the expat market, across more than 100 countries.

For anybody with any questions, or for those that want cheaper or better insurance options, please email me on adamfayed@hotmail.co.uk or adamfayed@int-amg.com.

Where is William Russell commonly sold?

They are sold globally. As they can’t accept local clients, they are sold widely in Dubai, Qatar, Singapore, Hong Kong and other expat-focused cities.

How do the William Russell plans work?

They have numerous healthcare options including. Just like other insurers, they have cheaper plans covering just the basics, and more extensive options.

Currently their plans are:

  1. Essential Care.
  • The cheapest option, starting from $66.99 a month.

2. Essential Care Plus

  • From $102.03 a month

3. Elite Bronze

  • $1,500,000 of annual coverage.

4. Elite Silver

  • $2,500,000 of annual coverage.

5. Elite Gold

  • $5,000,000 annual limit, the most extensive plan.

With the group coverage, William Russell split it into different group sizes:

  • 3–9 employeees.

This leads to discounts, where appropriate. Excesses or deductibles also lower the costs of healthcare with William Russell, like with other insurers.

They offer deductibles from $0 to $10,000 a year.

How about the income protection and life insurance

The features of the income protection plan is:

  • Protect up to 75% of your income with a $144,000 annual limit.

The benefit is paid until you are unable to return to work after 24 months, aged 65 or death.

The life coverage is fairly simple and vanilla and has the following benefits:

  • Cover up to 20x your annual income, with $2m being the maximum coverage-level

What are the pros of the insurance?

The best things about William Russell is:

  • They do offer monthly, quarterly and annual payment options. This isn’t unique in the market but some insurers only have annual premiums.

How about the negatives?

The main negatives are:

  • The premiums aren’t that cheap considering the quality of the coverage. This is especially the case for the health coverage.

How do you claim?

You can submit a claim through their apps.

How long does it take to pay a claim?

Usually it takes William Russell 1–3 weeks to pay a claim.

Which clinics and hospitals can you use?

There is a list available on the William Russell website, which looks at the clinics and hospitals that can be used. Some of them have direct billing options.

Which countries are excluded?

Iran, North Korea, Libya, South Sudan, Syria, the USA, Yemen and Switzerland are currently excluded.

In addition there are many restricted countries, including Cameroon, Congo, Togo, Gabon and the Ivory Coast.

Do William Russell increase their premiums?

Yes, from 2010–2017, they increased premiums by an average of 7.8% per year, and 8.5% in 2019.

The increases haven’t been consistent, however. In Hong Kong and some countries with high medical inflation, premiums have been hiked by considerably more than these figures.

Conclusion

William Russell isn’t a bad insurance options, but there are better alternatives in the market, for most people.

Most of the clients and people I have met who have bought this policy, haven’t been unhappy, but usually prefer alternative provisions on the health insurance side.

They are one of the few providers in the market to offer income protection/disability coverage, however, and this is a value-added.

Do you offer health and life insurance?

My main services are investment and financial advisory-related services, but I do have access to insurance options.

Further reading

In the article below, I review another insurance company operating in the expat market:

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Owner at adamfayed.com.

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