In this iPMI Global In Focus article, International Health Insurance 2023 report author, Ian Youngman, takes a look at the size of the digital nomad market. According to Youngman, it may not be as big as first thought.
Most digital nomad visas demand health insurance and some specify IPMI. So how big is this new market? One extensively used 2021 figure is 35 million of which 15 million are in the USA-this is unlikely. More recent studies suggest 24 million but there is no evidence how this number is arrived at.
Because they are short term and nomadic, it is difficult to actually count them.
Studies say that 70% are Millennial and Gen Z- this makes sense.
Many of these are solos or couples where the concept of health insurance is not wanted or understood.
So, when digital visas make it compulsory, this makes it a grudge purchase so they may buy something cheap and unsuitable.
Much is talked about as if digital nomads are all the same.
This is far from the case.
No two countries agree a definition, what the conditions are, how long they can stay and whether the visa can be extended.
Over 50 countries have brought in a digital nomad visa and while some have been highly successful, others have made the terms so restrictive that they have attracted few if any nomads,
True digital nomads actually move from country to country.
Most digital nomads move from their home to only one country and then back home or stay in the country.
So, when does a digital monad become an expatriate or foreign resident?
I do not have the answer.
I am dubious of the massive numbers of digital nomads as yet I have seen ZERO official figures from countries on the number of digital monads they have.
If country A has 600 digital monads in January, and 600 next January, are they the same people or have some or all gone to another country or gone back home?
As normal travel has recovered far quicker than expected, the need to attract digital nomads to kick-start the tourism business has gone.
Countries who have succeeded may not give numbers, as they do not want to tempt fortune or tell competitors.
Those who have failed after much hurrah will want to save embarrassment by declaring low numbers.
Digital nomads are not just about tourism as some of the cleverer countries see this as a way of bringing in techies and people who can become entrepreneurs to develop a tech industry where there is no local expertise.
Some insurers avoid digital nomads as they see a 6-month policy as not cost effective.
But the digital nomad may stay on that visa for up to 5 years – and perhaps longer.
The digital nomad may become an expat needing long term IPMI.
And if you have IPMI that suits a digital nomad that policy could also suit a short-term business or private expat, a student or even a HNW individual.
Some digital nomad polices cut prices by reoffering less cover than a normal IPMI policy such a not covering repatriation or treatment back home.
A UK expat recently got hit by a ￡20,000 NHS bill -as they did not know that new rules mean NHS treatment depend on where people live, not what their citizenship or past tax history is.
They could be a large long-term market, a passing fad, or somewhere between the two.
IPMI insurers and MGAs need to decide on how to or not cover digital nomads based on looking at and discussing this new market.
International Health Insurance 2023
The latest information, facts and figures on iPMI and international health insurance
- International Private Medical Insurance (IPMI) is a key global health insurance product for many insurance companies, brokers and MGAs.
- It is a dynamic market that is seeing major new partnerships, selling and buying of insurers or business books, technological changes and much more.
- New compulsory health insurance and universal health insurance affects demand in a positive as well as negative way.
- Brokers and insurers expect strong growth in 2023 and future years.
- Employers are shifting from traditional expat models to decentralised models that incorporate more virtual assignments and in-market hiring.?
- There are more short-term and flexible assignments but the number of long-term assignments is at pre-2020 levels.
- IPMI has new markets of HNW, digital nomads, temporary foreign workers, cross-border workers, local employees, contract workers plus international students.
- The publisher has been researching and studying the IPMI market for 30 years.
- His market reports are based on a daily updated database of 177 countries-83 insurance companies-47 insurance brokers, agents and MGAs/MGUs.
- The main IPMI is report is 300 pages and as well as the latest information this edition studies the many insurer-insurer IPMI partnerships that are changing the global market.
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The 2023 edition includes:
- 300 page main report.(see table of contents below)
- 177 country profiles
- 83 insurance companies?
- 47 insurance brokers, agents, MGAs and others
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- Insurance brokers and agents
- Insurance companies
- MGAs and MGUs
- Professionals working in global healthcare markets
- Hospital and clinic groups operating internationally
- Travel agents
- Banks and other financial institutions
- Investors and private equity
- National and local government policymakers
- Lawyers
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- This report does not contain images, diagrams or price comparisons.
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Table of Contents
- Introduction
- IPMI market?
- IPMI market 2023
- International health insurance numbers
- The target market
- Redefining expats and IPMI customers
- Traditional Expat Employee?
- Local Employee/Contractor Workers,
- Hybrid Expat Employee?
- Short assignments
- Digital Nomad?
- Temporary foreign workers
- Cross-border workers?
- Sending people overseas
- High Net Worth and High profile customers
- International students
- Temporary foreign workers
- MGAs
- Lloyd’s MGA
- Third-party administrators
- Foreign companies in the USA
- Digital nomad insurance
- Businesses and consumers
- Chronic condition management
- Diaspora cover for relatives
- Employer health support to employees and families?
- Merging health insurance and healthcare
- Millennials
- Remote health services
- Seniors
- Short-term cover?
- International health insurance partnerships
- The big partnership deals
- Key deals?
- Health insurers A to Z recent events
- Countries A to Z
- Research - insurers, brokers and others
- Healthcare Survey
- Work and Wander: Digital Nomads
- Expat survey
- Expat and international employee healthcare trends
- Healthcare in 2040
- Future health, care and well-being by 2040
- Millennials- misguided or misunderstood??
- Global Medical Trend Rates Report 2023
- US employer medical costs projections
- Social media comments by expats
- World of Work
- Mental health of expats?
- The Future of Work: Flexibility, diversity, and purpose
- Executive Wellbeing Index?
- 360 Global Wellbeing Survey
- Global Wealth Report 2022
- Health Care Insights Study?
- Health Trends: Future of Healthy Aging USA
- Health Systems in Transition-Czechia
- Health Systems in Transition-Georgia
- United Kingdom: Health system review 2022
- How can health insurers mobilise new technology?
- International Health Insurance for Expatriate, Students and Affluent Residents:?
- Global Expatriates: Size, Segmentation and Forecast?
- Tackling the Surgery Backlog in the Canadian Provinces
- Expat Insider 2022?
- Work from Wherever Index
- Health Trends 2023
- Political Global Risks Report 2023
- Healthy ageing in the era of an ageing global workforce,
- Medical claims data
- Annual 2022 Expat Employee Benefit Trends
- Annual 2022 USA Employee Benefit Trends
- International Mobility Survey
- International Migration Outlook
- Health at a glance-Latin America and the Caribbean
- Health at a glance-Europe
- Expat workers in Europe
- State of International Health Insurance Report 2021-2022?
- Cost of International Health Insurance Report 2021-2022?
- Global Employee Benefits Trends Report 2022
- International School Survey
- Top 2023 USA Employee Benefit Trends?
- Sigma 4-22 World Insurance
- Number of international students?
- State of World Population
- World Migration Report 2022?
- ACA numbers
- Can people afford to pay for health care in Bulgaria
- Quality of data on health spending
- 2023 Global Medical Trends Survey?
- China health insurance
- Africa
- Asia Pacific
- Latin America
- Middle East And North Africa
- The Future?
- Databases
Companies Mentioned
A selection of companies mentioned in this report includes:
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Read the round table, Digital Nomads iPMI & Health Insurance Strategies 2024 out today: https://ipmiglobal.com/ipmi-roundtables/latest-round-tables/digital-nomads-ipmi-health-insurance-strategies-2024