Meet the man who reads the fine print
Alex Routh has been an expat for 30 years and an international health insurance advisor since 1995. He has read the policies, and lived the claims. He graduated from Simon Fraser University in 1987.
Thirty years abroad teaches you things a brochure never will. Alex lived and worked in Japan for 7 years, China for 5, and then in Hong Kong, Thailand, and the Philippines for about a year each. He then was a moving target expat aboard a 43-foot sailing catamaran yacht visiting 22 countries for 8 years, and has now been in the Dominican Republic for 13.
He has worked in the international private medical insurance (IPMI) space since 1995. In addition to selling policies, he pioneered the introduction of a payment system to the IPMI space to reimburse claims directly to policyholder credit cards in 50 currencies at no charge to the beneficiary. He attended international health and travel insurance conferences for many years meeting all the owners and senior management to promote this service. This gave him a unique view of all the players in the business.
In this 30-year period, he witnessed appalling claim denial events and patterns of denial from certain firms in the business. How could they get away with it? What was driving these patterns of claim denial behavior? The answer unsurprisingly is to be found in the fine print. After extensive research he wrote the only book on international health insurance in 2022, the "Buyer Beware Guide," now an Amazon title with 5-star ratings where he exposes certain firms, and tells you exactly what to look for and avoid. He has now written another "Buyer Beware Guide" this time for travel insurance. Both short books are available as free downloads on this site.
The job of the broker is to offer the best combination of good (in terms of product quality) and inexpensive. Alex Routh delivers solutions. Additionally should a claim occur, he coaches you through the process and will be your advocate if something goes wrong.
Meet the woman behind the man
Isaura Sanchez de Routh married Alex 13 years ago. She has an MBA and assists in many aspects of the business, especially renewals administration.
- Setting sales records means he has relationships with preferred insurers at the highest level
- Understands good policy wording, so nasty exclusions never make it into your contract
- Assists and coaches with pre-authorisation treatment approval to avoid future problems
- Stays on the file until it is resolved, however long that takes
- I don't get involved in overcharging or hospital disputes