Forbes.com

mPassport is Find of the Day on Forbes.com

You've got travel insurance, and your physician's phone number is on speed dial. But what to do in an emergency when the language isn't your own?
(read more...)

Newsweek

mPassport Is Pick of the Week

Subscribe to mPassport, a service for travelers that allows you to access a database of English-speaking doctors on your cell phone from anywhere in the world. The list covers more than 4,200 doctors in 180 countries. For details visit www.mPassport.com.
(read more...)

SmartMoney.com

mPassport Is the Deal of the Day

HOW DO YOU ASK "Where's the men's water polo event" in Chinese? That one might not be in the "Essential Mandarin Chinese Phrase Book" you picked up at the airport. Americans headed to China to take in the 29th Olympic Games in Beijing--which officially kick off Friday--Might need something a bit more high-tech to guide them through the fast-paced city of 12 million.
(read more...)

Mobile Marketer

HTH Worldwide Debuts Mobile Health Tool for Travelers
By Dan Butcher

RADNOR - Health and safety services company HTH Worldwide has introduced mPassport, a mobile health information tool for global travelers.
(read more...)

Philadelphia Business Journal

'Mobile Medical Passport' begun by HTH Worldwide
By Peter Key

RADNOR - A local company that provides information to travelers about doctors, hospitals, and pharmacies throughout the world has launched a product that formats it for mobile phones.
(read more...)

Dow Jones

HTH Worldwide Has Gone Mobile

Highway to Health Worldwide Inc., an online compendium of doctors, clinics and hospitals, has gone mobile. This week the company launched a subscription service for its database geared toward travelers and accessible by a wireless device called mPassport.
(read more...)

NJBIZ

Health Information Goes Mobile
By João-Pierre Ruth

CLARK — Starting this week, a pair of local companies is launching a joint venture that offers insurers and health care companies a way to boost their marketing presence through cell phones and personal digital assistants. Called Mobile Health Technology, the venture comes from communications software providers Gold Mobile in Clark and Telcordia Technologies Inc. in Piscataway.
(read more...)

Health Insurance Underwriter

International Health Insurance: Moving Into the Mainstream
By Brendan Sharkey

Savvy agents and brokers have noted that the relentless pace of globalization is expanding the horizons of health insurance products. The economies of Asia, Europe, North America, and South America are integrating steadily, and U.S. citizens go abroad to work, play, and study in ever-increasing numbers. These "globalists" have awakened to the need for quality health insurance products to cover them anywhere in the world.
(read more...)

The New York Times

How to Get Sick Overseas (If You Must).

"Before going abroad for business, said Rob Howard, Director of Corporate Sales for HTH Worldwide, a travel insurance company in Radnor, Pa., travelers should find out if their medical policy covers sickness and injuries overseas. Even if policies do promise reimbursement, travelers probably will have to pay any costs upfront for medical care, he said. Most insurance policies do not cover evacuation, which can easily run into the six figures," he said.
(read more...)

Studying in America Magazine

Safe in Our Hands. HTH Worldwide to the Rescue.

It started with one of those phone calls you dread: "Hello, Mom? I was in an automobile accident in Hua Hin, Thailand, and I suffered a compound, open fracture of both the fibula and tibia in my lower right leg. But I already had surgery, and I think I am OK!"
(read more...)

The Wall Street Journal's "Guide to the Business of Life"

LOGISTICS – THE NUTS AND BOLTS OF TRAVEL.

HTH Worldwide appears in “Guide to the Business of Life,” published by The Wall Street Journal. This book is both an instruction manual for living life to the fullest and a fun read about what really matters in the day-to-day. The fourth chapter, entitled “Logistics: The Nuts and Bolts of Travel,” helps to unwind the confusion about travel insurance. It provides a rundown of the different types and highlights the major providers of terrorism coverage, which includes HTH Worldwide, on page 88.
(read more...)

Forbes Life

ACCIDENTAL TOURISTS: EVER WONDER IF IT’S WORTH SPRINGING FOR TRAVELER’S INSURANCE? YOU BET IT IS.

The last thing Steve Ziebell remembers about his trip to Mount Kilimanjaro in February is a feeling of helplessness -- a brief jolt of shock and then nothing. After eight days trudging through volcanic ash and over treacherous trails, Ziebell, 53 a pharmacist from Port Washington, Wisconsin, was beginning his descent when he slipped on a patch of black ice and fell more than 20 feet, landing head first on a rocky ledge.
(read more...)

Business Insurance – Europe

TERROR PROMPTS STAFF CONCERN
Risk Managers Explore Travel Options

The discovery last month of a planned terrorist plot to blow up airliners flying between London and the United States, a spate of diverted flights for security reasons, bombs found in German trains and other recent incidents have prompted employers to more closely consider the safety of traveling employees.
(read more...)

Business Insurance

EMPLOYERS SEEKING BROADER COVERAGE FOR TRAVELING WORKERS
By Karen Pallarito

As the global economy spurs corporate expansion and boosts overseas travel, more employers are looking to buy coverage for employees who travel on business outside of the country for six months or less.
(read more...)

The New York Times

SICK, AND FAR FROM HOME
For Travelers Abroad, Special Medical Insurance May Save the Day
By Jane L. Levere

Eight years ago, Stephen Gould, an executive at the time with the Ford Motor Company, became deliriously ill with a virus while on the business trip to India and was hospitalized under a special overseas medical insurance policy purchased by Ford.
(read more...)

Workspan

ANTICIPATING THE PSYCHOLOGICAL EFFECTS OF EXPATRIATE LIFE
By Eliot Heher, M.D., HTH Worldwide

While many expatriates find overseas assignments exciting, all of them experience some degree of disorientation, confusion and anxiety as they adjust to their host country's culture. In addition to the challenges of a foreign language and society, expatriates often find themselves on a journey of self-discovery, questioning their personal goals, values, and purposes.
(read more...)

International Travel Insurance Journal

WHOSE OPINION SHOULD PREVAIL?
By Dr. Frank Gillingham

In the first part of our three-part series on whose advice is best followed when treating patient abroad, Dr. Frank Gillingham, Medical Director, HTH Worldwide, puts forth the hospital doctor's point of view.
(read more...)

USA Today

INSURANCE FOR EMERGENCY AIR EVACUATION CAN PAY OFF
By Gary Stoller

Many business travelers head abroad without coverage, apparently believing the odds of a medical evacuation are very small. But the Dec. 26 Indian Ocean tsunami, various terrorist bombings and everyday illnesses and injuries suggest such coverage can be beneficial.

Related chart: Some companies that offer air evacuation
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Los Angeles Times

SECURE A TRIP WITH HEALTH INSURANCE

Supplement your own coverage with an evacuation policy. An airlift could cost close to $100,000.

Buying travel health insurance before departure is low on many to-do lists, if it's on the list at all.

But neglecting this task can prove expensive. Medical evacuation alone, including an airlift or other transport when appropriate facilities aren't available, can cost as much as $100,000.

"The number of people buying these policies has increased because of greater health and safety concerns worldwide," says Brendan Sharkey, spokesman for insurer HTH Worldwide, www.hthtravelinsurance.com, (888) 243-2358. (read more...)

Condé Nast Traveler

PLAYING IT SAFE

Think travel insurance is a waste of money? Think again. Krista Carothers deciphers the fine print and shows you how to choose a policy that could save you a bundle.

Unlike most elements of vacation planning, travel insurance doesn’t exactly conjure up images of distant delights that send the pulse racing. Insurance isn’t alluring, exciting, or even remotely interesting, which might be why so many travelers don’t even consider it when planning their trips. Big mistake. When it comes to protecting your vacation investment and, sometimes, even your well-being, nothing is more important than determining whether you need insurance and, if so, choosing the policy that best meets your needs.... (read more...)

California Broker

International Health Insurance: Meeting the Needs of the Globalist Market
By Brendan Sharkey

Far-reaching trends are transforming the way we need to think about health insurance for those whose lifestyles transcend national borders. These forces are rapidly reshaping the underserved international health insurance market:

• Baby Boomers are accumulating disposable income and are spending time and money abroad.
• Globally accessible telecommunications services and Internet applications continue to surge ahead.
• The need to do business on a global scale is growing along with the dynamic world economy.
• New infectious diseases and terrorism cast shadows over every destination.

When insurers and brokers make a sustained effort to meet the needs of these "globalists," the rewards include loyal, lifetime customers who purchase a variety of health insurance products... (read more...)

Health Insurance Underwriter

Focus on International Health Insurance
How to Meet the Needs of the Globalist Market
By Brendan Sharkey

Far-reaching trends are rapidly reshaping a historically underserved market. Are you prepared to meet the needs created by international lifestyles?

The pace of change in international health insurance markets is accelerating, driven by powerful trends:

• Boomers: The demographic wave is accumulating disposable income and spending time and money abroad.
• Technology: Adoption of increasingly convenient and globally accessible telecommunications services and Internet applications continues to surge ahead.
• Globalization: As the dynamic world economy grows so does interdependence and the need to do business on a global scale.
• Health and Safety Risks: New infectious diseases and the activities of a global terrorist network cast shadows over every destination.

The combined effect of these forces is transforming the way we need to think of health insurance for those whose lifestyles transcend national borders. Insurers and brokers must make a sustained effort to meet he needs of these "globalists" in order to keep pace, but the rewards are there: loyal, lifetime customers who purchase a variety of health insurance products that fit life stages from study to business to leisure... (read more...)

Employee Benefit News

Global Alert

In just the past several months, civil unrest in the Middle East, the war with Iraq and the recent SARS epidemic have made front-page headlines around the globe. Lesser known, however, is how these and other fast-changing world events have impacted the business of multinational employers and their workers.

The emergence of travel intelligence services, supported by Web-basted tools, allows employers real-time communication with staff overseas, providing them with valuable pretravel information and frequent updates.... (read more...)

Travel + Leisure

Special Report: Healthcare Abroad

Having the right health insurance coverage is essential no matter where you are. Consider the retiree who fell down a manhole in Oaxaca. The college student with appendicitis who had to be evacuated by helicopter from Papua New Guinea. The IT executive whose hot-air balloon crashed in Kenya.

Yet, by some estimates as few as 5 percent of American travelers have health insurance coverage while they're abroad. (read more...)

International Travel Insurance Journal

SARS Continues its deadly tally

Dr. Eliot Heher, chief medical officer at HTH Worldwide, in Radnor, PA said: 'Travellers who develop symptoms of SARS are eligible for coverage, but those who choose not to travel for fear of the disease are not. However, in recognition of the threat this new disease poses, as well as the travel advisories in place, HTH will allow policyholders to alter the dates on their policies to accommodate a postponement. This allows the traveller to reschedule their trip without incurring a financial penalty related to their travel insurance.' (read more...)

The New York Times

Vacation Checklist: Passport. Camera. Insurance?

Cherie E. Spitzer considered herself healthy until last February, when she suffered a massive heart attack while on a Caribbean cruise.

She lay in the ship's infirmary for two days as the vessel sailed to the nearest major port, in the Dominican Republic. Thirty minutes after the ship docked, she was in a private Lear jet, tended by a British nurse and flying to Fort Lauderdale, Fla., where an ambulance whisked her from the airport to a nearby hospital. (read more...)

The Wall Street Journal

No Refunds for SARS Cancellations

Travel Insurance can help if you're too sick to go, not if you're too scared

Fear of getting sick isn't a condition covered by most travel-insurance policies. If you had planned a trip to Asia and now want to cancel because of worries about the pneumonia-like illness that has swept through parts of the Far East, chances are you won't be able to get a refund through a travel-insurance policy. (read more...)

Business Insurance

Universities Work to Make Sure Students Covered

For those studying abroad, schools often mandate group health insurance.

Although university risk managers' chief concern right now for study abroad students is keeping them safe in light of world events, making sure the students have proper medical insurance and know what to do in an emergency are constant issues. (read more...)

WGN Radio 720, Chicago

Live Radio Broadcast
News and Talk Weekdays 5-7 AM

JOHN WILLIAMS, host: Now speaking of these unfortunate sorts of things, here's Brendan Sharkey. He is the Vice President of Business Development at HTH Worldwide. That's a company in Pennsylvania. He's out around to tell us about a new kind of insurance, at least, I think it's new. Brendan, this is John Williams. Good morning.
(read transcript...)

Bloomberg Radio

Live Radio Broadcast

"Bloomberg on the Money": Terrorism Coverage -- Expanding Business for Companies
(read transcript...)

CNBC: Squawk Box

Live Television Broadcast
New Travel Insurance Offering: Terrorism Coverage

MARK HAINES, anchor: But next, got travel plans? Concerned war or terrorism might mess them up? How about some travel insurance? A new offering from many companies--we'll find out about one company's offerings. This is SQUAWK BOX on CNBC. (read transcript...)

The Wall Street Journal

New Accessory for Travelers: Terror Insurance

Companies Roll Out Policies for Nervous Vacationers; How to Know if You Need One
At a time when anxious families are pulling their hair out about whether to book - or hold off on - spring or summer travel plans, help is coming from an unexpected quarter: the insurance industry. (read more...)

Los Angeles Times

Industry works to temper anxiety, encourage bookings

War-wary travelers have much to worry about these days: cruising into unsafe waters; canceling nonrefundable hotel reservations; wondering if their favorite airline will go out of business, taking their frequent-flier miles along with it.... (read more...)

Washington Post

COMING AND GOING

Cancel Away
Skittish about making long-term travel plans in an uncertain world? Many firms are responding with liberal cancellation policies. (read more...)

Orlando Sentinel

Uncertainties are weighing heavily on industry in transition

War-wary travelers have much to worry about these days: cruising into unsafe waters; canceling nonrefundable hotel reservations; and wondering if their favorite airline will go out of business, taking their frequent-flier miles along with it.

In these times, statistics are hardly reassuring. Before the Sept. 11 attacks, an MIT study determined that a person would have to take a flight daily for 19,000 years before tragedy struck. After 9-11, experts still place the risk of being a terrorist's victim at about 1 in 9 million. (read more...)

Expatriate Observer

International Business Travel - Tips for Healthier Trips

Companies involved in international business routinely send employees abroad for weeks at a time. On average, these international business travelers are 47 years old and stay overseas 45 nights per year. Foreign business trips... (read more...)

International Travel Insurance Journal

Better safe than sorry

The frequency and severity of medical crises abroad can be greatly reduced through the use of the worldwide web... (read more...)

Consumer Reports

Do You Need Travel Insurance?

Travel insurance, which protects your investment should, say, the travel company go bankrupt or you need to suddenly cancel, and also reimburses you for medical costs among other expenses, is in much greater demand since last year's terrorist attacks. Up to 30 percent of travelers now opt for the insurance, compared with 12 percent before the attacks, according to HTH Worldwide, a Radnor, PA., company that sells travel and health insurance. (read more...)

USA Today

Terror fears give travel insurance a boost

The terrorist bombing on the island of Bali last month that claimed the lives of nearly 200 people, many of them tourists, made Alicia Nieva-Woodgate reconsider her planned trip to the Far East.

"I thought: What if something like that happens again?" the San Francisco sportswriter says. "I just wanted to be prepared for the worst."

So before she leaves for a three month adventure to Cambodia, Vietnam, India, Thailand and Burma in December, Nieva-Woodgate is buying a $199 travel insurance policy that covers medical expenses, lost luggage, and the cost of returning home if a terrorist incident interrupts her trip. (read more...)

Philadelphia Inquirer

HTH Worldwide Reports $10 Million Georgia Deal

HTH Worldwide, Radnor, said it had been awarded a contract.... (read more...)

Philadelphia Business Journal

HTH Dips Into Realm of Banking

A health insurance provider for 100,000 international students is entering the world of banking. HTH International just announced an agreement with TheBankcorp.com Bank, a locally based originator of affinity banks, including Philadelphia Private Bank.... (read more...)

Business Insurance: Global Benefit Trends

Service hooks up expat with satisfactory medical care

For U.S. expatriates, one of the biggest challenges of working and living abroad can be obtaining the right medical care, especially in non-English-speaking countries. One example...... (read more...)

Expat cover, service can make a world of difference: Health services for global travelers grow increasingly sophisticated

Health insurance coverage and services for expatriates and international business travelers have reached a level of sophistication that few could have imagined when the programs commenced more than three decades ago. Even before expatriates leave for their foreign destinations, they can, for example, find out online which health care providers are in their insurer's network and make appointments with those providers. ... (read more...)

Risk and Insurance

Keeping Overseas Workers, Business Travelers Healthy

More Americans than ever are working abroad. While the U.S. Census Bureau does not keep a complete count of American expatriates, the U.S. Department of State Bureau of Consular Affairs recorded 3.78 million Americans living abroad in 1999. Numbers from the U.S. Department of Commerce's Bureau of Economic Analysis show that ... (read more...)

The Philadelphia Inquirer

HTH Worldwide gets 3-year, $10 million N.Y. contract

HTH Worldwide, a Radnor provider of international health plans and online health and security information, said it had been awarded a three-year contract by the State University of New York ... (read more...)

Employee Benefit News

Online Guidance Promotes Healthier Expat Experience

A new wave of online resources is helping expatriates access medical care and generally reduce the anxiety of international assignments in a nervous world. With the substantial economic investment employers make in expatriates (estimated at $1 million for a typical three-year posting), completion of an assignment and subsequent retention ... (read more...)

The Insurance Journal

International Doctor Referral Service Expands to Canada

Canadians travelling outside Canada and The U.S. need more than what their existing travel insurance provides says HTH Worldwide. The U.S.-based company, which provides a variety of online healthcare services including an international doctor referral service... (read more...)

Insure.com

Travel Insurance Three Times as Popular Since Sept. 11

Even though fewer people are flying, cruise bookings have dwindled, and tourism is generally in trouble since Sept. 11, almost three times as many people who are traveling are insuring their trips with travel insurance. Traditionally, about 12 percent of travelers buy travel insurance, but since Sept. 11, that figure has jumped to between 30 and 35 percent says Brendan Sharkey Vice President and Director of Business Development at HTH Worldwide, an insurer specializing in travel insurance and insurance for Americans on extended stays overseas.... (read more...)