Chances are, your domestic healthcare broker is an unwitting participant in your global benefits procurement and management - you went to them with an international issue or a question, they probably didn’t come to you to discuss your international exposure first. This isn’t necessarily their fault, they just don’t have the training, and therefore try to avoid showing their ignorance. If any of this sounds familiar, there's a quick reality check you can go through:

• What can my broker tell me about the global benefits category?
• How much does my broker rely on an industry rep for their information?
• Does my broker even want to do this?

More and more employee benefits firms are promoting “international benefits” services as part of their offerings. Some are indeed qualified, competent and a valuable part of the process. In our experience, however, there are a lot who can print out the menu, but can’t exactly cook the soup. How can you find out? Here are a few diagnostic questions:

• What is the firm's core competency - domestic or international?
• How many international cases does it manage?
• What are the firm's credentials?
• Who services the business?

Viator International made the commitment ten years ago to focus exclusively on international risk and benefits. While some clients have asked us to manage their domestic plans based on our performance with their global plans, our primary focus is international risk, large and small. Viator's approach is simple – carve out your international risk to Viator, and let your current benefits advisor handle your domestic business.

Viator International. 

information@viatorinternational.com   

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