vHH Medical Network Cuts Seafarer Healthcare Costs

Anker Crew Liability Insurance of the Netherlands has trimmed around 20 percent off the cost of medical treatment for seafarers falling ill or who are injured in the United States after it started using van Hall Health’s unique medical network. A year ago, Anker Crew Liability Insurance, part of the Groningen-based Anker Groep, approached Michael van Hall, founder of vHH, to create an international medical network designed to reduce the cost of medical treatment for seafarers covered under Anker’s programs. Anker’s insurance programs cover around 4,000 seafarers serving onboard 400 ships trading worldwide, but mostly to Europe, China, South America and South Africa. Around 40 to 50 of these ships call in the US each year. vHH placed a shipping company-specific CD onboard each of the 400 ships, listing the preferred medical care providers in their US ports of call. This enabled masters to make medical arrangements in advance of the ship arriving at a port, so cutting out any middlemen and potential fraud. Bert J. Posthumus, managing director of Anker Crew Liability Insurance, says: “We are very pleased with the van Hall network and find we are paying around 20% less for seafarers treated in the US. We have had about 20 seafarers that have undergone medical treatment in the US since we started using the van Hall Health Network.”