Many expats travelling worldwide do not realize that medical treatment overseas can be extremely expensive. Expat health insurance is a great solution to protect your and your family’s well-being and avoid an impact on your finances. In this article, we will discuss why expat health insurance is important and how to acquire proper coverage.
Global Multiple Countries Coverage
Many international health insurance plans can cover expats in multiple countries. The plans usually have many benefits and offer customization that can influence the premium you pay. This is very important for travelers and expatriates living and working overseas. As a foreign national, you and your family members are generally not covered for medical treatment abroad. No matter where you are, or if you wish to travel elsewhere for medical treatment, most global medical plans will offer medical coverage all over the world, either including or excluding the USA.
Expats may wonder why they need international health insurance when living abroad. In fact, as a foreign national, you and your family will most likely not be covered by free healthcare in the country where you are residing. Despite that the overall quality varies from country to country, you need to also consider hospital coverage, outpatient treatment, assistance and evacuation charge, as well as dental care, accidental death and invalidity or life coverage. After all, the peace of mind of knowing that you and your family have access to the best healthcare is very important. Therefore, you need to create tailored expatriate health insurance that meets your unique requirements.
Some expats will rely upon the local health schemes because of the low cost, but that plan may not allow you to obtain medical treatment at more satisfactory private clinics and hospitals. Local plans will also not provide medical coverage while you are travelling out of the country or when you go back home. Also, local plans in many developed countries may only provide fundamental medical coverage that may not be suitable for most expats.
Part of maintaining your health overseas means that you need to have medical coverage that will provide access to first world medical care that will help you address medical problems before they become serious medical issues. A global medical plan can include prescription drug coverage that will also help you or your loved ones maintain their health. Vaccination coverage is also important if you are residing in areas where diseases are more common and are especially critical if you have young children. This is why obtaining an out-patient medical option is a good idea if you and your family will be living overseas.
An expatriate health insurance plan can let you select the hospital, doctor or another medical service provider that best suits your needs. The policy is flexible and worldwide. Expat Financial and its insurance partners have an extensive network of medical service providers in almost every country in the world. With most of our insurers, you will enjoy direct payment, which means that you may not have to advance your medical expenses first. Choosing an expat medical provider with a large global medical network and the ability to provide a guarantee of payment is important.
Financial Security
In most of the countries around the world, expats are required to prepay the cost before receiving medical treatment, and some of the medical procedures can be extremely costly. With an adequate expatriate health insurance plan, you will be protected from any short and long-term medical expenses including emergency evacuation and repatriation.
It will help you avoid the financial risk of uninsured medical costs while living and working overseas. Besides, most of the insurance providers have developed trustworthy medical network centres and medical staff worldwide. This will be able to keep pace with you and your family as your medical needs change. If you wish to be able to seek medical treatment in the United States, you should get the USA coverage option, but this will increase your premium.
Flexible Plan Design
International health insurance is usually easy to adjust to challenges with a variety of individual and family health insurance needs such as life insurance, disability, and more. If you are an employer sending your employee overseas, an international group health benefits plan and insurance solutions will help retain talented employees. Please also read our blog post “The Benefits Of An International Group Insurance Plan.”
Aid Workers, Missionaries and NGO Organizations
Whether you are traveling overseas for a short missionary assignment, volunteer position or a long-term aid worker assignment, it is vital that you obtain a global travel insurance or expat health plan that will adequately cover your stay overseas.
While this article has mostly dealt with the critical nature of global medical coverage for individual expats, the same issues exist for expatriate employers who send employees overseas. An expat employer is legally responsible for their expat employees, and healthcare is a critical feature of any expat package. A plan that will provide excellent medical coverage for the expat employee and his or her family is vital, and an international group insurance plan can provide better coverage and premiums for the employer versus having the employee purchase his or her plan. A high-quality group plan will also help expat employers retain and attract employees.
The cost of international health insurance will vary by plan. Expat Financial offers several different international health insurance plans for expatriates of any nationality across the world. We also offer excellent service before and after you purchase your international health insurance plan. If you have questions about our international medical insurance plans or if you want to discuss your needs and produce a customized quote, please contact us or complete the quote form. As noted above, having excellent global medical coverage will not only give you peace of mind but will help you maintain your health!
How To Acquire Expat Health Insurance?
Expat Financial offers several international health insurance plans for expatriates across much of the world. Our insurers will help provide you with peace of mind during your stay overseas. We are also able to source international health insurance for Non-Governmental Organizations around the world sending aid workers overseas. The insurance companies that we work with also offer excellent service before and after you purchase your international health insurance plan – our firm can also assist as your independent advocate. If you have special questions about our international medical insurance plans or if you want to discuss your needs and produce a customized quote, please contact us or complete the quote form. The Cigna Global Health Options plan is our most popular international health plan for expatriates.
