We’ve been reporting expatriate related international health insurance news for you for a wee while now, and in all that time we’ve presented the fact that when you move overseas, you really need to take the maintenance and protection of your health as seriously and importantly as you take the maintenance and protection of your wealth status!
Depending on your circumstances and where in the world you relocate to, you may need private cover for all your medical requirements, you may need supplementary cover or you may be fortunate enough to have access to free treatment thanks to a reciprocal agreement between your old home nation and your new country of residence for example. But even in the latter situation, there are always procedures you have to follow to make sure you’re correctly registered so that you have access to care should you need it.
However, a good argument has been raging behind the scenes at Shelter Offshore – and that is whether all expatriates actually need some form of international health insurance. And the answer is that your requirements, as outlined above, depend on your own personal circumstances. So, beware what you read on the Internet and offline, because where people are writing about medical insurance they may be selling it, (we’re not – anyone can advertise on our site!), and the truth about who should and should not be insured is perhaps more likely to be as follows: -
Who needs international medical insurance?
If you’re moving abroad to live in a country with a less than well-developed medical system, where perhaps there is limited access to doctors and decent facilities, where should you fall ill you may need to travel or be repatriated, it is likely that you will need a decent international medical insurance policy. This will allow you to seek treatment elsewhere and/or be repatriated for care should that be required.
If you regularly travel to multiple nations with your job or your lifestyle, an international medical insurance policy will make sense – because you never know in which country you will be in if you fall ill! So you have to make sure that your insurance is broad enough in terms of its geographical cover to make sure that you’re not uninsured if you leave your own home country.
If you spend time perhaps between just two nations such as the one in which you work and the one in which you live – or if you travel back and forth between your new country of residence and your old home, an international medical insurance scheme may make sense for you as well. Again, this is about ensuring you have a policy that will cover you no matter where you are if you should become sick.
Who may not need international or expatriate health insurance?
If you’re living overseas in a country where there is a decent health care system locally that is funded by social security type payments made by working people, and you have access to this healthcare system because of the payments you make out of your wage each month, you may be covered sufficiently by the offering locally so you may not need international health insurance as a result.
Some in this situation discover that the local offering is not quite ideal in terms of waiting lists and/or access to drugs or high-level facilities. In such an instance it may be sufficient for you to purchase a good local supplementary private health insurance. Alternatively, for those residing in a nation where everyone has private health insurance such as Germany or America for example, you may only need to buy in to a local insurance policy to protect your needs for that country.
In conclusion…
You need to look at the local offering in terms of the facilities and care available and your entitlement to that, and you need to look at your own personal circumstances when considering whether you need expatriate international health insurance or not. The bottom line is you and your family need protection of some sort, and what you will require and what will best suit your needs will depend a little on the country you’re residing in, it will depend on where in the world you regularly travel and what is available locally to you in terms of insurance for example.
If in doubt you can seek advice from a financial adviser who will also help you explore the insurance products available – but also speak to fellow expats and colleagues in the country you’re in to see how they manage.
