Getting medical insurance in place is a requirement for all but a very limited few expatriates. The fact of the matter usually is, you move abroad, you lose healthcare entitlements back home and are ineligible for free care in your new nation, so you have to get at least some basic health insurance in place.
Because, just like all insurances, it’s a nuisance to have to arrange medical insurance, most people are happy to compare and contrast on price, find a happy medium between cover and cost, and sign up to whoever is offering the best deal. However, the fact of the matter is, not all medical insurers offer a good deal for the individual expatriate customer.
For example, some throw in medical evacuation cover, some insist you have it at great cost, and with other policies it’s an add-on that a lot of people choose to ignore. So, let’s take a look, is medical evacuation cover for expatriates actually a necessity that you could really benefit from, or simply an unnecessary expense?
What is Medical Evacuation Cover in an Expatriate Health Insurance Policy?
Many people simply assume that medical evacuation is a service that would be offered to them if they were a long distance from a treatment centre. The evacuation cover would pay for them being driven or flown to the nearest treatment centre…but, that’s not always the case! The best medical evacuation cover will take the policyholder, their spouse or partner and any dependent children as well to wherever the ill or injured person needs to be to receive the care they need.
As you can therefore see, medical evacuation cover could simply cover transporting you and you alone from wherever you have fallen ill to wherever you can get care. An all singing, all dancing policy will take you and your family to the best centre for the specific treatment you require. There’s quite a difference in what is covered, what will be paid for and how you and your family will be looked after – and this should be reflected in the price of your policy…however, things aren’t always that simple!
Who Needs Medical Evacuation Cover?
You may think from reading the above generalised overview of the two extremes of medical evacuation cover that you’d be quite happy to have just the basic level of service provided for perhaps. But think about the following scenario: you’re living in a nation where there are decent medical services available, but only in the larger towns and cities. You fall ill or are injured when out and about travelling in your new nation and you call on your medical evacuation cover – you’re told that your transport to the nearest medical facility will be paid for. You are left to call an ambulance, explain what the problem is and wait while they come and find you and simply drive you to the nearest doctor.
If on the other hand you have a more comprehensive service, such as the one being promoted by InterGlobal at the moment, and you or your accompanying partner or friend can call in and explain the situation, whether your condition is life threatening or not, InterGlobal state that it would be their priority to get you to the best centre for treatment if, for example, local services were not up to scratch. Their policy is always to ensure a family is kept together to reduce stress on the patient as well – so not only might you be flown out to a regional treatment centre thanks to your medical evacuation policy, but chances are, your wife/husband and dependent children would travel with you.
You see there is a massive difference between what’s covered under the loose term ‘medical evacuation.’ So it’s up to you to research what your preferred providers offer, perhaps taking the time to phone them to compare basic levels of care and cover, before you commit to one product or another. To confuse things, there is not always much difference in price between companies offering a decent level of medical evacuation, and those offering almost no service at all.
As Peter Rousseau, Business Development Director at InterGlobal has told us:
“We’re concerned that some expats believe they are receiving a higher level of evacuation cover than is actually the case. This could leave them or their families seriously exposed in the event of a medical emergency and we urge all expats to check their cover carefully…
“We’ve also heard of people being refused evacuation because their condition wasn’t considered life threatening even though local facilities are inadequate. In these circumstances we believe it is far better to evacuate a patient on a scheduled flight to a decent regional hospital whenever the local facilities are not up to scratch. This provides better quality care and prevents treatable conditions from becoming chronic.”
Note, there are many companies offering expatriate medical insurance and international health care plans, so be sure to research what’s offered by all those who seem to fit your requirements for cover. If you think the job of comparing and contrasting and researching would be a bit too dull or too time consuming, contact us to be put in touch with an international financial adviser covering your location who will do the leg work for you.
