What’s The One Thing Expats Apparently Can’t Do Without?

According to surprising new findings from a leading international health insurance company, the one thing expats apparently can’t do without is health care cover. 

Colour us happy, because we’ve been going on and on about how important it is for expats caught up in the recession to keep their health care cover going.  It seems that we haven’t been rattling on in vain – and we’re pleased because in our opinion and in our experience, it is vital to be well covered for all of your health care needs. 

In this report we’ll show you why you really do need health insurance if you’re living abroad, and how you can cut costs on cover if you need to, or get an all singing all dancing policy to cover every eventuality from some specialist insurance providers.  (You’d probably opt for the latter if someone else was paying!)

More People Opting for Private Health Insurance

The Association of British Insurers has shown that, despite the recession, there has even been an increase in demand for private health insurance cover in the UK – where supposedly the great National Health Service can deal with all ills for free!  So it’s no wonder that overseas, where there is rarely a free health service anywhere near as good as the over stretched and under funded NHS, expatriates are doing all they can to continue to afford health insurance premiums.

Bupa has recently conducted a survey of expatriate clients to determine how they view the importance or otherwise of keeping a good level of medical insurance cover in place.  We at Shelter Offshore were very pleased to read that expatriates value health care cover as vital, with all those surveyed stating quite clearly that of all the things they would consider cutting back on – from holidays in exotic destinations to even pension contributions – health insurance was the number one ‘thing’ they would not do without.

Over 66% of those surveyed stated that health insurance was vital – with many realising that they have nothing else to fall back on if they fall ill.  This is absolutely true, because even those with private insurance in the UK know that if the worst happens and they can no longer afford to pay, they have back up in the form of the NHS – or, if they discover they have a serious and long-term condition not covered by their health insurance policy such as HIV for example, again, they have back up in the form of the NHS.

Expats Aware of Critical Nature of Health Insurance Cover

Those living abroad not only realise that they have no back up in the nation they are in most of the time, but that even if they were to repatriate on discovery of ill health, they may not even be covered by the health system in their own nation of domicile.  This is the case for British expatriates who are often shocked to realise that they can’t just pop back to blighty and get looked after if they fall ill when living abroad.  Yes, if they are involved in an accident when on holiday in the UK the NHS will give them emergency care, but in theory, if they are living abroad and they develop cancer or Alzheimers for example, there is nothing to say that when they return to the UK looking for care, that the NHS has to provide it.

Bottom Line Basics and Affording Health Care Insurance

So, not only should expatriates make sure that they have the level of health care cover they need in their new nation of residence, if possible they need to make sure that they are paying for a policy that will cover them if they travel elsewhere abroad, or even if they move to another nation.  Some expatriates opt to cut costs on their cover to a minimum and take out a local policy only, that just covers for the bare minimum of essential aspects of health care provision.  If this is all you feel you can really afford, then so be it, it is a bottom line policy and it is better than nothing.  However, the leading international insurers such as Bupa and AXA PPP do offer competitively priced, more flexible cover options that will see you looked after if you do travel or move away from the nation you’re currently in.  Their costs depend on many factors such as the region in the world you might be in, any pre-existing conditions and so on and so forth.  And for some expats, it’s possible to reduce premiums if they undergo a medical, if they take out cover when they are very young and healthy, and if they have no pre-existing conditions and are willing to pay a higher excess.

Top of the Range Health Insurance is Available

For anyone concerned about getting cover in place for chronic, long-term, terminal or critical conditions from AIDS to cancer, from asthma to diabetes, there are policies that will cover all conditions – even some, such as asthma, that are pre-existing.  These policies are generally only available either from specialist provides such as Interglobal, or from the larger firms such as aforementioned Bupa or AXA PPP.  Naturally enough, the more costly the care might be that the insurer may have to pay out for, the more costly cover will be in the form of your annual premiums – but the more you can do personally to reduce your risks of disease and accidents, the healthier you are and the less risky your lifestyle, the more bargaining power you have when it comes to shopping around looking for the best level of cover for the best value.