Expatriate Health Care

Summary: When contemplating a new life abroad as an expatriate, health care services overseas, health insurance and actually being able to afford access to necessary services become issues that need consideration.

A lot of the time the fortunate majority of us are able to take good health for granted, but at certain points in life the maintenance of our physical wellbeing comes to the front of our mind.

When contemplating a new life abroad as an expatriate, health care services overseas, health insurance and actually being able to afford access to necessary services become issues that need consideration.

The first question to answer is whether or not you and your family will be entitled to free health care overseas in the country you’re moving to.  The majority of countries worldwide do not have a 100% free medical system and at the very least you will have to afford to supplement anything other than basic health care.

Next up you need to know a little about the quality and availability of health care services for expatriates.  In a first world country like Germany, Canada or Australia the quality and availability of care will be very high...in slightly less well developed or well off countries the expatriate health care available may be poor or even non-existent.

If you’re going to be living in a country with poor medical care facilities you will need to ensure you have adequate insurance to evacuate you to another country where you can be treated in the case of an emergency - and you should consider having a full check up before moving out there so that you can arm yourself with any necessary medication to keep yourself fully healthy whilst living abroad.

Yes, I did just mention the dreaded word - insurance!

Medical insurance for expatriates is not a necessity but you should very seriously consider whether or not you and your family could benefit from it.  In some countries it is actually essential that you have health insurance because without it you will receive nothing more than incredibly rudimentary and basic care in the case of an emergency and what’s more you’ll have to foot the bill for that and any other medical services you ever require.

Health care is not cheap - but what price our physical well being or that of our family?

Those expatriates who will be working abroad may find that their employer has a health care scheme that they are entitled to join and that is supplemented by the employer.  Alternatively they may find that they are paying into a national insurance program that covers some or all health care services.  These are facts to determine when negotiating an overseas contract. 

If on the other hand you’re going to retire abroad, be self employed overseas or work without making any form of health care scheme contribution you really should look at the overall medical picture and find out what you may have to pay for.  At that point you can decide whether expatriate health care insurance makes sense and is affordable.  If it is you can then make sure you have your insurance in place before you move abroad and have full peace of mind that you and your family will be well taken care of if needs be.

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