20 things you need to know about...
...Globalisation

1 Private medical insurance (PMI) is virtually an imperative for expats. You can’t necessarily count on local healthcare facilities to sort you out.

2 It is usually the case that most fundamental things, such as hospital cover, will be totally covered by PMI, while more routine things like dental cover will (usually) not be.

3 The ¸rst area that all providers agree to cover is in-patient care, which is for all cases where you occupy a hospital bed – also called ‘day-patient’ cover. From that point on, insurers go their separate ways in what they will cover.

4 The differences are well worth paying attention to. Research shows that 70 per cent of all claims are for out-patient treatment – the stuff that is more likely to come under policy exclusions.

5 One insurance insider says, “You should be prepared to pay a bit more and get full cover for all out-patient care. Don’t go for the cheap option and agree to limits. Out-patient care can be extremely expensive. Saving money upfront can be a false economy.”