Expat Health Insurance
Andy Coyne picks his way through the healthcare maze and offers
two tips. Don’t try to get health cover ‘on the cheap’;
and use a specialist intermediary
Are there bargains to be had when buying medical expenses insurance?
Well certainly there are price differentials but what is more important
is that you and your family are not left with an insufficient level
of cover.
When heading abroad there are all sorts of hidden expenses, some
of which may not be covered by your firm’s relocation package
- if there is one - and it is tempting to try and cut costs across
the board. This could be a bad mistake when it comes to medical
expenses insurance, or PMI cover.
Expat Health Insurance - Short Assignment
While it may be acceptable for a single executive spending time on
a short assignment in Europe to opt for a basic insurance package,
taking the family to Dar es Salaam and taking risks with their health
is another matter. The expatriate world is full of horror stories
about being taken ill while in some far flung part of the world
and having to be treated in a hospital where the word basic would
be a an understatement. We might moan about the good old NHS but
it provides five star luxury treatment compared to the facilities
available in many parts of the world.
The worst case scenario is that you or your loved one falls seriously
ill in a part of the world where the medical facilities are poor
and your medical expenses insurance cover is insufficient for your
needs. Can you be flown home by air ambulance? What about the rest
of the family? At times like these, you need the comfort of knowing
that you and your family are getting the best possible treatment.
Expat Health Insurance & The Phase
The phrase “you get what you pay for in life” is never
more true than when it comes to PMI cover. So how do you go about
choosing a policy that’s right for you and your family? The
first thing to say is that no one policy will be perfectly tailored
to your needs. But if you look around you may find something that,
while not bespoke, fits many of your requirements. What should
you look for? Well take some time to examine your own circumstances.
Where are you going? What are the facilities like there? What will
you be doing there? Are there any illnesses in the family?
List the healthcare options you can’t do without, those
that you would like and those that are unimportant or irrelevant.
Then you have to weigh up the benefits versus the premiums.
When you come to select an individual product, it’s well
worth reading policy documents carefully to make sure the cover
matches your expectations.
Expat Health Insurance With Emergency Evacuation
For example, with emergency evacuation - a priority for an expatriate
in the Third World - you may find the policy only covers evacuation
for you plus one person and with no accommodation for the second person.
That’s a worry you can do without at such a time of crisis.
There are an awful lot of products out there, however, and one
way to focus in on which one is best for you is to use a specialist
intermediary, such as Medibroker Online. As its name suggests, Medibroker
offers an online service for expats - at www.medibroker.com.
It has a database of around 150 products and the site receives
250,000 hits leading to 1,200 formal enquiries a month. Some 6-7,000
people have bought their PMI cover through Medibroker.
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