Living abroad? Don't forget your expatriate health insurance

 

The most popular destinations to move to are Spain, France, Portugal, and Italy. There are large UK expatriate communities in Hong Kong, China, Australia, Canada, USA, Germany, India and Singapore.

 

Places you would perhaps not expect many UK citizens, but which have substantial expatriate communities, include Egypt, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Kenya and Chile.

 

Expatriate health insurance plans are increasingly important, as politicians across Europe seek to control runaway health budgets, by limiting what non-citizens can have.

 

If you are planning to move abroad, you may think that reciprocal arrangements between EU countries will protect you .It will, but only for a few emergency treatments. State healthcare abroad is not like the NHS: it is common to charge for many treatments.

Some countries now insist that all expatriates have international health insurance, or buy the same cover as locals.

 

Holland is the latest country to require foreign nationals, whether working in the country or simply resident, to have cover.  Everyone aged over 18, irrespective of medical history and age, must buy an insurance plan.

 

Particularly if you are keeping a home in the UK, you may think you do not need to buy health insurance as you can return to the UK for treatment. But, following a crackdown on medical tourism, Britons in the EU who spend less than six months a year in the UK are denied access to the National Health Service, except in emergencies.  Britons living outside the EU are ineligible for NHS services if they are abroad more than three months a year.

 

There are lots of international health insurance plans to choose from. They range from those offering very wide cover with lots of extras, to fairly basic plans aimed at covering in-patient treatment only. There are huge differences in cover and price. The only way to find out what suits your needs and your budget is to get lots of quotes. There are packages, plans where you have a core cover and a variety of options, or top-up covers for the difference in what the country you move to pays for and what you get charged by medical services.