Health insurance is necessary when you’re moving to another country and becoming an expat. With this type of specialised coverage, you can access healthcare services within your chosen destination if you need treatment whilst you’re abroad.
You’ll need overseas health insurance whether you’re moving to a country that has free national healthcare or a privatised system, as most free healthcare services are only available to citizens. Until you’re able to apply for citizenship in your expat destination, health insurance is a must!
Selecting the right health insurance policy will enable you to access hospitals and primary healthcare facilities for routine health checks, hospitalisations, prescription medications, treatments, and therapies. Most health insurance plans provide emergency healthcare coverage as well, enabling you to get immediate treatment if you sustain a nasty injury or develop an acute infection.
When you purchase health insurance, you usually have two options – national or global insurance. National insurance, sometimes called single-country insurance, covers you in just one country. So, if you’re moving abroad, you can purchase a policy for your chosen expat destination, but you won’t have coverage in any other country.
On the other hand, international health insurance provided you with global coverage. If you decide to travel across multiple borders to explore the world as an expat, you can do so with full health insurance coverage if you purchase a global policy.
Why is International Health Insurance a Good Choice?
Below, we have covered the key benefits of choosing international or multi-country health insurance over national or single-country insurance when you move abroad.
Overseas insurance provides coverage cross multiple borders
Unlike national insurance policies, overseas insurance covers you across multiple borders. If you travel to another country with an international insurance plan, your coverage will be valid during your entire trip. Because of this, you won’t need to purchase separate health insurance plans for each country that you visit.
International health insurance is, therefore, perfect if you want to explore multiple countries within the same year and see everything that the wonderful world has to offer. You can enjoy your travels and explorations knowing that you can access all levels of medical care if needed and stay as healthy and happy as possible during your trip.
International insurance plans are highly customisable
International health insurance providers often enable their policyholders to customise their plans according to their needs. The customisability of overseas health insurance means you can tailor your coverage to meet your preferences.
For example, if you have a pre-existing health condition and require ongoing treatments or medications to manage it, you can add coverage for this condition to a basic health insurance policy. Doing so enables you to continue accessing the necessary treatments to keep your condition in check whilst you’re abroad, regardless of which countries you’re exploring.
Oten, international health insurance plans are more customisable than their single-country counterparts because insurance providers know that people’s medical needs might vary depending on where they are in the world. When travelling to various third-world countries, for example, you will want your policy to cover treatments for the common health problems and infections within these countries.
Purchasing multi-country insurance is often cheaper than multiple single-country policies
If you plan on visiting multiple countries during your time away from home, you have two options. You can choose an overseas insurance policy that covers you in every country you visit, or you can purchase several individual policies.
Often, the former is the most cost-effective choice as insurance providers tend to subsidise the costs of multi-country policies to encourage people to purchase them. You will find that the cost of purchasing international health insurance is less than finding lots of single-country policies, even though you can access the same level of coverage.
An overseas health insurance policy gives you peace of mind
Travelling to different countries can be stressful at the best of times, let alone when you’re trying to organise health insurance coverage for each place that you visit.
However, with an international policy, you won’t need to worry when you’re travelling across borders. Your insurance will run continually during your travels, so you can avoid the last-minute rush to organise health insurance in each country individually.
The peace of mind that international health insurance coverage provides is well-worth it. Instead of worrying about having to organise new policies when you’re ready to explore new countries, you can sit back and relax knowing that you’re already fully covered.
The time, energy, and money you save by purchasing a single policy that covers you for the duration of your trip can be spent on planning exciting excursions, relaxing with your friends, or living in the present moment and enjoying your solo travel time.
