Local versus International Health Insurance

Andrew Apps,
Global Sales Director, Goodhealth Worldwide

There are many ways of choosing a health insurance policy... and price will clearly always be a big factor. Expatriates moving to a new country will look to establish a fresh and local way of life: a new home, new friends, regional food and so on. A local healthcare policy would appear to fit in well with this approach. It is specific to the country, relatively easy to understand and, above all, cheap. That’s until the damage limitation factors start to hit home.

Local insurance is often less expensive than a traditional international expatriate policy because the cover it offers is distinctly limited and this can impact seriously, particularly on retired or elderly expats.  Take a simple hip replacement operation, for example. A local policy may not cover this sort of intervention, so your options might be to have the treatment carried out in a local state hospital or possibly a very basic private hospital whose fees fall within your financial horizons. Of course, you could always return home. Many UK citizens, for example, hold onto the fond belief that the NHS will provide them with a fall-back position if all else fails. But if you’ve moved abroad and are no longer paying taxes in the UK you may find that this is simply not the case.

An international health policy is more expensive but it gives you a much wider range of options. The first choice will be to have the job done locally if there is first-class treatment available within reasonable timescales. If the insurer decides this is not the case, the cost of repatriation and private treatment back home is often covered under your policy. And, even if the local care is good, you can still opt to return home for the treatment if, say, you feel happier having your family around to support you after the operation, although, of course, you will have to pay the travel costs yourself in this case.

The flexibility that an international policy brings will usually mean that you pay a little more. You get what you pay for, after all. But there’s another important factor that makes the difference in cost almost pale into insignificance. Once you’ve made a claim on your local policy it will make it infinitely more difficult to buy an international health insurance policy, or indeed any policy, that covers what is now a pre-existing condition. This seriously curtails your freedom to shop around.  It means that you could be effectively stuck with your original limited policy.

As you get older it is important to look at health insurance as a long-term investment. Make sure your insurance policy provides the cover that you need, not just now but in the future, cover that grows with you. That way you won’t be caught short when you need it most.

Andrew Apps is the Global Sales Director of ExpatWomen.com’s Preferred Health Insurance Provider: Goodhealth Worldwide.

To find out more about Goodhealth’s policies and coverage, please visit: