Some people will move abroad for business and have their healthcare costs generously covered by the company they work for, but others aren’t so lucky. Most expatriates need to sort out their own health insurance, and many simply take out extended travel insurance coverage plans, which commonly last for up to a year, in order to avoid the perceived inconvenience that comes along with setting up a proper coverage option.
Here are just a few reasons why long-term holiday insurance won’t cut it for expats.
Doesn’t Cover Specialists
Most holiday health insurance plans, even those that last for up to a year, will be designed to provide assistance if you should ever become injured through an accident, and that assistance will often involve a ticket home. In contrast, expats need to know that they will be covered if they develop any ongoing illnesses or diseases that require ongoing treatment, and they need to be able to know that they can receive that treatment without having to return to their native land.
Hard to Extend from Abroad
Long-term holiday health insurance is designed with a particular kind of traveller in mind; ideally, the policy holder will be backpacking or travelling extensively, then returning home at a set date. This means that such coverage plans are very hard to extend from abroad. In fact, many popular long-term holiday health insurance plans cannot be legally taken out or even extended if you are not in your home country.
More Expensive
The travellers that long-term holiday health insurance plans tend to target generally live riskier lives than the rest of us. When we travel, we tend to try new things, whether that means going mountain biking or digging into a dubious local delicacy. This is why long-term travel insurance plans tend to be very expensive compared to dedicated expat health insurance plans. Remember, you aren’t going to be trekking Machu Picchu or taking camel rides across the Sahara every day during your life as an expat, so there is no real need to pay for that level of coverage.