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Health insurance is necessary for expats as it helps with financial protection from potentially overwhelming medical bills. No matter the purpose of relocating abroad, one crucial aspect UK expats should never overlook is healthcare as the risk of illnesses and injuries are always around.
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Are you an expat from the UK living abroad? Are you also looking to stay insured while living abroad? This Pacific Prime article will go over expat health insurance for UK expats living abroad to ensure you can access quality healthcare in whichever country you live in.
How to Find the Right Health Insurance Plans for UK Expats Living Abroad
As an expat from the UK living abroad, finding the right health insurance plan mainly involves defining your healthcare needs, understanding the terms and conditions, comparing plans, checking the network of healthcare providers, and checking customer feedback.
Below are the steps in finding the right health insurance plans for UK expats living abroad.
Define Your Healthcare Needs: Is Private Health Insurance Necessary?
The first step in finding a suitable health insurance plan as an expat from the UK living abroad is to define your healthcare needs. You can start by thinking of what your healthcare needs are for yourself and your family.
For instance, if you are living abroad on your own or you’re healthy and not in need of constant healthcare, you may not need private health insurance and a basic health insurance plan will probably work just fine.
If you’re in need of constant healthcare due to pre-existing conditions, including illnesses, injuries, or other ailments, or if you’re living abroad with your family and you need let’s say dental and vision benefits for you and your family, it’s worth considering private health insurance.
Private health insurance can also allow access to less-crowded hospitals with shorter waiting times, allowing you to gain access to quality healthcare regardless of whether or not your medical case is an emergency or not.
Additionally, private health insurance allows for a greater selection of healthcare providers, including facilities and specialists, which is great news for expats from the UK who are living in other countries that do not speak English. This allows access to English-speaking hospitals and doctors.
Compare Between Multiple Plans
Once you’ve defined your healthcare needs, it’s time to move on to comparing multiple health insurance plans. Pay close attention to plans that offer comprehensive coverage, along with access to a worldwide network of healthcare providers in particular.
When comparing various health insurance plans, you have to be realistic about how much you can afford, as different plans with varying benefits and coverage areas will fluctuate in prices. Consider the premiums, co-payments, and deductibles, for example.
While we’re on the subject of affordability, it’s worth noting that you shouldn’t just go for the cheapest plan available as the cheapest plan might not guarantee the right coverage and benefits you need.
By comparing multiple health insurance plans while taking affordability into consideration, you will be able to find a suitable health insurance plan with the right coverage areas and benefits you need while still aligning with your comfortable budget range.
Understanding Terms and Conditions
Before selecting a health insurance plan, make sure you read and understand the terms and conditions carefully. That way, you know what’s covered and what are the limitations. Since you’re already comparing multiple plans, certain plans may also have different terms and conditions.
This means just because one plan may exclude coverage for a particular area, this doesn’t mean some of the other plans will also exclude the same area as well. If you have further questions or concerns, this is where the readily available customer service we previously mentioned comes in.
Customer service can then clarify the exact details of coverage areas and limitations in case you’re unsure of specific coverage areas and what’s excluded.
Check Customer Feedback
Since you’re already doing the plan comparisons, another area you should compare beyond benefits and coverage areas is customer feedback. Reading reviews from past clients, which may include other expats, can help you decide whether or not this particular provider is reputable and credible.
You can also seek health insurance plan recommendations from friends and family members, which can be especially helpful to you if they’ve previously selected specific plans from particular providers before.
By defining your healthcare needs for yourself and your family, comparing multiple plans from different insurers, thoroughly understanding the specific terms & conditions, and referring to customer feedback, you can find a suitable health insurance plan as a UK expat living abroad in no time.
Top Expat Health Insurance Providers for UK Expats Living Abroad
Some of the best health insurance providers for UK expats wishing to live abroad include GeoBlue, William Russell, Cigna, and more. These insurers offer different levels of coverage that should meet every expat’s unique healthcare needs.
Below are some notable health insurance providers UK expats can choose from.
GeoBlue
Catering to various expats’ healthcare needs, GeoBlue offers up to three types of health insurance plans to choose from. These include the Voyager plan for single trips, the Trekker plan for short-term travel, and the Xplorer plan for long-term residency.
Ensuring quick and easy access to healthcare options, GeoBlue offers 24/7 phone, online, mobile, and telemedicine services for all members. Thanks to various plans, a large international network of healthcare providers, and round-the-clock service, GeoBlue remains a favorite among expats.
To learn more about GeoBlue’s various coverage areas, deductibles, and other information, please visit our page on GeoBlue for further reading.
Cigna
Cigna Global’s four tiers of international health insurance plans for expats include the Silver, Gold, Platinum, and Close Care plans. Thanks to extensive, customizable coverage, expats can tailor plans to match their unique healthcare needs as they would like.
Do keep in mind, though, that despite the silver, gold, and platinum plans offering worldwide coverage with the option of US coverage, the close care plan can only offer domestic coverage.
If you would like to learn more about Cigna’s various plans, including the coverage areas available and the deductibles, visit our page on Cigna for further reading.
William Russell
William Russell’s international health health insurance plans are all designed to cater to various expats’ unique healthcare needs and budget range. These plans, consisting of the Bronze, Silver, Silver Lite, and Gold plans, also allow access to personalized hospital benefits selections.
If you need further support, William Russell’s personalized service has teams available 24/7 ready to help you out. If you would like to learn more about the different benefits and coverage areas under William Russell, please check out our page on William Russell for further reading.
What Are the Qualities of a Good Expat Health Insurance Plan for UK Expats Living Abroad
A good health insurance plan should provide comprehensive coverage, a network of healthcare facilities, and more. As an expat from the UK living abroad, it’s worth noting that the risk of illnesses or injuries will always exist and healthcare abroad may be more expensive in the UK.
Below are the qualities of a good health insurance plan for UK expats living abroad.
Comprehensive Coverage
The first quality of a good health insurance plan is its comprehensive coverage for any potential medical emergencies you may face abroad. Because the cost of healthcare can be high in certain countries, a health insurance plan should alleviate the financial stress from unexpected medical bills.
These various areas of comprehensive coverage in a health insurance plan include general medical treatments, hospitalizations, access to emergency services, and specialist consultations.
Different providers and the various plans offered will have varying levels of coverage and benefits offered. Thus, when looking for a suitable health insurance plan, make sure that you find a plan that covers your unique healthcare needs ranging from specialist consultations to hospitalizations.
A Worldwide Network of Healthcare Facilities
Speaking of specialist consultations and medical treatments, another quality of a good health insurance plan that will allow access to these various benefits is a worldwide network of healthcare facilities. These could include hospitals, clinics, and even medical specialists.
With a good health insurance plan that offers a worldwide network of healthcare facilities, you can access various hospitals, clinics, or medical specialists of your choice so you can receive the best possible medical care worldwide.
Additionally, if you’re in a country that speaks other languages besides English and you find the language barrier problematic, having a worldwide network of healthcare facilities can help you find hospitals, clinics, or specialists who can speak English to work around the language barrier.
Medical Evacuation
Among the various areas that a good health insurance plan should cover for UK expats living abroad, one of these areas is medical evacuation.
With a health insurance plan that covers medical evacuation, you can then be transported to your hospital of choice in case of a medical emergency if, let’s say you live in rural areas of certain countries to which there are no accessible hospitals.
Medical evacuation coverage will also eliminate the need to pay for the transportation (exact costs may vary depending on your selected method of transportation or location), which can really be problematic especially in critical situations, as your plan will cover that for you.
Any Additional Benefits Offered
Another quality of a good health insurance plan is its additional benefits offered. Lots of health insurance plans will offer additional benefits on top of the default coverage areas. These could include maternity, vision, dental, or pre-existing conditions coverage.
This could be especially helpful if you are in need of constant medical attention or if you’re living abroad with your family and you’re in need of maternity coverage for your spouse or in need of dental coverage for yourself and your family.
Readily Available Customer Service
Last but not least, a good health insurance provider should allow access to 24/7 customer service through a dedicated helpline. That way, if you have any further questions or concerns regarding exact coverage or limitations, you will be able to get answers with just a phone call away.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are some good qualities of a good expat health insurance plan?
Some of the key qualities of a good expat health insurance plan include comprehensive coverage for various types of medical needs, a network of healthcare providers, medical evacuation, additional benefits, and readily available customer service ready to assist you 24/7.
What factors should I consider when finding a suitable expat health insurance plan?
When picking a suitable expat health insurance plan, you should start by identifying what are your healthcare needs, comparing different plans from multiple insurers, understanding the terms and conditions, and checking customer feedback.
What are some benefits of private health insurance?
Private health insurance allows access to a greater range of hospitals that are less crowded with shorter waiting times so that you can access quality treatment regardless of your medical case. You can also choose which healthcare facility or specialist you want, including English-speaking ones.
Conclusion
As an expat from the UK now living abroad, it’s important to have a suitable health insurance plan as the risk of injuries and illnesses always exists, and certain forms of treatment and medication can be more expensive in comparison to your home country.
When selecting a health insurance plan, make sure to define your specific healthcare needs, compare between different plans, read and understand the terms & conditions, and refer to customer feedback to help with the decision-making process.
While it is important to have a health insurance plan to safeguard your finances from unexpected medical bills as an expat abroad, we understand that plan selections and comparisons can be daunting with so many insurers offering plans at fluctuating price points.
Fortunately, all the comparisons and selections don’t have to be a nightmare, and we’re here to help you.
As an international health insurance broker with more than 20 years of experience, Pacific Prime has helped expats and local citizens, along with their families, find a suitable health insurance plan that matches not only their budget range but also their unique health insurance needs.
Whether you’re an expat or a local citizen, we are more than happy to help you out. Additionally, we can also offer completely impartial advice at no additional cost. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with us or get a free quote here for plan comparisons.
If you enjoyed this article, you may also be interested in some of our other articles. Click the links below to check out some more articles!
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Serena earned her Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology from the University of British Columbia, Canada. As such, she is an avid advocate of mental health and is fascinated by all things psychology (especially if it’s cognitive psychology!).
Her previous work experience includes teaching toddlers to read, writing for a travel/wellness online magazine, and then a business news blog. These combined experiences give her the skills and insights she needs to explain complex ideas in a succinct way. Being the daughter of an immigrant and a traveler herself, she is passionate about educating expats and digital nomads on travel and international health insurance.
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