International Health Insurance

International medical insurance for expats allows people living and working abroad to access the healthcare they need, when they need it. In many countries, foreign residents are required to have international health insurance as a condition of their visa application. Other countries may provide universal healthcare, but the quality may be below what you are used to – in this case, international medical insurance will allow you to access the best standard of care through private facilities.

We believe expats worldwide deserve the best international medical insurance to ensure protection whilst living or working abroad. You can get a quote online with us in minutes, and don’t forget we offer corporate health insurance too.

International medical insurance is not the same as international travel insurance (but we offer that too). International private health insurance plans can be purchased for long periods of time whereas travel insurance policies tend to have a short time scale involved (typically, at most a year, with annual travel insurance). There is also a difference in what is covered – you can find out more by viewing the above pages or by contacting us.

Expatriate Group offers instant comprehensive protection with 24-hour support. We offer four key international medical insurance plans which offer varied levels of coverage to suit your needs. Check out our benefit schedule to see what is covered with our different policy options.

Don’t forget, we also offer income replacement insurance and international life Insurance too.

Most persons living or working outside their country of nationality, who are under the age of 66, can purchase cover with us. To find out if you are entitled, please apply online.

You can start your application for international health insurance by getting a quote online. Once you are happy with your chosen policy and your quote, you can finalise your application.

Individuals and families abroad for periods of 2 to 11 months can buy our short term international health insurance. It provides the comprehensive protection our customers are used to, just for a shorter amount of time to better suit your needs.

With Expatriate Group, you are entitled to be treated in any hospital of your choice. However, please ensure that you have your treatment pre-authorised beforehand. We do not operate under a network of hospitals, but you can view our directory of hospitals for information about medical facilities in your area.

Pregnancy and maternity coverage is included on our Select level of cover, subject to a one year waiting period. Our Primary and Primary+ policies both provide cover for complications of pregnancy.

Yes, on our Primary+ and Select plans we provide coverage for outpatient treatment and GP care, e.g. visits to your General Practitioner. On the Primary plan outpatient coverage is only included where it is related to a valid pre-hospitalisation and then for 60 days following a valid hospitalisation.

Yes, under Select plan we provide coverage for annual routine medical check-up. The Primary+ plan also provides annual medical check-up coverage after you have been insured with us for a period of 12 months.

International health insurance policies can be cancelled any time during your 14-day cooling-off period, so long as you haven’t made a claim, we will refund your premium in full. If you cancel your policy mid-term for a valid reason, provided you haven’t claimed, we will refund your premium based on a scale. Please see General Conditions, on Page 10 of the policy wording, for more information.

Once you are accepted for cover, you will be able to renew on the prevailing rates, regardless of your claiming history. Where no claims are made under your policy in a particular contract year, you will be entitled to a no claims discount (Premium Reward), which can reduce your premium by as much as 20%.

We are able to provide expatriate health cover in many countries around the world Some countries do require you to purchase ‘local cover’, such as Saudi Arabia. If in doubt, please speak to one of our advisors.

USA Residents: Whilst we don’t cover people permanently resident in the USA, we are able to cover short term (up to 1 year) policies for people looking to travel to the USA whilst they obtain their green card. Please select an Area 3 option when applying online and use your normal residence as the correspondence address.

Non-USA Residents requiring access to treatment in the USA: If you simply wish to be able to receive any treatment in the USA – but don’t actually reside in the USA – you can select an Area 3 option and you are able to obtain treatment anywhere in the world (including the USA).

You are covered for up to €50,000 of treatment on each trip outside your Area of Cover, for conditions from which you have not previously suffered before travelling, provided that your trip is not longer than 30 days in duration. Accordingly, if you travel regularly to another area, we would ask you to consider increasing your Area of Cover.

A pre-existing medical condition is any condition for which you have received medical advice, treatment or medication, whether diagnosed or undiagnosed, or have experienced symptoms of, in the 2 year period prior to purchasing this policy.

No. As we do not provide cover for pre-existing medical conditions, we do not need to know about them except in the event of a claim.

The term ‘excess’ (sometimes known as a ‘deductible’) is the amount of any claim that you will be liable to pay the healthcare facility before the insurance policy takes over, per policy period.

If you choose to carry an excess, this is applied per medical condition per policy period. This means that should you claim for the same condition several in the same policy year, we will only apply the excess once; and costs incurred after that will be paid to the policy maximum.

As we do not medically underwrite, we simply exclude medical problems suffered in the two years before joining us, until you have been free of medication, treatment, and advice for that condition for two years after joining us. This would NOT affect claims for new conditions.

Full details of our plans are available in our benefit schedule. Our services are on a ‘non-advised’ basis and therefore we don’t review the plans for you, as we understand that each expatriate’s circumstances are different, and each has a separate requirement from their international healthcare needs.

Yes, Strategic Insurance Services Limited trading as Expatriate Healthcare and Expatriate Group is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Our FCA Firm Reference Number is 307133.

Strategic Insurance Services Limited are authorised to carry on Regulated Activities in accordance with the permissions granted by the FCA under Part IV of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000.

You can check this on the FCA’s Register by visiting the FCA’s website or by contacting the FCA on +44 (0)845 606 1234.

We believe that all our customers, regardless of where the policy was sold, should be entitled to the same regulatory benefits and protections as those purchasing cover in a FCA regulated territory. Accordingly, wherever possible, we shall extend these benefits to all of our customers.