Health Insurance For Expats In Abkhazia

The Best Health Insurance For Expatriates Living In Abkhazia

Posted by Greg Jones on January 24, 2020

If you've searched the net for private medical insurance that covers expats in Abkhazia then you are probably for looking for trusted UK based health insurance providers that will cover your medical expenses in Abkhazia.

Living as an expatriate in Abkhazia you want to avoid any nasty unexpected medical costs. In some countries these can amount to hundreds of thousands of pounds for very serious conditions.

Our advice when shopping around for health insurance that covers expatriates living in Abkhazia is to speak to a insurance broker. Health insurance is extremely complicated and if you want absolute certainty that Abkhazia is covered you should talk with a medical insurance broker who can explain which providers will cover medical expenses for expatriates in Abkhazia and which will exclude it.

There are many advantages to using a broker but the biggest by far is that you're using their industry experience at no cost. They are paid by the insurer (Aviva or Bupa etc) rather than by you so it costs you no extra to use their services.

  • Do you live in many different postcodes? Some will give you a lower premium than offers. A insurance broker will be able to advise whats best.
  • Do you have a hobby that may invalidate your insurance policy? A broker will know this critical information.
  • If you are a couple and one of you has claimed on your policy this year would it be cheaper to separate you both onto two different insurance policies?
  • You've developed a certain condition and want to know which insurer offers the biggest amount of cover for it. A broker will know this instantly saving you huge amounts of time and effort.

You can call around every medical insurance provider you can find and ask if they provider cover for expats in Abkhazia, however this will be a very time consuming process. Each insurer will ask for your medical history because its not normally a simple yes or not if a medical condition is covered or not.

Its far far quicker to speak to one medical insurance broker which will know which providers on the market offer cover for expats in Abkhazia and under what conditions they do or don't cover it.

Abkhazia Information

Tourism in Abkhazia is possible under Georgian law for foreigners entering the occupied territory from Georgia, although Georgia cannot assure the safety inside disputed territory. However, the Abkazian beaches on the Black Sea continue to be accessible for tourists coming from the Russian side of the Abkhazia–Russia border which is not under Georgian control. Low prices and an absence of any visa requirements attracts Russian tourists especially those who can not afford the vacations in Turkey, Egypt, Bulgaria and other popular Russian touristic directions.

During the time of the Soviet Union, Abkhazia's Black Sea beaches attracted tourists from a number of surrounding countries, constituting a 40 percent share of the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic's tourism market. Prior to the 1992-93 war in Abkhazia, over 202,000 tourists visited the region every year. Abkhazia is now a disputed region, with Russia, Nicaragua, Venezuela and Nauru as the only United Nations member states that recognise the territory as an independent nation.

Despite the risks involved, about one million tourists visit Abkhazia each year, mainly from Russia. One of the attraction of visiting Abkhazia as opposed to other Black Sea coastal towns, such as Sochi, is the lower cost of visiting the breakaway state. One night's accommodation in Gagra, for example, cost US$25 in 2003, with the cheapest hotel in the region setting a rate of US$12 for a room and meals in that year. A trainride from a Russian border town of Sochi to the Abkhazian capital of Sukhumi only cost US$1 in 2003. However, Abkhazia's tourism facilities are below Western standards, with much of its infrastructure dating back to the Soviet era.