If you've searched the net for private medical insurance that covers expats in Lebanon then you are most likely for looking for trusted UK based health insurance providers that can cover your medical costs in Lebanon.
Living as an expat in Lebanon you want to avoid any nasty unexpected medical costs. In some countries these can amount to hundreds of thousands of pounds for very serious medical conditions.
Our advice when looking for health insurance that covers expatriates living in Lebanon is to speak to a insurance broker. Health insurance is extremely complicated and if you want complete certainty that Lebanon is covered you should consult with a health insurance broker who can explain which policy providers will cover medical costs for expatriates in Lebanon and which will not.
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 you so it costs you no extra to use their brokering services.
- Do you live in many different postcodes? Some will give you a lower policy premium than offers. A insurance broker will be able to advise whats best.
- Do you have a hobby that may invalidate your insurance claim? 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 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 on the market and ask if they provider cover for expats in Lebanon, 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 policy providers on the market offer cover for expats in Lebanon and under what terms they do or don't cover it.
Lebanon Information
The tourism industry in Lebanon has been historically important to the local economy and remains to this day to be a major source of revenue for Lebanon. Before the Lebanese Civil War, Beirut was widely regarded as "The Paris of the Middle East" or also "The Pearl of the Middle East" often cited as a financial and business hub where visitors could experience the Levantine Mediterranean culture, cuisine, history, archaeology, and architecture of Lebanon.
From Stone Age settlements to Phoenician city-states, from Roman temples to rock-cut hermitages, from Crusader Castles to Mamluk mosques and Ottoman hammams, the country's historical and archaeological sites are displayed all across the country reflecting ancient and modern world history. Lebanon has a long-standing history of cultural tourism. Interest in the Lebanese Levantine culture was stirred following the visits of many European orientalists, scholars and poets particularly Alphonse de Lamartine, Ernest Renan and Victor Guérin.
Lebanon's diverse atmosphere and ancient history make it an important destination which is slowly rebuilding itself after continued turmoil. Lebanon offers plenty: from ancient Roman ruins, to well-preserved castles, limestone caves, historic Churches and Mosques, beautiful beaches nestled in the Mediterranean Sea, world-renowned Lebanese cuisine, nonstop nightlife and discothèques, to mountainous ski resorts.
Significant private investment is currently being made in the modernization and expansion of this sector and international hotel companies have returned to Lebanon. Casino du Liban, which historically constituted a major tourist destination, reopened in 1996. The largest ski resort in the country has been expanded and modernized. The Government believes that, because of the return of peace and stability to the country and with the development of the necessary infrastructure, tourism will again contribute significantly to Lebanon's economy. Lebanon's tourism industry also relies on the large number of Lebanese living abroad, who return regularly to the country during the summer season.
Old towns still form the center or core of many Lebanese cities and towns. The majority of these old towns dot the coastline of Lebanon, with only a small number of them found in the country's interior. This reflects the nature of the Lebanese people who were a maritime culture largely involved in trade and commerce.
Located in the heart of two major world religions, Christianity and Islam, Lebanon has an old and rich religious background with diverse traditions. This is evident in the religious and multicultural blend that can be seen till present times and which gives a unique identity to the Lebanese society. Lebanon has been a refuge for persecuted religious groups for thousands of years, thus adding a vast amount of religious heritage to the country in both Christian and Islamic sanctuaries and holy places.
Inscribed as a world heritage site in 1984, Anjar was a commercial center for Levantine trade routes. Being only 1,300 years old, Anjar is one of Lebanon's newer archaeological sites. It was founded by the Umayyad Caliph Al-Walid ibn Abdel Malek (in the beginning of the 8th century) and takes its name from the Arabic Ain Gerrah meaning "the source of Gerrah", related to the Umayyad stronghold founded in the same era. The city's wide avenues are lined with mosques, palaces, baths, storehouses, and residences. The city ruins cover 114,000 square meters and are surrounded by large, fortified stone walls, over two meters thick and seven meters high. The rectangular city design is based on Roman city planning and architecture, with stonework and other features borrowed from the Byzantines. Two large avenues – the 20-meter-wide Cardo Maximus, running north to south, and the Decumanus Maximus, running east to west – divide the city into four quadrants. At the crossroads in the center of the city, four great tetrapylons mark the four corners of the intersection.
During the Phoenician era, Baalbek was a small village. Little remains of the Phoenician structures of the city, which was later named Heliopolis under the Hellenistic rule and extensively rebuilt by the Romans. After the arrival of the Romans to Phoenicia in 64 B.C., the city was transformed to a celebrated sanctuary where (Jupiter, Venus, and Mercury) and it was overlaid during a period of two centuries by a series of colossal temples. Modern-day visitors to Baalbek can enter the site through the grand Roman propylaea and walk through the two large colonnaded courtyards to reach the complex's great temples:
Byblos was inscribed as a world heritage site in 1984. Inhabited since the Neolithic age, it witnessed the arrival of successive civilizations, from Phoenicians and Crusaders to Ottoman Turks. Byblos is a historical Mediterranean region dating back thousands of years and closely associated with the spread of the Phoenician alphabet.