If you've searched the net for private health insurance that covers expats in the Solomon Islands then you are most likely for looking for established UK based health insurance companies that will cover your medical expenses in the Solomon Islands.
Living as an expatriate in the Solomon Islands you want to avoid any nasty unexpected medical costs. In some countries these can run into hundreds of thousands of pounds for serious medical conditions.
Our advice when looking for health insurance that covers expatriates living in the Solomon Islands is to speak to a health insurance broker. Health insurance is extremely complicated and if you want complete certainty that the Solomon Islands is covered you should talk with a health insurance broker who can explain which policy providers will cover medical costs for expatriates in the Solomon Islands and which will exclude it.
There are many advantages to using a insurance broker but the biggest by far is that you're using their insurance training 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 reside in many different areas? 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 claim? A broker will know this critical information.
- If you are a couple and one of you has claimed on your insurance 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 so much time and effort.
You can call around every medical insurance provider on the market and ask if they provider cover for expats in the Solomon Islands, 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 much quicker to speak to one medical insurance broker which will know which policy providers on the market offer cover for expats in the Solomon Islands and under what terms they do or don't cover it.
The Solomon Islands Information
Solomon Islands was particularly hard hit by the Asian financial crisis even before the ethnic violence of June 2000. The Asian Development Bank estimates that the crash of the market for tropical timber reduced Solomon Island's GDP by between 15%-25%. About one-half of all jobs in the timber industry were lost. The government has said it will reform timber harvesting policies with the aim of resuming logging on a more sustainable basis.
Exploitation of Solomon Islands' rich fisheries offers the best prospect for further export and domestic economic expansion. A Japanese joint venture, Solomon Taiyo Ltd., which operated the only fish cannery in the country, closed in mid-2000 as a result of the ethnic disturbances. Though the plant has reopened under local management, the export of tuna has not resumed.
In 2017, Solomon Islands was one of the least frequently visited countries in the world, with only 26,000 tourists. Tourism income in 2016 and 2017 was about Int'l$ 1.6 million (international dollars). Tourism is a potentially significant service industry but growth is hampered by the lack of infrastructure, transportation limitations and security concerns. Scuba diving and World War II history are two major tourist attractions..
Since 2000 the Solomon Islands government has become increasingly insolvent. It has exhausted its borrowing capacity; in 2001 the deficit reached 8% of GDP. It is unable to meet bi-weekly payrolls and has become extraordinarily dependent on funds from foreign aid accounts, which provided an estimated 50% of government expenditure in 2001. Principal aid donors are Australia $247 Million per year (2006), New Zealand $14 Million per year (2004), the European Union, Japan $40 Million per year (2005), and the Republic of China (Taiwan) At least $20 Million per year .
A team of renewable energy developers working for the Pacific Islands Applied Geoscience Commission (SOPAC) and funded by the Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Partnership (REEEP), have hatched a scheme that enables these communities to access renewable energy, such as solar, without raising substantial sums of ready cash. If the islanders were not able to pay for solar lanterns with cash, reasoned the project developers, they can pay with crops