Getting health insurance for a year abroad can feel like a daunting task at first. There are so many confusing sounding medical terms! Moratorium, underwriting, policy exclusions, policy exemptions, premiums, excess the list could go on and on.
However getting medical cover for your year abroad doesn't have to be difficult. We'll explain the simple way of doing it while making sure you get the best cover for your money.
First it's important to understand the difference between international health insurance and travel insurance. Travel insurance (also known as holiday insurance) is designed for medical expenses cover during a short stay abroad, not a year.
International health insurance is designed to cover your medical expenses for a longer time abroad such as a year or even longer.
Cover for your medical expenses is critical. Some countries like America have very high medical costs and if you become seriously ill while studying abroad for example these costs can run into the hundreds of thousands of pounds.
Some countries will have legal requirements for long staiyng visitors to have medical cover, so for some people it's not optional. By law you may need cover.
One of the quickest, cheapest and most hassle free ways of getting cover is going through a UK based medical insurance specialist. They will do all the hard work for you when it comes to picking which health insurance provider is offering you the best deal. As in the most cover for the cheapest price.
They will know all the different factors that decide how much your health insurance premium will be and what will or won't be covered on your policy. Here are just some reaons why people use specialist medical brokers...
- If you're looking for cover abroad they'll know what the legal requirements of each country are.
- They'll know how the medical processes differ from the UK's. As in from diagnosis to treatment to aftercare.
- Did you know some insurers will give you discounts if you are of a professional occupation? Brokers will know which ones and how much.
- Do you want to add children to your policy? Some insurance providers will add them for free. A broker can tell you how many children you can add and which providers
- Do you have a sports hobby that may invalidate your insurance policy? Or even an occupation? A broker will know this vital information.
- If you are a couple and one of you have claimed on your insurance policy this year would it be cheap to separate you both onto two different insurance policies?
- You've developed a medical condition and want to know which health insurer offers the best cover for it. A broker will know this instantly saving you huge amounts of time and effort.
As you can see there are numerous reasons why a specalist broker is a great choice. They'll make sure you get the health cover you need while keeping your premiums at an affordable level that suits you.
Many brokers also have offers with medical insurers such a one or two months free, or a NCD (no claims discount) increase to lower your premium. Buying your policy through a medical insurance broker can actually be cheaper than buying it through the insurers themselves. Because brokers are paid up to 70% commission from the insurance policy providers when they sell you a policy they can often do what they call a commission sacrifice and give you some of the commission the insurer have paid them for your policy back to you in the form of a lower monthly premium or cash back direct into your bank account.
You can see there are many advantages of using a broker and not really any disadvantages. So if you are looking for great health insurance for your year aboard going through a broker is a great choice.