§ Health & insurance

Expat insurance

also called expatriate insurance

Health and sometimes life cover designed for people living abroad long term.

International health ins…Nomad insuranceHealth system enrollment…Reciprocal healthcare ag…Travel insuranceTravel medical insuranceExpat insurance
Solid lines are terms people actually mix up with Expat insurance. The rest sit in the same subject, health cover abroad. International health insurance · Nomad insurance · Health system enrollment (abroad) · Reciprocal healthcare agreement · Travel insurance · Travel medical insurance

Right, in plain English

Expat insurance is health, and sometimes life, cover built for people settled abroad for the long haul. It sits between short traveller policies and the local public system you may not be allowed into as a foreigner. It fills that gap, giving you proper ongoing cover when a holiday policy is too thin and the country's own system is closed to you.

You move abroad long term and find you do not yet qualify for the local public health system, while your old travel policy will not cover a settled resident. Expat insurance is the middle option that actually covers your doctor visits and hospital care while you wait to become eligible for anything else.

Why it matters

It fills the gap between traveller policies and local systems you may not qualify for as a foreigner.

Health cover abroad · 7 terms

Travel insurance covers a trip and assumes you have a home health system to go back to, paying mainly for emergencies, cancellations and lost bags; travel medical insurance is the thinner version focused only on emergency treatment while travelling, and Schengen travel insurance is a travel policy that meets a visa's minimum.
International health insurance and expat insurance are ongoing plans that replace a home health system while you live somewhere else, and nomad insurance is a start-and-stop version sold to people already on the move.
A reciprocal healthcare agreement is not insurance at all but a deal between two governments, which the EHIC and GHIC cards let you use, while health system enrollment is joining a country's public system as a resident.
Home country exclusion and exclusion describe what these policies deliberately leave out.

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