Healthcare provider MediCare International has released the results of an online poll conducted between January and May 2010, which asked those enquiring about global healthcare policies whether they were considering a move abroad to escape the recession. 69% replied that they were.
The global recession has made it harder for professionals to find jobs at home, or in their current country of residence. As a result, there is a steadily increasing stream of expatriates of all nationalities worldwide, with over 100,000 leaving the UK alone to add to this pool, according to the Institute for Public Policy Research. Globalisation has led people to look for work opportunities overseas during a general downturn, as well as when times are more buoyant.
A survey conducted by the Telegraph Media Group last year found that 57% of those working overseas do not have a separate private health insurance policy when working abroad. According to MediCare, it is often wrongly assumed, particularly by people from countries with state-funded healthcare provision, that, in the worst-case scenario, their emergency healthcare will be covered by their country of residence, or by a travel insurance policy. There are even instances, it says, in which people assume that their embassy will take care of their hospital costs if a healthcare emergency arises.
MediCare advises those who are employed by one of the many government or private specialist contractors working to rebuild countries which have been ravaged by war and territorial disputes to check that their healthcare insurance includes ‘passive war’ protection, to ensure they have adequate provision should they need emergency or routine medical attention. This is also true in countries which have experienced civil conflict, such as Thailand, where Bangkok has recently seen violent unrest. Such events can change a country’s risk classification, meaning that policies which do not specifically offer passive war cover can be invalid.
Commenting on the MediCare survey results, David Pryor, the company’s senior executive director, said, “The results of our online survey show that the recession here is likely to provoke still more people to seek work abroad to escape the recession. Experience suggests many of these will not have adequate healthcare cover, which is particularly important if they are likely to be working in post-conflict reconstruction, for example, where insurance can be hard to arrange. We would urge people always to ensure they have adequate healthcare coverage, as some providers will not cover passive war zones for specialist treatments.”
Details of MediCare’s international health insurance plans are available at www.medicare.co.uk
