Summary: Wayne Sakamoto explains why expatriates need specialized insurance and how to choose it.

Expatriate travelers are highly encouraged to purchase international health insurance when traveling & residing outside their home country. For most individuals, private medical insurance, government sponsored health coverage, and employer sponsored health plans do not provide coverage outside their residing country of coverage.

Expatriates may be students, employees, independent contractors, extended tourists, or even missionaries. In most cases medical insurance becomes a necessity when providing individual or family protection for illnesses and accidents which occur while traveling to foreign destinations. Common illnesses for expatriates may be as simple as an upper respiratory infection or food poisoning to dangerous illnesses transmitted by insects or animals. Accidents are also a concern for those physically active with adventure sports or just plain clumsy due to not paying attention to one's environment & surroundings.

When purchasing international health insurance coverage, travelers should be determining their needs with either a short term international health plan (5 days to one year) or an annual renewable international health plan (coverage for one year or longer). If you're someone on the fence who needs one year of coverage and not sure which plan to purchase, you may want to opt for the annual renewable plan, in the case you need to extend your coverage for another year or even for a few months. This becomes important as you will not have to submit another application for coverage, if you are renewing your policy for additional length of coverage.

About the Author Wayne Sakamoto is with International Health Plans.com. They provide international health insurance coverage for citizens traveling outside their home country and international citizens living anywhere in the world.

First Published: Mar 15, 2008