Healthcare for Brits living abroad or buying overseas property
For most people planning on living abroad on a permanent basis, expat health insurance should be considered an expensive but necessary expense. Those taking only occasional trips to visit their overseas property on holiday will typically find that standard travel insurance is sufficient. Either way, it is also sensible to know what healthcare will be available to you when you are abroad.
UK nationals with overseas property
Owning overseas property or living abroad does not automatically entitle you to local healthcare either at the expense of the local state or at the expense of the UK. What is more, if you are living abroad on a permanent basis, you are not entitled to free non-emergency treatment in the UK either, because you are not ordinarily resident there.
However, the country in which you are buying an overseas property may have a reciprocal healthcare agreement with the UK (you can check on the Department of Health’s website. Such agreements will often entitle you to free or low cost emergency medical and dental treatment both when you are living abroad semi-permanently and when you are simply staying in your overseas property for a holiday. They will not cover you if you are living abroad permanently and have taken residency.
Sometimes the agreement will entitle you to more than emergency care but they do not usually entitle Brits living abroad to regular, ongoing care and medication. And they never include repatriation to the UK.
Even where you are entitled to free emergency treatment, you may find you have to pay for some after-care drugs. Depending on where your overseas property is located, you may find medicines cost less than in the UK (ie Bulgaria) or more (ie Florida). Familiar medicines may also be available where you are living abroad but they may be supplied in higher doses, so take care.
Entitlement to free treatment under reciprocal arrangements usually requires you to present a UK passport and NHS medical card or, in the European Union, a European Health Insurance Card (EHIC).
Check out the health facilites closest to your overseas property
When buying overseas property, check with the local medical centre what services they can provide, especially in an emergency. This is perhaps most pertinent if you are retiring to your overseas property or if you will be living abroad with young children.
Depending on where your overseas property is located, local state-run hospital facilities and equipment may be basic or they may be superior to the UK. In most countries, private health care will be to a high standard but this sector is not always regulated so exercise some caution and act on recommendations wherever possible.
Private insurance for buyers of overseas property
If you are going to be visiting your overseas property for regular holidays, you probably won’t need full-blown expat health insurance. In fact, you may not need any more cover than your existing travel insurance, depending on the number of days each year you plan to stay in your overseas property. But do study your policy carefully.
Bear in mind that reciprocal healthcare agreements will not entitle you to repatriation from your overseas property to the UK. Only some form of private insurance will cover this type of expense.
Most Brits living abroad need expat health insurance
If you are planning on living abroad for any length of time, one of the most important things you will do is to select the right type of expat health insurance. The level of cover you need will depend very much on exactly where you are planning on living abroad, and whether residency status allows you any healthcare locally.
The more remote the location of your overseas property, the more weight you should place on your expat health insurance providing for emergency repatriation and air ambulance cover. Such cover may be less important if you are going to be living abroad in northern Europe or Florida. In these countries, and especially in the USA, the maximum level of cover for medical bills and hospital in-patient treatments might be considered more of an issue.
