Expatriate medical insurance

Moving abroad? You can still take out medical insurance

If you're planning to live and work in another country, it may be worth taking out expatriate medical insurance to cover the costs of any medical treatment. Such insurance is available for most countries, but it's particularly important to read the exclusions list and make sure you have appropriate vaccinations.

There's a long tradition of British people moving abroad to live or work, and you'll find that firms including BUPA (www.bupa-intl.com) are happy to offer expatriate medical insurance to make sure you don' encounter nasty surprises should you fall ill.

Expatriate medical insurance isn't dramatically different from normal medical insurance, so for example there are a range of packages to choose from and you can specify a higher excess to cut the cost of your premiums. However, some features are particularly important, such as a multilingual helpline number and the firm's ability to pay the hospital directly.