What Our International Health Insurance Covers

International health insurance is quite different from holiday or business travel insurance. It’s designed for expats or remote workers living permanently abroad, or for people who spend a great deal of the year travelling. Plus, healthcare systems vary from one country to another. Just because one health insurance plan is appropriate for living in one country, it doesn’t mean that it’s the right fit for another.

So once you’ve decided you might need international health insurance, your next challenge is picking the appropriate health plan. You want to get this one right, so you’ll need to think about your circumstances and requirements.

• On the one hand, you don’t want to find out after one or two years that you’ve been paying for cover that you don’t really need.
• On the other hand, you don’t want to find out at the hospital that your health plan doesn’t cover the treatment programme that you’re starting the next day.

We’ve designed our international health insurance around modern expat living. Whether you’re a single professional in Sub-Saharan Africa or you’re a large family in Southeast Asia, together we can build the right cover for you. We have plenty of options to personalise your plans, so you can find the cover that suits your circumstances.

We’ve organised our international health insurance into two standard plans. These plans describe what you’ll be covered for and what you won’t be covered for. We named the plans after metals, so they’re easier to quickly distinguish (Silver, Gold). Silver is the most popular plan with our members.

Once you’ve picked your standard plan, you can personalise your cover with optional benefits and excesses, but for now—let’s focus on the plans’ healthcare benefits.

Benefits included with all plans

As the names of the health plans suggest, Gold is more comprehensive (and thus expensive) than Silver. But both plans include the same foundational benefits:

When you’re admitted to hospital

When people think of health insurance, they tend to think about hospitals and hospital treatment. Some insurance providers have their own network of hospitals, which means you can only use the hospitals permitted by your provider. We don’t place any such restrictions on where you receive your medical treatment. This means you’ll always have access to the top-rated hospitals and medical clinics within your area of cover.

When you’re admitted to a hospital for treatment, we’ll cover you for:

• Pre-admission tests
• Your accommodation costs
• Surgeons’, anaesthetists’ & doctors’ fees
• Nursing care
• Drugs & surgical dressings
• Operating theatre charges
• Intensive care
• Pathology, X-rays, scans & diagnostic tests
• Physiotherapy

We have close relationships with over 40,000 hospitals around the world including the most popular hospitals amongst expats in many countries. These close relationships mean that we settle your medical bills directly with the hospital, so you won’t be left out-of-pocket.

Cancer treatment

Cancer can affect you anywhere, at any time. So no matter which health plan you select, we’re committed to providing the strongest benefits to give you the best chance of overcoming cancer.

When you need treatment for cancer, we’ll cover you for:

• Tests, scans, and cancer drugs
• Chemotherapy
• Radiotherapy
• Immunotherapy
• Consultations (both as an out-patient and an in-patient)
• Restorative dental treatment following chemotherapy or radiotherapy
• Reconstructive surgery to restore your appearance

We’ll also cover you for US$6,000 per period of cover for cancer genome testing, which sequences the genes of your cancerous cells to help determine the best course of treatment for you.

Finally, cancer is a condition that patients must often learn to live with. So we give you benefits for wigs following chemotherapy, counselling with a psychologist, and consultations with a dietitian.

Doctor visits

International health insurance isn’t just for serious health issues. What about when you just want to pop to the local doctor’s surgery or the pharmacy? All our plans include cover for out-patient treatment (i.e. medical treatment for which you don’t need to be admitted to hospital).

Both plans provide cover for the following common out-patient treatments²:

• Doctor visits & specialist consultations
• Diagnostic tests (X-rays, MRI scans, CAT scans)
• Emergency treatment you receive in the emergency ward of a hospital
• Physiotherapy

Emergency medical evacuation

What happens if you have a medical emergency and the treatment that you urgently need isn’t available locally? With one of our health plans, we’ll evacuate you by road, sea or air if you suffer a life-threatening or limb-threatening condition that requires an immediate hospital treatment that is not possible locally. We’ll evacuate you to the nearest location within your area of cover where you can get the medical treatment that you need.

But that’s not all you’ll need when you have an emergency medical evacuation. All of our health plans include the following additional benefits:

• Access to a 24-hour medical assistance helpline
• Return airfare to your country of residence following your evacuation
• Travel & accommodation expenses of a companion while you’re hospitalised following your emergency

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Introducing the health plans

Both our Silver and Gold plans give you a wider range of cover for health conditions and treatments, and the benefits generally come with higher annual limits.

You’ll have all the benefits included with the value plans, plus full cover for treatment you receive as an out-patient. You’ll also have cover for private accommodation during hospital stays, mental health treatment, complementary therapies, and cover for well-being and preventive care. The Gold plan also includes cover for basic dental costs, pregnancy, and routine childbirth.

• The Silver plan can be a good option for families with young children or for people who expect regular visits to the doctor or pharmacy each year.
• The Gold plan is a good option for people looking to start a family or for people who require the highest level of cover.

Membership perks

No matter which health plan you choose with William Russell, you’ll always enjoy the following membership perks:

• 24-hour medical helpline
• Personal service
• International cover

Notes on the health plans

You won’t find complete information for our plans on this webpage, nor the full T&Cs, limitations, and exclusions that would apply if you purchase one. You can find complete information in the plan agreement, which we suggest you read together with this webpage. All the benefits on this webpage are per member per period of cover, unless we state otherwise. We show the benefit limits in US dollars, but we can also denominate your dirhams.