Where will I have international health insurance cover?

With a global medical insurance, you have access to private healthcare in multiple countries. That’s why international insurance is an excellent choice for people who live and work abroad, or who spend much of the year travelling for business or pleasure. But what does ‘international’ really mean? Is it all countries, or just some? How can you be confident that you’ll be covered when and where you need it? In this guide, we take a closer look at the different international coverage options you can choose with William Russell. We call these options ‘areas of cover’.

What does ‘area of cover’ mean?

The area of cover means the territorial limits of your cover under your health insurance plan. Each area of cover has clear rules on the countries you have cover in (and how much), and the countries where you have no cover.

All our plans give you international cover

Our health plans are designed for expats, a demographic of people with travel in their DNA. For this reason, all our health plans come with international cover as standard.

International cover is, of course, marvellous! But it creates a challenge for insurance providers: how do we calculate premiums fairly for customers living in different countries?

With fully worldwide cover, it’s entirely possible that two customers in Canada and Vietnam could travel to each other’s country for medical treatment. Yet, it’s far more likely that the Canada resident will stay in Canada for their treatment (where costs are higher) while the Vietnam resident will stay in Vietnam for their treatment (where costs are lower).

So, while both of these customers have the same area of cover (worldwide), the expected costs are likely to be very different. How can we calculate premiums that are fair for both customers living in countries where private healthcare is expensive and customers living in countries where it’s cheaper?

We deal with this challenge by calculating premiums according to the country where you live, so you don’t pay over the odds for the private healthcare available in your country

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Zone 1 (worldwide excluding the United States of America)

Zone 1 means full cover for private healthcare in all countries in the world, except the USA. And what’s more, you have the freedom to choose any hospital, clinic or doctor for your medical treatment.

“Freedom to choose any hospital, anywhere in the world (except the USA)”

By any, we mean any. We’re quite different from other insurance providers because we don’t have a restrictive network of preferred hospitals and clinics in each country. You’re free to choose the best hospitals where you live. Or, if you wish to have treatment at home, you can travel home.

Plus, if you suffer an illness or injury where the urgent hospital treatment you need is not available locally, we evacuate you to the nearest suitable hospital.*

So, why don’t we cover you in the USA? It’s no secret that private healthcare costs in the USA are astronomical. And only a fraction of our members needs cover there. So, rather than make all members pay for something they don’t need, we exclude cover in the USA from our premium calculation algorithms.

Zone 1 is the only option available to UAE residents.

*It’s important to note that we don’t cover evacuations from, within or to the USA.

Cover in the United States of America

Most of our members will never need cover for private healthcare in the USA. So, rather than making them pay for something they’d never use, we’ve made cover in the USA optional.

The two options below might be useful if you make regular business trips or holidays into the USA. Alternatively, if you’re a US citizen and you’re lapsing your domestic insurance, you might want some cover for trips home.

It’s important to note that the options only give you cover on temporary trips to the USA. However, there is no limit to the number of trips you can make in a single year. Final detail: the USA options are also only available if you choose Zone 1 as your area of cover.

The USA options are also only available if you choose Zone 1 as your area of cover.

USA-45

This option gives you cover for private healthcare in the USA while you’re making a temporary trip of up to 45 days. The overall amount we pay towards your treatment is US$250,000 each year, but there are two important caveats:

We only pay for medically-necessary treatment you receive in the USA up to US$100,000
We pay up to US$250,000 for accident & emergency treatment that you receive in the USA as long as you’ve never suffered from that condition before starting your trip

Even with the USA-45 option, we don’t cover you for emergency medical evacuations to, from or within the USA.

USA-90

This option gives you cover for private healthcare in the USA while you’re making a temporary trip of up to 90 days. The overall amount we pay towards your treatment is US$250,000 each year, and that includes both medically-necessary treatment and accident & emergency treatment.

Even with the USA-90 option, we don’t cover you for emergency medical evacuations to, from or within the USA.

Notes on the areas of cover

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 plan in dirhams.