Cancer treatment for expats

Cancer can affect you, wherever you live. According to the World Cancer Research Fund and American Institute for Cancer Research, the countries with the highest proportion of cancer diagnoses are (general average for men and women):

Country	Diagnoses per 10,000 population
Australia	468.0
New Zealand	438.1
Ireland	373.7
Hungary	368.1
USA	352.2
Belgium	345.8
France (metropolitan)	344.1
Norway	337.8
Netherlands	334.1
Canada	334.0

There were an estimated 18 million cancer cases around the world in 2018. Of these, 9.5 million cases were in men and 8.5 million were in women.

As a William Russell client, you’re always entitled to access private healthcare in your area of cover.

In some cases, this may open the door for you to receive a higher standard of cancer care than is available through that country’s public healthcare system.

In all cases, William Russell will cover the cost of additional personal expenses you may incur as a result of your cancer treatment, such as the cost of wigs or reconstructive surgery.

We recommend having Medevac Plus. This entitles you to a medical evacuation to undergo cancer treatment such as radiotherapy or chemotherapy, where these cannot be adequately provided locally.

We will do everything we can to move you to your home country so that you can receive treatment there if:

• Your country of residence isn’t equipped to handle your specific cancer case, and
• Your home country is included in your area of cover, and
• You have the suitable level of Medevac cover

Depending on the circumstances, we may also be able to help with expenses incurred in relocating you.

This excludes the USA, but does include the UK.

Global health insurance (also known as international private medical insurance) gives you access to private healthcare around the world.

While most domestic health plans only cover you in one country, international health plans cover you in multiple (or even all) countries. They’re great for people who live and work abroad, or who spend lots of time travelling. Some international medical plans also include emergency medical evacuation cover so you can access urgent treatment even if it’s not available in your location.

With Medevac Plus, you will be entitled to a medical evacuation to undergo cancer treatment such as radiotherapy or chemotherapy, where these cannot be adequately provided locally.

Depending on your level of cover, we will always try to accommodate a companion on your medical evacuation. We may be able to cover:

• Their travel expenses, which will include an economy-class return ticket in either the type of transport that you take, or on an appropriate alternative.
• Their accommodation expenses, for up to 15 nights during the period of cover in a suitable hotel.

In most cases, we can only provide insurance to expats. By expat, we mean people living and working outside of their country of nationality (e.g., a Dutch national living in Taiwan or a Canadian national living in India).

Typically, our members reside permanently in a foreign country. But we can sometimes provide cover to people expecting to spend at least 6 months of the year living or travelling abroad. In certain countries, we can cover people living in the same country that issues their passport. These countries are Botswana, Kenya, Nigeria, Mauritius, Estonia and Malawi.

We can provide plans to people of all nationalities in most countries around the world. You must be under age 76 when your plan starts, and you must be living or working in a country different from your country of nationality.

Making a claim with us is really easy.

If you need to claim for a benefit or treatment for which you must obtain pre-authorisation, you must contact us in advance of starting your treatment and give us all the information we require to assess if your proposed treatment will be eligible for cover under your plan. If your proposed treatment is eligible for cover, we will pre-authorise all eligible expenses. We will not pay for any treatment costs or expenses that have not been preauthorised by us in advance.