Anyone who says that traveling internationally is inexpensive obviously has never traveled internationally. There are obvious costs like transportation expenses which often involve ever-rising airline tickets, food, living accommodations, and local transport. Then there are the costs often not considered back at home such as storage for campers and boats and other sensitive property, animal boarding, house sitters, lawn care services, and much more.
What’s more, the health insurance policies you have at home are still required to be kept in place, such as your auto and homeowners policies. Just because you are heading out for a long journey abroad as an international student or expat doesn’t mean you don’t need to protect the home and property you will be coming back to.
With all of these expenses in mind, it may seem overwhelming to tack on another expense like International Health Insurance, which we call Global Health Insurance. Costs are important and we get that your budget is important, which is why we have designed our Global Health Insurance to be both budget-friendly and comprehensive.
Expat Health Insurance
Living outside of your home country is probably one of the coolest gigs on Earth. Seriously. As an expatriate, you get to live, study, and work outside of your country of residence while the rest of the world remains stuck behind invisible national borders that are only observable on maps. You get to experience beautiful cultures, art, cuisines, and natural environments that other US citizens only see in movies and on postcards. You are one lucky world citizen. If it sounds like we’re jealous, you’re not wrong!
We realize we are telling you something you already know, and we know that a big concern you have is cost. As we just mentioned, fulfilling your purpose as a world adventurer is not cheap, and you are wondering how much having Global Health Insurance is going to add to that long list of expenses.
At the risk of putting the cart before the horse, we want to go ahead and foreshadow that the cost is not as great as you might think, and is only a fraction of what the cost will be without it when or if it is needed.
With that in mind, we want to take you on a journey of a different kind: the journey of healthcare costs. The first stop on this hypothetical journey will be the Island of Rising Costs. As the name suggests, rising costs of domestic health insurance are the national export of this growing island.
The cost of healthcare services is rising worldwide. The average cost of a stay in a medical facility ranges from $2,000 to $3,500 a day. Worst part? There usually isn’t a pool included in your stay while being treated for a medical condition. Bummer, we know.
The average cost of our Global Health Insurance coverage for an individual plan is under $7.00 a day and includes reimbursement for the cost of healthcare. Travel health insurance is kind of like your daily insurance coffee from your favorite coffee bar, except we don’t give you a caffeine rush or crash.
If you are doing the math here that means for less than $200.00 a month the average individual international health insurance plan from Insured Nomads provides you with comprehensive protection from unpredictable medical costs while you pursue your adventures outside of the USA.
The best international health insurance is an essential item to pack in your luggage. Knowing you have the right person or company with you for the journey cannot be understated. Health insurance covers the same expenses your medical insurance policy back home does, as well as travel-specific emergencies that stateside insurance options don’t offer in their medical plans.
Founded on the same passion for traveling the world you have, Insured Nomads is more than just a travel insurance company; we are an insurance provider founded by citizens of all five continents, built by a team of insurance professionals who are on the front lines of the remote work revolution.
Travel Insurance Plans: Why You Need One
An elusive concept, a perspective often requires the cruel lessons taught by experience. Statements like “I wish I would have,” or “If I had known,” are the products of these tough lessons life’s unpredictable nature tends to teach us. The worst time to gain perspective is after the fact, and the worst time to realize you need Global Health Insurance is in the moment of an emergency or catastrophe that threatens the very foundation of your passion for travel and global expedition.
We are here to prevent that from happening. Plain and simple. Literally, we have designed our Global Health Insurance and World Explorer plans to be straightforward, simple to understand, revolutionary, comprehensive, and affordable.
We want to ensure that we provide you with the perspective you need to understand why international travel insurance should never be optional without the pain of having to experience an event that threatens your health and financial security without it.
Unlike the insurance policies you have at home that often come with geographical exclusions and restrictions to the area of coverage, mayhem, chaos, and emergencies are not confined by these barriers. You need comprehensive health insurance to help cover healthcare costs from broken bones on hiking trips, dental treatment, prescription drugs, and all the many other ailments that impact your health, including your mental health.
Being Local Doesn’t Always Make You a Local
A common question asked concerning the purchase of an international medical insurance plan involves the old “wait and see” wisdom. You may be wondering if you can just buy a local health insurance plan in the state or nation you are visiting instead of purchasing an international policy such as Global Health Insurance.
The short answer is no, at least not immediately, and it depends on the type of healthcare insurance provided in the nation you plan to be residing in. Almost always there is a waiting period for pre-existing conditions to be included in your medical coverages, and there is no guarantee that you will qualify. Some nations offer national healthcare insurance, but you have little to no control over the costs due to it usually coming in the form of payroll deductions or national taxes.
There are currently 192 nations in the world. With so many different nations that have inner regional governments like states and provinces, it is impossible to become well-informed on the local health insurance pre-requisites and guidelines. When it comes to your financial security and health, gambling is not worth the risk, not to mention national policy can change with one election or vote.
That is why purchasing Global Health Insurance prior to your embarkation is important. It saves you time and stress and provides you with peace of mind, and we think you would agree that putting a price on peace of mind is mission impossible.
Cost-Benefit Analysis
Don’t worry; we’re not taking you back to the board room meeting that you are zoning out of right now while you read this article. We wanted to have a little fun with the tried and true Cost-Benefit Analysis to close out our time together.
Cost-benefit analyses simply lay out what the costs are for any particular subject and what the benefits are. The goal is generally to justify the costs by showing that the benefits outweigh them. Now that Cost-Benefit Analysis 101 is over, let’s get to the fun part.
Enter your happy place in your mind and imagine you are on your dream assignment abroad. Maybe it’s Egypt or Tokyo, London or Venice. Wherever your place is, imagine how happy you are that you have finally arrived.
Now that you are there let’s factor in some of your costs. You had your transportation costs, lodging, food, and back-home expenses. So far you have invested about $3,000.00, but the benefit has outweighed those costs.
Now it gets a little less fun. While taking a biking trip around the countryside of your happy place you get into an accident when a car doesn’t have time to swerve away from hitting you in a blind curve. Now you are on an emergency medical evacuation flight to a trauma center for multi-body trauma.
Unfortunately, you wagered that the cost of international health insurance outweighed the benefit and you receive a final bill of $120,000 for the health care service you received for your injuries. In this scenario, the benefit of having international health insurance greatly outweighed the cost.
Don’t Cut This Corner
When it comes to protecting your health, your way of life, your passion, and your love for international travel, we implore you not to let your international health insurance be an option for the chopping block. Trimming is essential, but have the confidence to trim those budget items that aren’t directly connected to your future and financial security.
Historical trends strongly suggest that the cost of medical and health care will continue to rise at unprecedented rates, but our Global Health Insurance can mitigate your healthcare costs by providing you affordable comprehensive coverage for almost all of your needs while living, working, and studying abroad. Our travel medical insurance covers medical expenses related to inpatient and outpatient medical care, dental care, repatriation of remains from a foreign country, and more.
You have a dream that we want to protect and we know from experience that skipping out on international health insurance can lead to dream-crushing devastation. Weigh your costs and then weigh your benefits and the conclusion will be clear. For under $2,300 a year, the typical individual can redistribute their health risks to a company dedicated to protecting and empowering traveling Expats and Nomads.
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About Insured Nomads
Insured Nomads is the first to take an integrated traveltech, fintech and insurtech solution to the world for remote workers, globally distributed teams, expats, and travelers. Their purpose is to make travel as safe and smart as staying at home. They do this by providing health insurance with exceptional medical benefits in tandem with wellbeing, safety, security, and advanced tech-enabled solutions for ease of payment for healthcare, emergency response and evacuation. Insured Nomads is available through affinity relationships, direct, embedded and through select brokers and partners for groups and individuals.
Information on integration, collaboration and partnership contact Brett Estep: brett@insurednomads.com
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Sources:
Hospital and Surgery Costs | Paying for Medical Treatment | Debt
Trends in health care spending | Healthcare costs in the US | AMA