Scan Magazine

By Karolina Oestlin

Finding suitable insurance is not an easy part of expat life. Scan Magazine had a chat with Lee Gerry, founder of Expatriate Healthcare, who has dedicated his professional life to creating flexible insurance solutions for expatriates.

In 2004, Lee Gerry, Underwriting Manager at Expatriate Healthcare, and business partner David Bond left their then positions in insurance to create a better deal for expats. “We wanted to give expats a fair option to get good medical insurance without the hassle moving around and travelling a lot often causes,” Lee says.

The company started with medical insurance, but has since then expanded the offer to include term life insurance, travel and personal accident/disability insurance; all designed specifically with ex-pats in mind. Through their main partner AXA, which underwrites the healthcare, they have a presence all over the world.

Portable insurance

“The company is purely dedicated to expats, so all our policies are developed to be as portable as possible,” Lee explains.

The policies are portable in two senses of the word. Firstly, you can take your policy with you when you move to a new country (although its terms may have to change slightly depending on the region you are moving to). Secondly, the medical insurance covers treatment at any hospital of your choice, anywhere within your chosen region of cover; which could be anywhere in the world. For example, if you are a UK resident, but the best treatment for you is in Belgium, or if you prefer to get treatment near your family, who live in another country, the insurance will cover that too. “It’s real portable insurance – not to be compared with a domestic style product that only allows you private care if the NHS won’t guarantee treatment within six weeks,” Lee says.

“Expatriates are at the heart of everything we do”, Lee says. “We will continue to add products and services to our portfolio that support expats living and working overseas, with products that are appropriate specifically to the expat lifestyle.”

Guaranteed acceptance

“Subject to a minimum age at inception, we guarantee acceptance, but we don’t cover anything that you have suffered from in the 2 years prior to joining. And once you are on cover, you can continue to be insured for life” Lee says.

Expatriate Healthcare has customers in the four corners of the world, although a majority are still European. Many are companies that want to offer their employees solid insurance. But individuals and families are also a significant number of policy holders. Expatriate Healthcare also work with ‘affiliate groups’, people that have something in common through, for example, an online community to give them, as Lee summarises the offer: “effective, affordable expatriate healthcare.”

Website: www.expatriatehealthcare.com
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