It’s alarming to hear just how many expatriates are using travel insurance in place of medical insurance. Some see it as the difference between economy class and business class on a plane, whereas we see it as the difference between having a ticket or not having a ticket.
Let’s look at Bali for example. The island of gods, motorbike accidents and medical horror stories.
Travel Insurance is much cheaper for a reason
Yes, travel insurance can be half the price. But ask yourself why? The clue is in the name, it’s only for when you’re travelling overseas, not living overseas. If you take out annual travel insurance, you are covered whilst you travel, you are not covered in the land that you live. If you live in Bali, you’re not covered in Bali. It’s as simple as that.
Worldnomads is a very popular travel insurance provider who we endorse wholeheartedly for travel cover, just not for expats in Bali or wherever you may live. You need medical insurance.
Travel Insurance is only for the worst-case scenario right?
Insurance companies are not charities. They won’t pay your claims because they like you, they will pay your claims only because they are legally obliged to by the contract you made with them. Never forget that. The terms and conditions on any insurance policy will always include a paragraph that simply means if you lie on this form any claims you make will be void. So, if you say you live in Australia however you actually live and work in Bali then your claim will be void as per the declaration you signed.
Travel Insurance might pay out, but not for long.
If by some miracle, you have found the one charitable insurance company or you have managed to trick them into covering your bill then well done. They will cover millions of dollars of emergency medical treatment. But then what?
Once you are not an emergency case anymore, the cover stops. Any ongoing medical care or therapy you need will not be covered. And don’t think that they will renew a policy with you at the end of that year. With good quality expat medical insurance, you will be underwritten once at the time of your application and not at each renewal so you will be covered for emergencies, ongoing treatment, chronic conditions, therapy and a whole lot more.
Medical insurance is the real deal. It is the product you need if you are living away from the comforts of the NHS or Medicare. When talking about your health, don’t mess around trying to cheat the system or pinch the pennies. Make sure you are confident that if you’re that unfortunate person in the hospital bed waiting for life-saving surgery or evacuation, that your medical bill is going to be paid so that you don’t end up in everyone’s inbox and social media walls with pleas for charity to help you because your travel insurance company won’t pay out.
To get a quote for medical insurance in Indonesia, click here.