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Frequently Asked Questions: Health status and expatriate health insurance plans

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The answers to your questions

Why do some insurers require medical exams?

Expatriate health insurance is optional. You're free to purchase any plan you want, and can cancel (or renew) the plan after a year. It's not like social security, which is mandatory for everyone.

This flexibility may sound attractive, but it also comes with a drawback: some people only purchase an expat health insurance plan when they know they will incur expenses that need reimbursing. Kind of like buying car insurance after an accident.

Even though such cases are rare, they can be extremely costly to the insurer.

Insurers therefore require medical exams to protect their financial interests - as well as those of their existing policyholders. Otherwise, they would eventually have to raise their premiums. And this, of course, would lead to many unhappy policyholders who may decide to cancel their plans. Unlike a social security agency, an expatriate insurance provider cannot prevent people from unsubscribing and discontinuing their premiums.

Without medical exams, the premiums requested by insurers would quickly become too high to attract new subscribers, and eventually rise so much that they would no longer be acceptable to anyone.

A health questionnaire makes it possible to guarantee the interests of all insured persons, in particular thanks to two fundamental principles of insurance:
- Risk pooling: for insurers, there are two types of subscribers - those that make them money, and those that cost them money. Without subscribers that make them money, insurers would not be able to provide coverage to any of their subscribers.
- Unforeseen circumstances: the goal of insurance is to cover the costs of an unexpected event. If such an event has already occurred at the time of a subscription, then the "unforeseen" nature is lacking and the insurer must either exclude the respective risk or increase the rate accordingly.

Every insurer must establish its own guidelines for accepting or refusing an applicant. By working with insurers on a daily basis, our advisors are familiar with their procedures and can anticipate their decisions. If you have a history of health problems or receive regular medical treatments, feel free to contact us to discover the insurers that can best meet your needs.

Please note: our advisors may be ethical and professional, but unlike insurers, they are not bound by confidentiality. It's up to you which information you wish to share with them.

Learn more here:
I've had health problems. Will I be able to purchase expatriate health insurance?

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