In addition to have knowledge about how tax, business culture and much more in the new country work, it is also important to know about the country's health care system.
- There are many laws and rules and they are of course different depending on what country it is. How does the Medicare taxes in Australia work and what are the health rules like in the Middle East with the Shari'a laws? Asks Lars Einar Pettersson, the Director of International Sales at Cigna, rhetorically.
Lars Einar Pettersson
For example, in the United Arab Emirates, there are constantly new changes in insurance rules for expatriates, so CIGNA plans to expand further by adding 10 people in Abu Dhabi in addition to the 10 already working in the office in Dubai in order to deal with the changes in the local health regulations.
In addition to that the foreign health care is different from the Swedish, Lars Einar Pettersson also stresses that it is important to be aware of that medical care abroad may be a very expensive business if you are not insured:
- For example, to give birth in Hong Kong is now as expensive as it is in the United States, which is the most expensive country.
In Africa, where more foreign companies are establishing themselves the health care is inadequate in many places. This is important to be aware of before moving.
- Apart from South Africa, there is actually no high-quality care in Africa, says Lars Einar Pettersson.
Therefore, in urgent cases, it has happened that CIGNA had to evacuate their clients to for example Europe. In most cases, however, the health insurance is used only for routine care and vaccinations. Only around 10 percent is about emergencies and evacuations.
According to a study by Cigna International, the health among the employees abroad is a key factor in the international mission to succeed. That the staff abroad have access to quality health care is extremely important both for the company and its employees.
- A health insurance system provides an important security factor for the expatriate, says Lars Einar Pettersson.
The proportion using their international health insurance is also much higher than the proportion who use their Swedish.
- To generalize, we know that when 10-15 percent of policyholders use their Swedish private health insurance, about 60 percent of the expatriates use their international health insurance. In other words, it is not a question if the expatriate will use these benefits, but rather when they will do it.
What are the main benefits that the expatriates request?
- The ten main benefits that the expatriates request in terms of health care is preparation for the journey, such as travel guides of the country, then vaccinations, a website containing travel information, the parental leave benefits, dental and vision, coverage of expenses for treatment in the non-institutional care, access to complementary medical therapies and access to online pharmacies and medical support
Emelie Ring
1. Helping expatriates achieve assignment success. 2002 Expatriate Survey. CIGNA International Expatriate Benefits, 2002.