If you’re retired and looking at moving abroad long term, you’ll need to make sure you can access all the healthcare you might require, quickly and cost-effectively, from emergency care and hospital cover, to eye tests and prescriptions.
Many countries limit free public healthcare to citizens who have lived and/or worked in their country for a certain period, which may leave you vulnerable to major medical bills if you aren’t covered. This is where our international health insurance plans come in.
We understand the importance of health, especially when enjoying your retirement. Our international health insurance plans are designed to cover the essential elements of care you might need around the world. We also provide optional extras so that you can tailor your cover.
Included as standard:
For more information about our plans and how they can cover your healthcare needs, check out our international health insurance options.
Our international health insurance cover is available at five different levels: Foundation, Standard, Comprehensive, Prestige and Prestige Plus. All of these provide a standard level of treatment with different levels of specialised care such as consultations, therapy, prescriptions, and limits around dental and eye care.
With all of our cover levels, you’ll have access to private healthcare anywhere in the world, including access to our AXA Select network of 50,000 treatment specialists, where we can pay your treatment costs for you.6
With your retiree global health plan, you can choose to be covered almost anywhere in the world.5 This means wherever you go, we’ll go too. If you don’t intend to travel to the United States at any point, we also provide a worldwide policy excluding the USA. But don’t worry, you’ll still be covered there in an emergency.
International health insurance is designed for anyone intending to travel on a regular basis or live in other countries. As retired expats, having international healthcare insurance is will help ensure access to medical treatment, wherever you are in the world.
Your History and plan flexibility
Everyone’s medical history is different, so getting the right international health insurance is key. Take the time to explore what you need for your healthcare needs, including upgrades for any additional cover. At AXA Global Healthcare, our evacuation, repatriation and virtual care services are just some of the benefits that come as standard on all our plans.
Quality of care in your destination
It’s important to consider the quality of the public healthcare facilities in the country where you choose to live, and how much it would cost you to use them. If public healthcare provision is especially poor, then having retiree health cover will make sure you can access private treatment if required.
Our international health insurance policies can provide dental and vision care for retirees. At a basic level, we cover dental treatments such as fillings, while check-ups, scales and polishes will be covered by selecting the dental upgrade. For vision, we can cover the cost of prescribed glasses and contact lenses, as well as the cost of one eye test per year.*
*Subject to plan limits.
Whilst our plans are designed to cover the treatment of new medical conditions that begin after you join, there may be cover for pre-existing conditions depending on the type of cover you’ve chosen and the underwriting terms you join on.
Here’s a brief explanation of the different underwriting terms:
Whatever type of cover you choose, you’ll be given a healthcare insurance statement detailing which underwriting terms you’re joining us on.
**Moratorium is the waiting period applied to your policy before a pre-existing condition can be covered.
It’s important to make sure that you’re within the age range to be accepted for cover. At AXA Global Healthcare, we accept retired expats under the age of 80 years old.7 If you’re over 80 years old you can sign up to a plan but there’ll be some exclusions.8
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1 Virtual Doctor service is part of our Virtual Care from AXA service and provided by Teladoc Health. Appointments are subject to availability. You do not need to pay or claim for a consultation, but you will be charged for the cost of the initial phone call when using the call back service. You won't be charged if you request a call back using the app or online portal. Telephone appointments in English, Spanish, French, Arabic, Mandarin, Cantonese, Hindi, German, Malay, Thai, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Greek and Hungarian are available 24/7/365 and call backs are typically within 24 hours. Video appointments in English, Spanish and Mandarin are available between 08:00 and 00:00 UK time, Monday to Friday. Video appointments in German are available between 08:00 and 20:00 CET, Monday to Friday. In Singapore, appointments are only available in English and via video call between 10:00 and 19:00 Singapore time, Monday to Sunday.
2 Mind Health psychologist appointments are available in English and Spanish between Monday and Friday, 09.00 - 17.30 (UK time). If you are calling from the UAE, appointments are available between Saturday to Thursday, 09.00 – 20.00, and Friday 09.00 – 16.00 (UAE time). The service, provided in partnership with Teladoc Health, provides access to six sessions with a psychologist, per mind health concern, per policy year. The Mind Health service is part of our Virtual Care from AXA service.
3 Our Second Medical Opinion service is provided by a third party called Teladoc Health.
4 82.1% of eligible claims submitted online between Jan 24 - Nov 24, were paid within two days.
5 Due to restrictions in some countries, we might not be able to provide you with cover.
6 Figures provided by Teladoc health 2024.
7 The policy holder and their dependents must be under the age of 80 years old at the start of cover in order to have a policy on either a Competitor Switch Continued Medical Exclusion or Moratorium basis.
8 Those aged 80 or over will only be accepted on an FMU (Full Medical Underwriting), Plan Transfer or Group Leave Continued Medical Exclusion basis.