All too often people think that once they have paid their health insurance premium they are covered for all medical treatment but, as can be seen from this article, this is a long way from being the case.

All too many people assume that once they have a medical health insurance plan they are covered for all eventualities but this is not the case and most healthcare plans will exclude a range of treatments. Many people also think that once they have paid their premium that their medical bills are covered. Once again this is not the case and you will almost always be expected to meet a proportion of your medical costs.

The first important point to understand is that there are different forms of health insurance and that each provides cover for different forms of treatment. A traditional indemnity plan for example will not normally cover preventative treatment, such as annual check-ups and immunization, although this is usually covered under an HMO plan.

This situation is beginning to change and an increasing number of insurance companies are realizing that they can save money if they concentrate their attention on encouraging policyholders to stay healthy in the first place. As a result more and more plans are now covering preventative medicine and some even go so far as to offer discounts for the use of such things as health clubs and programs which help people to stop smoking.

Today most plans cover annual check-ups, annual eye checks, routine medical care, immunization, pre-natal care, well baby visits, urgent and emergency care and hospital care, including x-rays, blood tests and other laboratory work.

The precise mix of treatment covered however will vary between plans and so it is important that you check your plan document carefully to see just what is insured. Equally, you must read through the plan carefully to see what treatment is specifically excluded. Most health insurance plans will clearly specify any excluded treatments which will typically include such things as dental and eye care (except for routine annual eye checks), as well as a sometimes lengthy list of treatments for anything from acupuncture to weight loss.

Another thing that you need to look at carefully is the cover provided for prescription medicines. A growing number of insurance companies are excluding payment for prescription medicines from their plans as the cost of medicines continues to rise rapidly. Where cover is excluded it is often possible to arrange cover through a separate plan, as indeed is the case with dental and eye treatment.

Health insurance plans are complex legal documents in which the detail really is to be found in the ’small print’. Simply purchasing a plan and assuming that you are covered for all medical events is likely to result in your being told, "Sorry, your health insurance plan does not cover you for that" when it come time to make a claim.

MedicalHealthInsuranceToday.com provides information on all aspects of medical health insurance including individual and family health insurance plans, short term health insurance, expat medical insurance, health insurance for pre-existing conditions and much more.

By Donald Saunders Published: 6/15/2007

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Freeview is a digital tv package that is available to people living in the UK but which is also available to the British expats living in Spain. 

For many years now, British expats have been flocking to the warmer shores of southern Spain in the Mediterranean in order to get away from the damp and dreary weather of the UK. Many go to Spain in order to live there permanently, with many others spending weeks or even months at a time there for their holidays.

Adapting to both the language and cultural differences can be difficult enough, but one thing that expats can find even more frustrating, Is the fact that they are not able to watch the television programmes that they enjoyed most frequently when living in the UK such as BBC1, BBC2, ITV1, Channel 4 and Channel 5. There are also dozens of other channels that are available to view for free including everything from movies and sport, to home shopping and news.

Many fear that their only option is to watch local Spanish television channels, which means that unless they are fluent in Spanish, which is not going to be the most pleasurable of experiences. After all, it’s not much fun watching a film, if you are unable to comprehend what is being said.

What a lot of British expats fail to realise, is that they can watch their favourite UK TV channels for free via free to view television in Spain. This also means that they do not have to subscribe and pay monthly for a satellite package such as Sky.

There are a number of satellite installation companies that are run by expats on the Costa del Sol and other parts of Spain, who can install free to view television in Spain in around an hour.

The installation of a satellite dish and a digital set top box is also required in order to be able to view the freeview service. A small amount of space is normally required to mount the dish and make sure that it is aligned precisely to the correct satellite.

The digital box or digibox as it is often referred is a small box that connects to the cable from the dish to your existing video and television equipment. These are easy to install and in most cases will be provided by your satellite installation and freeview provider.

Once the freeview service is installed, there are no further payments to pay, as no monthly subscription is required in order to view freeview and its associated channels.

So if you do move to Spain, remember that those programmes that you loved so much when living in the UK are still available to you and can make that transition from the UK to Spain that much more comfortable.

By Rob Griggs Published: 8/22/2008

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Call for equal partnership in phone link to London fund-raising event attended by 200

Barack Obama has called for the "special relationship" between the US and Britain to be "recalibrated" to make it a fairer, more equal partnership, the Guardian has learned.

Senator Obama, who leads the race to be the Democratic candidate for the US presidency, made the remarks in a telephone address to a fundraising event attended by American expatriates in London.

He has long been seen by British officials as the most Anglophile of the three remaining presidential candidates, but these latest comments are his first public suggestion that the relationship is unequal and ripe for change.

"We have a chance to recalibrate the relationship and for the United Kingdom to work with America as a full partner," Obama told more than 200 American expatriates gathered at the Notting Hill home of Elisabeth Murdoch, the head of Shine television production company and daughter of the media tycoon Rupert Murdoch.

The event, which raised more than $400,000 for the Obama campaign, was intended to be confidential, but several guests have since confirmed the senator’s remarks. A foreign policy adviser to the Obama campaign said the remarks on the US-UK relationship reflected the senator’s general foreign policy approach.

"It’s no longer going to be that we are in the lead and everyone follows us. Full partners not only listen to each other, they also occasionally follow each other," the adviser said.

The general opinion among the Obama foreign policy team is that Tony Blair got very little in return for his support of the Iraq invasion, in terms of promoting his agenda for multilateral action on global issues and for a Washington-led push towards forging a settlement to the Israel-Palestinian conflict. Prime minister Gordon Brown’s foreign policy team agrees with that assessment, arguing Blair put too much emphasis on Britain being a bridge between the US and Europe.

"The trouble with being a bridge is that people walk over you," one senior British official said recently. Brown has previously had close relations with the Clinton camp, but his first meeting with Obama, in Washington last month, was said by both sides to have gone very well.

The event in Notting Hill brought together some of the most prominent and wealthiest American expatriates in Britain, particularly from the arts and media, who were served miniature hot dogs and pecan pies before the telephone linkup with the candidate.

Co-hosting the event alongside Murdoch were Kay Saatchi, an art collector and former wife of Charles Saatchi, and Josh Berger, the head of Warner Bros in the UK and Ireland. Among the guests was David Schwimmer, the former Friends sitcom star. Gwyneth Paltrow was due to attend but opted instead to appear on a New York television talk show.

She sent a message that was read out at the event explaining that one of the main reasons she was supporting Obama was that he had a multiracial background, "a name like Barack Obama", and had lived outside the US. He therefore had "experience of other cultures" and was aware that the US could not operate as a lone global policeman, Paltrow said, according to guests at the event.

Obama drew on the same theme in his remarks, saying: "I was brought up by an expatriate [his mother and him lived in Indonesia when he was a boy] and I know what it’s like to look at the world differently."

"He has created an enormous amount of interest among Americans here, because he represents real change," said Berger. "I have not organized one of these events before, but I took it upon myself to get involved because I feel strongly about change and about Barack."

He said Obama had far more support among US expatriates in Britain than Hillary Clinton. "He is someone who is going to be much more mindful about the rest of the world – certainly more than the current administration, which is not hard."

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 Mail this post]]> http://expatinfos.com/expats-chat-with-president-obama/feed 0 http://expatinfos.com/health-care-for-the-spanish-expats-community http://expatinfos.com/health-care-for-the-spanish-expats-community#comments Fri, 16 Jan 2009 21:25:00 +0000 whatever http://expatinfos.com/health-care-for-the-spanish-expats-community Health Care in Spain

The health care service in Spain is excellent for both Spanish nationals and ex-pats alike. Find out how you can be sure you can receive treatment if necessary whilst visiting Spain.

Health care in Spain is of a very high standard with good local health centres or Centros de Salud and here on the Costa del Sol we have an excellent central hospital, the "Costa del Sol", at Marbella. In addition to which there are of course many other hospitals both private and public but most ex-pats tend to gravitate towards the "Costa del Sol" and you hear very good reports of the treatment people have received there.

Certainly my own experiences through attending the A & E, or "Urgencias" when the children were little were very positive. On one occasion my son broke his foot and we were in and out within and hour having had the offending foot, x-rayed and plastered.

The staff there are kind and caring and there are translators on hand if your Spanish is limited. They have a very positive attitude to relatives and in fact are quite happy for one to be present at the hospital 24 hours a day.

When my other son of 15 was in with a broken leg he shared a room with a younger boy and they pushed the beds together so that the boys father could sleep there. A bit unorthodox by some standards perhaps but the Spanish are extremely family oriented and they made every effort to include my son in their visits.

Your E111, or European Health Card as it is now called, will suffice for many of your needs in relation to your health care in Spain and in fact both the incidents sited above were taken care of by my E111 even though the latter involved quite a complex operation with my son’s leg being pinned. Follow up treatment needs to be paid for however so private health insurance is advisable if you are living in Spain or travel insurance if you are just visiting. You can apply for this new card online here.

If you are living and working in Spain and therefore paying social security then you will be entitled to the same health care in Spain as Spanish nationals. If you are in receipt of a U.K. pension and intend to live in Spain then you need to get a form E121 and this should be taken to your nearest Instituto Nacional de Seguridad Social (INSS) office for registration. You will then be issued with a medical card which you must produce if you require treatment anywhere and you will then receive this free of charge.

Spanish chemists, or Farmacias, are a great part of health care in Spain and are a good port of call if your symptoms are not serious enough to worry your doctor or take you to the A&E department of the hospital. You will always receive good advice there and probably be recommended something for whatever ails you. If you are receiving prescription drugs at home then bring the packet with you and you will probably find that you will be able to buy your medicines over the counter without the need of a further prescription. I must say however that I think their rather free practice of dishing out antibiotics to anyone who asks is not really to be condoned.

In conclusion the level of health care in Spain for both residents and non-residents is of the highest standard and waiting lists are probably shorter than in the U.K. Accident and emergency treatment is provided free for anyone with a European Health card and the full medical services are available for pensioners who have registered with the appropriate authority and for anyone paying into the social security system.

Article submitted by Ruth Polak the owner of www.costadelsol-vacationrentals.com A web site specializing in holiday villas and apartments on the Costa del Sol and in Rural Andalucia. You will also find lots of information about Spain and Andalucia, in particular.

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 Mail this post]]> http://expatinfos.com/health-care-for-the-spanish-expats-community/feed 0 http://expatinfos.com/top-expats-relocation-guide http://expatinfos.com/top-expats-relocation-guide#comments Wed, 14 Jan 2009 16:40:00 +0000 whatever http://expatinfos.com/top-expats-relocation-guide The Secret To Moving Internationally

The biggest secret I have found to moving is to stay calm, my stomach always used to churn every time we would say: ‘Let’s look at moving to London, Perth, Colorado….’ I would have this rush in the pit of my stomach and wonder how we were going to cope with the challenge.

Now, I take it one step at a time. What do we do first, what do we need to know before we make the decision, how does the family feel about a new culture, different schools, a new home and most importantly new friends.

So, where do we start? Usually with the most important questions, why are we moving and do we really want to change from our comfort zone, once you have been able to answer these questions and you have more positives about leaving than staying (and the answer to this could be as simple as being offered a job in a new country), then you need to start researching the place you are moving to.

Questions start surfacing such as will we fit in and be happy in a new country, what is the education like, medical facilities, culture, politics, housing, work conditions, transport and entertainment? How many expats like ourselves will be living there, will our life be normal or will we have to adjust too extremely, and are we happy to do this?

This is where I start searching the internet. Wikipedia is a great site to get an overall overview on any country in the world and it will cover all the basic factual information for you, including geographical location, population, historical background, religion, culture, education, economic situation and political info.

On getting a basic understanding of a country, I would then start looking at government sites and gathering information about the ease of moving to this country. What is required from a governmental legal perspective, including visa’s, whether a spouse can work on entry, how long a spouse needs to wait before starting to work, what legal rights do you have in the country, can you take your pets with and how does this work, what furniture can you take with (some countries do not allow wooden furniture into a country if it has not been treated) these government sites will cover any and all questions of this nature for you.

Finally and probably more importantly are the forums and blogs you can find, where expats can inform you of what to expect and you can ask any question and expect an honest answer. These sites can come across with mixed emotions from people who are enjoying the move and loving the country to those who hate every minute of their stay. The relevant question to ask here is why….why are they enjoying or hating it and then make your own decision?

The above would be the questions that the spouse that stays at home and cares for the children, however the bread winner wants a different question answered. They want to know what they should be earning in the new country and this is where an international cost of living salary calculator like xpatulator can be relevant to you.
Xpatulator gives you the answers you are looking for dependant on the questions you answer in the Cost of Living Calculator. It will determine what your salary in the new country should be to maintain your standard of living.

Why, you may ask? Because $100 000 may sound like a fabulous salary, however if your cost of living in the country you are moving to is extremely high, it may not cover your costs on a monthly basis. With the calculator, you can determine whether or not you will be able to afford to live in the new country. The calculator will work out the salary you should be earning if you have to cover all costs, or if your company will cover some of those costs for you. They also cover the Negative Cost of Living and Negative Hardship. What are these you ask with horror? Negative Cost of Living refers to a location that has a lower cost of living than the country you are living in and selecting to use this will result in a proportional decrease in the salary required e.g. if you had to move from London to Zimbabwe you will find the cost of living will be lower (negative difference). Negative Hardship refers to less hardship in the new location e.g. if you had to move from Zimbabwe to London you will find that your quality of living will be easier (negative difference).

So before you disregard the importance of what you need to earn when moving to a new country, take all aspects into account. At the end of the day what you will earn, will determine the school, home, medical facilities and entertainment you will be able to afford. So the secret to moving from one country to another, may be your emotional stability and happiness in the new location, however this is often determined by how much money is sitting in your bank account.

By: Steven Coleman

Article Directory: http://www.articledashboard.com

Steven Coleman runs the most comprehensive international relocation calculator available, an internet service that is used primarily to calculate expatriate salary levels for international assignments, which can be found at www.xpatulator.com

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