Global Job Market Carries Health Warning
Wednesday, July 21, 2010

With the global recession affecting major financial centres across the world, the resulting impact has made it harder for professionals to find jobs at home, or in their current country of residence, leading to a steadily increasing stream of expatriates of all nationalities worldwide.

This is the conclusion drawn from an online survey conducted by MediCare International from January to May 2010, which asked those enquiring about global healthcare policies whether they were considering a move abroad to escape the recession. More than two-thirds of respondents (69%) agreed that they were.

With over 100,000 leaving the UK alone to add to this pool, according to the Institute of Public Policy Research, globalization has led to people to look for work opportunities overseas both during a general downturn, as well as when times are more buoyant. However, more than half of those working overseas were found by a Telegraph Media Group survey last year not to have a separate private health insurance policy.

"It is often wrongly assumed, particularly by people from countries with state funded healthcare provision, that in the worst-case scenario, their emergency healthcare will be covered by the country of residence or by a travel insurance policy," says MediCare International. "There are even instances where people will assume that their Embassy will take care of their hospital costs, if a healthcare emergency arises."

Those who are employed by one of the many governmental, or private specialist contractors working to rebuild countries which have been ravaged by war and territorial disputes, are being urged to check whether their healthcare insurance includes so called “passive war” protection to ensure they have adequate provision, should they need emergency or routine medical attention. This is also true in countries which have experienced civil conflict such as Thailand, where Bangkok has recently seen violent unrest, says MediCare, as such events can change a country’s risk classification, meaning policies which do not specifically offer passive war cover can be invalid.

Commenting on the results, Senior Executive Director David Pryor at MediCare International said: “The results of our online survey show that the recession here is likely to provoke still more people to seek work abroad to escape the recession. Experience suggests many of these will not have adequate healthcare cover, which is particularly important if they are likely to be working in post conflict reconstruction, for example, where insurance can be hard to arrange. We would urge people to always ensure they have adequate healthcare coverage, as some providers will not cover passive war zones for specialist treatments."