Blog · 2026-06-10

Health insurance when you relocate: how to choose a policy and what it costs

A practical look at the four types of medical cover, the gap between a visa-compliant policy and real protection, the rules in Schengen, Türkiye and the UAE, and what premiums actually run in 2026.

Medical cover during a move does three separate jobs, and people routinely conflate them. The first is bureaucratic: without a policy, no consulate issues a visa and no migration office prints a residence card. The second is financial: absorbing a hospital bill that can run into tens of thousands of dollars in a private clinic. The third is everyday: getting to a decent specialist without waiting three months. A $30 policy handles the first job and almost never the other two.

Four types of cover, and what each is for

In practice you are choosing between four very different products - and often buying two of them.

• Travel medical insurance. Covers sudden illness and accidents for the duration of a trip, typically up to 90-180 days. Planned treatment, check-ups and chronic conditions are out of scope. This is the "get the visa, survive the ambulance bill" product.
• International private medical insurance (IPMI). An annual, renewable contract valid across several countries: inpatient care, usually outpatient, sometimes dental and maternity as paid modules. Its real advantage is that cover is not tied to one jurisdiction - useful if you split the year between countries or have not settled on one yet.
• The local public system. Access normally arrives with residence status or employment: SNS in Portugal, SGK in Türkiye, IPS in Paraguay, obra social in Argentina. Cheap or free, but with queues and uneven quality.
• Local private insurance. An Argentine prepaga, a Paraguayan prepaid plan, a Turkish or Portuguese private policy. Cheaper than IPMI and plugged into the best clinics in your city - but worthless the moment you cross the border.

The combination that works for most people obtaining residence or permanent residency is a local private plan for day-to-day medicine plus a lean international policy for catastrophic events and evacuation.

What is almost never covered

The exclusions section matters far more than the headline limit on the brochure.

• Pre-existing conditions. Anything diagnosed or symptomatic before the policy start date. Some insurers cover them after 12-24 months of continuous membership, some exclude them permanently, some load the premium instead. Not disclosing is a bad bet - on a large claim, your medical history will be pulled.
• Pregnancy and childbirth. Waiting periods of 10-12 months are standard, sometimes longer, and maternity is almost always an optional module. A pregnancy that began before purchase counts as pre-existing.
• Extreme sports. Motorcycles - including that rented scooter - diving below 30 metres, mountaineering, paragliding, big-wave surfing. In Asia and Latin America, the scooter clause is the single most common reason a claim is denied.
• Dental and vision. Basic plans cover acute pain and jaw trauma only. Routine dentistry is a separate module, usually capped and co-paid.
• Everything else. Cosmetic and bariatric surgery, IVF, mental health beyond a handful of sessions, treatment in your country of citizenship under some IPMI plans, and active conflict zones or sanctioned territories.

What visas and residence permits actually require

• Schengen. A minimum of €30,000 in medical cover, valid across the whole zone, including emergency treatment and medical repatriation. The threshold is set by the EU Visa Code and has not changed for 2026. National long-stay visas such as Portugal's D7 or a digital nomad visa usually demand a policy covering the full first year - registering with the local public system does not satisfy the consulate.
• Türkiye. A policy is required at every residence permit application and renewal, and only Turkish insurers meeting the approved minimum standard qualify. Applicants over 65 are exempt from the requirement.
• UAE. Since 1 January 2025 health insurance has been mandatory for residence visas in all seven emirates, not only Dubai and Abu Dhabi. No active policy, no visa issuance or renewal.
• Latin America. Argentina and Paraguay do not formally require insurance for a residence application - they look at police clearance and proof of income or investment. The absence of a policy simply shows up on your bank statement instead.

Caribbean citizenship-by-investment programmes follow their own logic: insurance is not an approval condition, but living on the islands without international cover is risky, since complex cases are evacuated to Miami or San Juan.

What it costs: the order of magnitude

The figures below are 2026 benchmarks for a healthy adult aged 30-45. Age is the dominant multiplier: premiums often double after 55 and rise steeply after 65. Always confirm current pricing with the insurer.

How healthcare works in popular destinations

Argentina. Three tiers: free public hospitals, employer-linked obra social, and private prepagas such as OSDE, Swiss Medical and Galeno. Private care in Buenos Aires is genuinely excellent and cheap by international standards. One caveat: since 2024-2025 the City of Buenos Aires and several provinces have started charging non-resident foreigners for scheduled care in public hospitals, while emergency treatment remains free for everyone. If you are pursuing Argentine residency and citizenship, a family prepaga settles the question entirely.

Paraguay. The public network and IPS for salaried workers function, but slowly. Expats overwhelmingly buy a prepaid plan at a private sanatorio for $80-300 per person per month, which makes Asunción one of the cheapest places anywhere to hold decent private cover. For clients building a Paraguayan residency and passport, the saving against Europe is real - though major surgery is often still scheduled in Buenos Aires or São Paulo.

UAE. A fully insurance-based model: no policy, no visa. Employers must cover the employee, but not always dependants - check the offer letter. Basic mandatory plans give access to a restricted clinic network; comprehensive plans with direct access to major hospitals and cover abroad cost an order of magnitude more.

Portugal. Once your residence card is issued, you register at the local health centre and receive a número de utente, which opens SNS access with token co-payments. The drawback is specialist waiting times, so most new arrivals add a private policy at €30-150 a month. None of this helps at the visa stage: consulates want €30,000 of cover, including for digital nomad visas.

Türkiye. In the early years, mandatory private insurance for the residence permit: inexpensive, but designed to meet a minimum standard rather than to fund real treatment. After a year of legal residence you can join the public SGK voluntarily - the monthly contribution is significant, but chronic conditions are covered. Private hospitals in Istanbul and Antalya are strong and priced below Western Europe, which suits anyone pursuing Turkish citizenship by investment.

A checklist before you buy

• Name the job: paperwork compliance, catastrophic protection, or everyday medicine. Covering all three usually takes two products.
• Check the geography - is your country of citizenship included, the US, the place you spend winters?
• Match the formal requirements: limit, repatriation, validity period, and whether foreign insurers are accepted at all.
• Read exclusions and waiting periods: pre-existing conditions, maternity, sports, dental, psychiatry.
• Confirm how claims are paid - direct billing with the clinic or reimbursement against receipts, and how long reimbursement takes.
• Consider the deductible: raising it to $1,000-2,500 typically cuts the premium by 20-40% and makes sense if you hold a cash buffer.
• Check renewal terms: is renewal guaranteed without fresh medical underwriting, and how does the premium climb with age?
• Look at evacuation and repatriation limits - decisive in countries with limited tertiary care.
• Line the policy up with your tax position: premiums are deductible in many jurisdictions, so review the tax rules of your destination and discuss the structure with an adviser before you move.

The mistakes that cost the most

The most expensive one is buying a minimum consulate policy and then living on it for a year in the belief that you are insured. The second is letting cover lapse between the end of a travel policy and the issue of a residence card - that one- or two-month gap is precisely when risk peaks. The third is buying local insurance in a country where you spend three months a year: it does nothing abroad. The fourth is postponing an international plan until 55 or 60, by which point underwriters can see an accumulated medical history. It also pays to research the medical infrastructure of a specific city in advance - our city guides break it out as a separate section.

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