Insurance for students abroad

rbannocks

My son is planning to go abroad to Sweden for a year as part of his degree (sept 13 -> July 14). He has an EHIC card, but, this will cover only emergency medical care when abroad. We are looking to take out some kind of travel insurance for him to cover him.

He will be away for more than 6 months after christmas (Jan->june) which rulles out most mutli trip policies. Also he may return at christmas for more than 2 week which is problematic for taking out a back backers policy which generally have a rule that limits returns to the UK to 2 weeks max.

Does anyone have experience of covering such a situation? Are there any specalist policies or recomendations for which policies are best for such a situation.

Regards

InsideInsurance

EHIC does not only cover emergency medicine:

NHS.UK wrote:

The EHIC covers:
medical treatment you may need during your visit if you’re ill or have an accident
treatment for long-term (chronic) conditions and existing illnesses, such as kidney (renal) dialysis
routine maternity care as long as you aren’t going abroad specifically to give birth

It effectively gives you the same rights for cover as a citizen of the country would have but you need to remember not all countries social health service is as comprehensive as the UKs. In some countries all citizens pay a subsidized fee to see a GP for example.

See http://www.nhs.uk/NHSEngland/Healthcareabroad/countryguide/Pages/healthcareinSweden.aspx for more details


As to insurance, you may find you need two policies due to the return home. You can look at the likes of World Nomads and Endsleigh and a few others

rbannocks

Well to quote from the documents in English on the Swedish Social security organisations web site:

Students from the EU/EEA or Switzerland (excluding the Nordic countries)
[Studenter från EU/EES eller Schweiz (exklusive Norden)]
There is a list of countries that belong to the EU/EEA at the end of this fact sheet.
If you are not registered in the Population Register in Sweden
[Om du inte är folkbokförd i Sverige]
If you come to Sweden from a country in the EU/EEA or from Switzerland only to study, you are entitled to essential health care for the Swedish patient fee. If you wish to have health care which is not considered to be essential, you must accordingly pay the entire cost yourself.
Essential health care is treatment that cannot wait until you return to your home country. What is considered as essential health care thus depends on how long you are planning to stay in Sweden.
To obtain essential health care for the Swedish patient fee, you must show proof of identity and your European

So what is said in the previous post would not appear to be the case.
(As I am a new user the system will not let me post a link!)

rbannocks

Further to my above post follow the links on the NHS web site given above (again I cannot post links because I am a new user!) to the page entitled

Seeking medical treatment in Europe

Where is says:

For example, your European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) does not cover going abroad for medical treatment. The EHIC is for emergency treatment that becomes necessary while you're abroad. Find out more about what the EHIC covers

Pont

My daughter is just coming to the end of her Euramus year in France. Her university here insured her for her year abroad.

dtaylor84

rbannocks wrote: »

For example, your European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) does not cover going abroad for medical treatment. The EHIC is for emergency treatment that becomes necessary while you're abroad. Find out more about what the EHIC covers

That just means you cannot become ill in the UK, then decide you want to be treated in Switzerland and use your EHIC to get treated. It's for treatment needs that arise while you're abroad.

SleeplessinScandinavia

I found this link which might be helpful:

http://www.studyinsweden.se/Living-in-Sweden/Medical-insurance/

I've been living in Sweden for 5 years and pay tax here. Even when you are registered in the Swedish healthcare system, you still make a contribution to almost every type of treatment.

System

My daughter had med & travel insurance through Endsleigh for her Erasmus year in Spain