Find out more about William Russell
With a global medical insurance, you have access to private healthcare in multiple countries. That’s why international insurance is an excellent choice for people who live and work abroad, or who spend much of the year travelling for business or pleasure. But what does ‘international’ really mean? Is it all countries, or just some? How can you be confident that you’ll be covered when and where you need it? In this guide, we take a closer look at the different international coverage options you can choose with William Russell. We call these options ‘coverage zones’.
The coverage zone means the territorial limits of your cover under your health insurance plan. Each coverage zone has clear rules on the countries you have cover in (and how much), and the countries where you have no cover.
Zone 1 means full cover for private healthcare in all countries in the world, except the USA. In the USA, you only have cover for essential emergency treatment covered by your plan that you receive while on a temporary trip of up to 90 days, with a maximum benefit of US$50,000 per policy year.
Plus, if you suffer a life-threatening or limb-threatening illness or injury where the urgent hospital treatment you need is not available locally, we evacuate you to the nearest suitable hospital.*
*It’s important to note that we don’t cover evacuations from, within or to the USA.
The regional coverage zone gives you full cover in the United Arab Emirates, all countries in the Middle East (except Iran, Syria, and Yemen), Africa, Indian Subcontinent, South East Asia (except Singapore), and Latin America.
While on a temporary trip of up to 90 days’ duration in any of the countries or regions below, you have cover for emergency treatment only, up to US$50,000 per policy year.
Countries of the European Union, the United Kingdom, Andorra, the Channel Islands, Gibraltar, Greenland, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Monaco, Norway, San Marino, Switzerland, Australia, China, Hong Kong, Japan, Macau, New Zealand, Singapore, and Taiwan.
You have no cover at all in the USA, Iran, Syria, Yemen, Canada, any Caribbean country or island, or the London area.
Local cover gives you full cover in the United Arab Emirates, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, and the Philippines. You have no cover outside these countries.
Our health plans are designed for expats, a demographic of people with travel in their DNA. For this reason, all our health plans come with international cover as standard.
International cover is, of course, marvellous! But it creates a challenge for insurance providers: how do we calculate premiums fairly for customers living in different countries?
With fully worldwide cover, it’s entirely possible that two customers in Canada and Vietnam could travel to each other’s country for medical treatment. Yet, it’s far more likely that the Canada resident will stay in Canada for their treatment (where costs are higher) while the Vietnam resident will stay in Vietnam for their treatment (where costs are lower).
So, while both of these customers have the same coverage zone (worldwide), the expected costs are likely to be very different. How can we calculate premiums that are fair for both customers living in countries where private healthcare is expensive and customers living in countries where it’s cheaper?
We deal with this challenge by calculating premiums according to the country where you live, so you don’t pay over the odds for the private healthcare available in your country.
You won’t find complete information for our plans on this webpage, nor the full T&Cs, limitations, and exclusions that would apply if you purchase one. You can find complete information in the plan agreement, which we suggest you read together with this webpage. All the benefits on this webpage are per member per policy year, unless we state otherwise. We show the benefit limits in US dollars, but we can also denominate your plan in dirhams.
