Find out more about William Russell
The field is empty.
Certain benefits under our international health insurance plans have waiting periods. Learn more about what this is and what it means for you.
Qian Huang
International Claims Manager
The information on this page refers to health insurance policies starting in 2025.
A waiting period is the duration you must be insured continuously by your health insurance policy before you can claim for certain benefits. If you make a claim for a benefit before its waiting period has expired, we won’t pay for your medical treatment.
We call them waiting periods, but other insurance providers might call them elimination or qualifying periods.
On our international health insurance policies, the following benefits have waiting periods:
Benefit
Waiting period
As soon as your health insurance policy starts, the waiting periods begin for those benefits that have them. If you make a claim for one of those benefits before its waiting period expires, we won’t pay the claim.
For example, our mental health benefits have a 12-month waiting period. In the first 12 months of your policy with us, we won’t cover any mental health treatment you receive. The waiting period expires after 12 months, so we’ll cover mental health treatment you receive in the second year of your policy and after.
When you renew your policy each year, your waiting periods don’t reset. If you cancel your policy and re-apply in the future, however, your waiting periods will reset when your new policy starts.
If you’re insured on your company’s health insurance policy, and that policy has an underwriting type of Medical History Disregarded, the waiting periods above do not apply. There is an exception: the waiting period for the treatment of HIV/AIDS remains in force.
We want to provide you with an insurance policy you can rely on, so it is important that you fully understand the scope of the cover we provide. Answers to the most common questions on waiting periods are here, but feel free to get in touch and speak to our award-winning team. We’d be glad to help.
The bottom of your certificate of insurance tells you the underwriting type of your cover on your company’s health insurance policy.
No. We get asked this question from time to time, but we cannot waive your waiting periods.
Waiting periods help to protect us against people who fail to disclose pre-existing medical conditions when they purchase a policy, and who then immediately seek treatment for the condition in question.
No. The waiting periods are one-time only, provided you remain continuously insured by renewing your policy each year.
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 policy in pounds sterling or Euros. 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 a health insurance policy. You can find complete information in the plan agreement, which we suggest you read together with this webpage. We work hard to ensure the information we provide on this webpage is accurate and up-to-date, but inaccuracies are possible. We rectify errors as soon as we become aware of them. The T&Cs that apply to your policy are those found in your plan agreement.
At William Russell, we have over 30 years’ experience of helping expatriates move abroad and settle into their new lives overseas by providing world-class international health insurance.
Joe Holden Global Relationship Manager
If you’re ready to see prices for health insurance, click on ‘Get a Quote’ below to head on over to our online quote tool.
We’ll ask you a few details (your age, your location), and then we’ll show you prices—it only takes a few minutes!
A couple of days after you’ve received you quote, Joe will email or call you to find out how we can help you further. Joe won’t bug you, and you can opt out at any time.
It’s filled with handy information and tips for expats.
We were one of the first insurance providers to cover people living abroad, and we’ve earned a reputation for our wonderful customer service.
The insurer behind our policies is part of the Allianz group
We’re proud of our award-winning service and our members rate it highly
You will get your own dedicated adviser when you join
If you’re not happy with your health insurance policy or the service we provide, and you haven’t yet made a claim, then we’ll refund the premium you’ve paid—no questions asked.
More results…
