Expat Insurance Policies Nobody Wants to Talk About

When my wife and I spent a year traveling the world, insurance was the last thing on our minds. We were busy figuring out visas, finding apartments, and trying every coffee shop in sight. Insurance felt like something we’d “get around to later.”

The truth? That was dumb.

We were lucky. Nothing major happened. But a few close calls made us realize just how unprepared we really were. Like the scooter accident we saw in Vietnam — the guy ended up stuck in a hospital bed trying to crowdfund his bill. Or the protests in South America that shut down major roads for days. Or even the random kitchen fire in a short-term rental that had me thinking, what if this was us?

Nobody likes talking about insurance, but here are the four types every expat should know about. I wish we’d known sooner.

Health Insurance Abroad

Some countries (like Portugal or Spain) make you show proof of insurance before you even get your visa. Others, like Thailand or Mexico, don’t care if you have it — but you’ll care the second you land in a hospital and they ask for cash up front.

There are U.S.-based “expat policies” that cover you almost anywhere, but they aren’t cheap. Premiums can hit thousands a year. On the flip side, once you become a resident somewhere with public healthcare, you might be able to buy into their system for a fraction of the cost.

For us, we just winged it with a bare-bones travel plan. It would’ve covered an evacuation, but not much else. If something serious had happened, we’d have been toast.

Liability Insurance

This is one that almost no expat thinks about. Imagine you’re renting an apartment in France, forget a candle burning, and cause a fire. Now you’re staring down $50,000 in damages.

In a lot of countries, liability insurance is bundled into a renter’s policy and costs next to nothing. In others, you have to ask for it. We didn’t think about it once while bouncing between Airbnbs. Looking back, that was stupid. One accident and we’d have been in serious trouble.

Travel + Evacuation Insurance

This one sounds dramatic until it’s not. Parents get sick. Emergencies happen. Sometimes you need to drop everything and fly home — and those tickets can run into the thousands.

Evacuation coverage doesn’t just cover flights home. It can cover natural disasters, political unrest, even medical emergencies that require getting you out of a country fast.

When we were in South America, protests shut down roads and airports. We weren’t in danger, but it was a reminder: if things had gone sideways, we had no plan.

Life + Disability Insurance

This is the least fun to think about, but it matters if someone’s relying on your income. A lot of U.S. life and disability policies don’t cover you once you live abroad. Or they tack on exclusions you never notice until it’s too late.

It’s not exciting to read the fine print, but it’s better than realizing you’re unprotected after an accident.

Why Expats Avoid It

I get it. Nobody moves abroad to talk about liability clauses. You’re chasing new experiences, not shopping for insurance.

But every expat I’ve met has a story that starts with, “I wish I’d handled this earlier.” Sometimes it’s a stolen laptop, sometimes it’s a surprise hospital bill, sometimes it’s worse.

Our story is simple: we got lucky. No major accidents, no big emergencies. But that was luck — not planning.

The Smart Way to Handle It

You don’t need to spend a fortune. Just cover the basics:

1. Health: Find out if you can access your host country’s system. If not, at least get catastrophic coverage.
2. Liability: If you rent, make sure you’re covered. In many places it’s cheap.
3. Evacuation: Worth it if you’re nomadic or living somewhere less stable.
4. Life/Disability: Check if your U.S. policies still apply. Don’t assume.

Bottom Line

Insurance isn’t sexy. It won’t make your Instagram feed better. But when things go wrong — and eventually something does — you’ll be glad you sorted it out.

When my wife and I look back on our year abroad, we laugh about the chaos, the missed trains, the random apartments. But we also know: we were way too casual about the boring stuff. If I could give one piece of advice to new expats, it’d be this: cover the basics early.

You don’t need every policy in the world. But you need enough that one accident doesn’t ruin the adventure.

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