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I'm expatriated from Israel/Palestine to the Netherlands. I have a 2-year residence, a BSN number, an address and some sort of local not-so-cheap health insurance with IAK (about which I can provide more details if necessary).

I am also insured in Israel, continuing to pay my premiums.

Now, I'm about to go on a week-long trip abroad - to the USA.

My questions are:

  • Does the Dutch health insurance cover me, typically?
  • If the answer is "it depends", how do I check?
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    You ought to be able to get a specific answer, which is presumably better than one for the "typical" case, by asking your insurer. That also covers the "how do I check" part of your question. – phoog Jun 23 '16 at 15:21
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So, here is the answer I got from my insurer (IAK)'s customer support line. (I assume it is true for other insurers as well, typically, but don't take my word for it and ask.)

  • By default, your health care coverage does not include medical care which needs to be administered out of the Netherlands.
  • You can purchase a pretty cheap addendum for such coverage.
  • There are two tiers of coverage w.r.t. geographical area: EU-only, or entire-world.
  • A month's worth of coverage in the entire world cost something like 3.84 EUR
  • You can pay extra for: Sporting activity insurance; "Cancel all my credit cards since my wallet was stolen" service, and car ride coverage abroad.

I'm not sure how good this coverage addendum actually is, since I haven't gotten the full text of the policy and it'll probably be in Dutch, but that's basically that.

Also, many (most? all?) Israeli health care providers / health insurers don't offer a similar arrangement unless you're departing to and returning from Israel.

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  • This is extremely similar to what my German insurance does: a token amount of Euros extra for world wide coverage. In my case pretty much anything that is truly a medical emergency is covered, up to and including transport back home if necessary. Depending on the country I travel to there are direct agreements so I won't have to pay anything, or I may have to foot the bill initially and can claim my expenses back later. – deceze Jun 24 '16 at 17:03
  • @deceze: What about a non-emergency? That is, say you twist your ankle, and it hurts, but you're not sure how bad it is. Or you got a cut on some piece of metal and you're worried about infection and want to see a doctor. Those are the kind of things an isurance might, or might not, cover. – einpoklum Jun 24 '16 at 20:41
  • Well, things which are clearly not covered is something like a regular checkup or unnecessary procedures like a facelift, or generally medical tourism. I'd assume that anything where you're seriously worried for your health would be covered. You can't judge whether it's actually very bad or not, that's why you go to a specialist who can. – deceze Jun 24 '16 at 21:00

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