What’s the difference between inpatient and outpatient treatment?
The difference between inpatient and outpatient treatment is one of the most important things to understand when choosing an international health insurance plan. It affects which plan level you need and how your policy pays out when you need care.
What is inpatient treatment?
Inpatient treatment is any treatment that requires you to be formally admitted to a hospital. This means you are assigned a bed and stay overnight, or for multiple nights, while receiving care. Inpatient treatment may includes surgical procedures, serious illness management, or any situation where you need continuous monitoring or care from a medical team over a period of time.
Inpatient cover is included as standard across all Expatriate Group international health insurance plans.
Day-patient treatment
Day-patient treatment is where you are admitted to hospital and occupy a bed for a procedure or treatment, but are discharged the same day without staying overnight. Day-patient treatment is typically treated as inpatient for the purposes of health insurance cover.
What is outpatient treatment?
Outpatient treatment is care you receive without being admitted to hospital. You attend a clinic, hospital, or medical facility, receive your consultation, test, or treatment, and return home the same day. Examples include GP appointments, specialist consultations, diagnostic tests, physiotherapy, and minor procedures that do not require overnight admission.
With Expatriate Group, outpatient treatment is included on the Primary+, Primary+ Lite, and Select plans.
Do you need inpatient treatment or outpatient treatment?
Outpatient care is a commonly used type of healthcare, regular consultations, follow-up appointments, and ongoing management of a condition all typically fall into this category. If your plan does not include outpatient cover, these costs would be met out of pocket.
When choosing an international health insurance plan, it is worth considering how likely you are to need outpatient care, not just hospital admission. For most expats living abroad long term, a plan that includes both inpatient and outpatient cover provides a more complete level of day-to-day protection.
Expatriate Group international health insurance is designed to give expats a clear understanding of what is covered at each plan level, so you can choose the right balance of inpatient and outpatient protection for your circumstances.
