Challenges of Accessing Medical Care Abroad

5 Major Barriers To Healthcare For Immigrants And Expats

As an immigrant or expat, you may face numerous challenges while living overseas. Aside from the difficulties of making a living and surviving in a foreign country, there is also the risk of facing challenges in accessing medical attention. There are barriers to healthcare for immigrants that can discourage you from dealing with local medical services.

To supplement your knowledge on immigrant healthcare issues, here are the significant challenges that foreigners often encounter overseas. You will also learn how having international health insurance can help minimize the problems associated with obtaining proper medical attention.

1. Healthcare Providers Making Mistakes Due to Cultural Differences

Studies on the barriers to healthcare for immigrants, particularly those related to cultural differences, reveal that specific cultural beliefs may hinder the provision of healthcare services to individuals.

For instance, in some countries, healthcare providers were unable to address health issues in a holistic manner. Primary care physicians often hesitate to delve further beyond the physical attributes of the illness. Their cultural beliefs and training appear to have prevented them from asking more of their patients than what they observe.

Treatments provided were more superficial and did not deal with the possibility of more profound causes of the illness, like mental health issues or traumatic experiences. Dealing with health issues was straightforward, leaving the root causes of the illness unresolved.

Barriers to healthcare for immigrants are not limited to verbal cues but also extend to body language, tone of voice, and gestures. Cultural differences primarily influence these barriers, affecting the choice of garments, responses to medical inquiries, the expression of personal opinions, and openness to receiving treatment.

Healthcare providers may also be reluctant to attend to the medical needs of immigrants for fear of being accused of racism. At the same time, they want to avoid taking responsibility for cultural mistakes made during their interaction with the patient.

Having a dedicated, in-house, professional interpreter is often attempted to offer multicultural care. This solution may overcome language difficulties but not cultural barriers that limit the interpreter’s understanding of foreign behaviors and beliefs.

The lack of availability of multicultural staff in the healthcare industry creates cultural barriers that hinder foreigners, immigrants, and expats from seeking proper medical attention. Immigrants are more likely to rely on advice from their friends, family, and community, which may not be accurate or adequate.

How Can Having International Health Insurance Help?

The best international health insurance companies understand the needs of foreigners living overseas. They know of the cultural differences you may encounter, so they will provide you with trained agents to handle multicultural clients.

Sometimes, it is possible to get an agent from your home country, which can boost your confidence in navigating immigrant healthcare issues abroad.

2. Issues on Language and Communication

Aside from cultural beliefs, language barriers also have an impact on addressing immigrant healthcare issues. For example, male interpreters failed to translate the needs of immigrant women in maternity care. In some cases, like emergency phone calls, having interpreters did not guarantee the quality of healthcare provided to foreign patients.

In some cases, complications can arise when a female patient has a male interpreter. Some things get lost in translation because males cannot necessarily express the experiences exclusive to females. Uncertainty can lead to a discrepancy between what the patient wants and what the doctor perceives is necessary for the situation.

Insufficient language skills are a significant barrier to healthcare for immigrants. It can make foreigners reluctant to receive healthcare services.

For instance, misinterpretation may lead to health inequalities and doubts about receiving adequate care. Immigrants and expats might prefer not to receive medical attention at all rather than spend on expensive healthcare without receiving the proper treatment satisfactory to their needs.

Communication barriers to healthcare for immigrants and expats become frustrating for both parties, making medical consultation and counseling more challenging to push through. To resolve this issue, some medical institutions employ professional interpreters. However, this practice can be impractical and make little difference in how doctors and nurses communicate with their patients.

How Can Having International Health Insurance Help?

With international health insurance, you can limit the cultural barriers to healthcare for immigrants. Your insurer will provide you with professional, multicultural interpretation services when needed. International insurance agents are often familiar with the local healthcare system of the host country, making it easier for you to understand what can be provided to satisfy your medical needs.

3. Possibility of Experiencing Prejudice and Stigma

Some immigrants with certain illnesses have fears of being deported even if they are legal residents. This is because of the uncertainty they feel about how people in their community will receive them should they learn about their health issues.

Being in a foreign country where one does not know anyone, as they would in their home country, brings forth the fear of being rejected and prejudged by those around them. In this situation, the feeling of being stigmatized may prevent immigrants and expats from seeking healthcare services.

There are cases where healthcare providers suspect foreign patients of being illiterate or having trouble understanding the language, even when they have no basis for this suspicion. This results in the oversimplification of medication instructions, ultimately leading to inadequate care being provided.

The opposite also happens when healthcare providers assume foreign patients understand everything they say. They give instructions without checking how much of the information they issue has been understood.

How Can Having International Health Insurance Help?

If you are covered with international health insurance, you will avoid stigmas and prejudices in receiving medical services. Global health insurance providers have networks of doctors and healthcare workers trained to handle diverse, multicultural clients. They can provide you with the proper medical attention that you might have trouble getting from the local healthcare system.

4. Lack of Knowledge in the Local Healthcare System

It is easy to look for language classes, but there are no programs to tell migrants and expats about the healthcare system of their host country. The lack of knowledge of local health systems is one of the most significant barriers to accessing healthcare for immigrants. This unfamiliarity develops into distrust and dissatisfaction in the system.

It may take some time for immigrants to become thoroughly familiar with the healthcare system. Studies show that long waiting times for medical appointments also contribute to discouraging foreigners from seeking medical attention from public healthcare services.

In some cases, immigrants hide their chronic illnesses and disabilities because these health issues will prevent them from applying for permanent residency or renewing their visas. Additionally, the fear of getting deported due to a health condition is present, further preventing foreigners from seeking medical attention.

How Can Having International Health Insurance Help?

Having international health insurance can help you navigate the local healthcare system of the host country. Insurance agents can guide you through the complexities of the processes involved, making it easier for you to access available medical services. If you have expat health insurance, you will minimize immigrant healthcare issues and optimize the benefits you can avail.

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5. High Cost of Healthcare Service

The high cost of medical services, especially in European and Western countries, is one of the barriers to healthcare for immigrants. High costs prevent them from visiting emergency rooms and even outpatient clinics, as they fear the bill. They avoid specialty clinics and prominent medical institutes, which are more equipped to handle certain illnesses. Instead, they prefer to visit general health centers that offer temporary treatments but lack the expertise to fully address their health problems.

Often, it is the multinational companies that provide basic healthcare coverage to immigrants and expats. SMEs, or smaller companies, typically do not offer or provide minimal healthcare coverage to their employees, particularly foreign nationals.

The inadequacy of coverage, combined with the high medical costs of paying out of pocket, leads to foreigners’ reluctance to seek proper medical attention. Sometimes, even the employee-provided health insurance for expats is not enough to cover the high cost of medical services.

How Can Having International Health Insurance Help?

One of the most significant advantages of having international health insurance is that it helps avoid the high costs of medical treatment. Global health insurance providers make sure their clients are covered, regardless of their home country. It can significantly minimize the amount of money required out-of-pocket to receive proper medical attention.

Foreigners may be unwilling to receive medical treatment, knowing that its cost is more than they can afford. However, if you are paying the monthly premium for expat health insurance, you will find that it is still lower than the cost of hospitalization.

Getting Global Health Insurance as the Solution

It is possible to encounter barriers to receiving healthcare for immigrants when living abroad. Cultural and language differences, complex healthcare systems, and high medical costs can deter you from seeking medical attention.

With the help of global health insurance, you can mitigate these healthcare issues for immigrants and optimize your medical benefits overseas. International health insurance providers can make it easier for you to navigate the complexities of getting the healthcare service that you deserve with the help of professionals trained to handle multicultural clients.

We can help you choose the best international health insurance that suits your needs. Request a free quote below to get an idea of what we can offer to make your stay abroad safer and more comfortable.