If you're planning a long stay in North Africa or the Middle East one of the first things you should be checking is your International Health Insurance policy. Thousands of expats will have been checking their policy over the last few weeks and may be shocked to find their policies were void in the case of war or civil unrest occuring during their visit, with one popular holiday insurer's policy stating “We will not cover you for any loss, injury, damage illness ... arising directly or indirectly from war, invasion acts of foreign enemies, hostilities or warlike operations (whether war be declared or not), civil war, rebellion, terrorism, revolution, insurrections, civil commotion...”
Many insurers are also partnered with assistance companies, who will go into the affected areas in the event of unrest and help to evacuate policy holders, often arriving much quicker than official government aid can be arranged.
The lesson is that if you're planning a long visit, or indeed if you are already an expat living in the more unsettled parts of the world, check your policy and ensure that it has an evacuation and repatriation clause such as the one included on the AXA PPP International Health Insurance policy.
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