Some of the oldest universities in the world are located in the United Kingdom. Its outstanding academic reputation, greater employment rate, wide selection of courses encompassing almost all subject areas, and shorter time when compared to other international learning programmes all contribute to its broad acceptance by students for their higher studies.
A lot of students from India every year migrate to the UK for their higher education. With exemplary education and various other benefits for international students, the UK government also provides students with access to free medical treatment through the national health insurance, called the National Health Service (NHS).
Now you may wonder why I am talking about student insurance in UK, as you don’t have to take it compulsorily in India. The reason is that you cannot get treated if you do not have health insurance in the UK. Even for the slightest problem with your body, you need to have UK health insurance.
Now there are certain norms you need to fulfill for availing of government insurance in UK:
- You are qualified for the NHS if you own a tier 4 student visa and thereby will be studying in the UK for more than six months.
- And during the application for your UK visa, you have to pay the immigrant health surcharge (IHS), which costs around £500 a year in addition to the cost of the visa application, to get yourself insurance in UK.
The NHS covers accidents and emergencies, hospital treatments, family planning, and contraceptive services, for which you need not pay any amount of money.
Once you have landed in the UK, as part of the NHS, you will have to register yourself with a general practitioner. After registering with the GP, you will indeed be given an NHS number. Not waiting until you become ill is advised; register with a general practitioner as soon as possible.
Now, if you’re traveling for studies, you will most certainly be eligible for getting the NHS, but suppose if you’re traveling for less than 6 months in the UK. You will not get the National Health Service.
Now the question arises: how will you get treatment in the UK then? The answer to this question is “private health insurance.” To begin with, there are a lot of private health insurances you can pick from, and if you want the best or are indecisive about which private Indian student insurance for UK, you need to pick for yourself, reach out to Remigos. Remigos is a cross-border payment platform that simplifies not just your payment methods from India to the UK but also provides services like assisting you in getting a UK SIM card or insurance in the UK, banks to choose from, and a lot more.
Now here are the reasons why you should opt for private health insurance:
When the overall waiting period for NHS care is longer than six weeks, you might use private health insurance to shorten the time you would wait.
You get a private room for yourself under the private health insurance, unlike in the NHS.
In contrast to the NHS, you can select a doctor and a facility that work with your schedule.
Those who have private health insurance can avoid having to spend a long time waiting for non-urgent operations.
So if you have planned your migration and are to fly to the UK, make sure that you are prepared for everything you need, and don’t forget to get yourself health insurance, whether private or on the NHS. For further help managing your monetary transfers, you can always reach out to Remigos.
