Let's break down what you need to know regarding how and when to submit claims with your expat health insurance policy.

No, a healthcare card is not provided for expat health insurance; one is not required.

You will act as a private patient when attending appointments, and you will pay up front (or request a payment plan if the bill is very high).

Expat health insurance covers accidents, emergencies, and new illnesses. It does not cover pre-existing conditions, routine check ups, or preventative care appointments. You can read an overview of the coverage breakdown for both the basic and premium expat policies in our coverage FAQ.

Yes, there is a €25 copay per medical event (please note, the deductible is not per appointment). You can read more about the deductible in our copay FAQ.

Outpatient Appointments:

Please submit invoices that include your diagnosis and an individual breakdown of the costs of all the services provided. The breakdown of each service and cost should look something like the images below:

Please note: expat health insurance covers up to 2.3 times the base rate of a treatment. You can learn more about this in our partial reimbursements FAQ.

Medication:

If medication has been prescribed for you, please attach the prescription provided by your treating doctor as well as the receipt for the payment of the medication from the pharmacy (or 'Apotheke' in German).

Referrals:

A referral for a medical doctor is not required, including specialists, however you can include this if you wish. However, please note that for aids and physical therapy coverage, a referral from a medical doctor is required. Please obtain a referral and add this when submitting any claims for physical therapy.

Hospital visits (including inpatient stays):

Please await the final invoice which should be sent to you after your hospital visit. Sometimes hospitals ask for a pre-payment or initial payment, but this is not always the final amount, therefore we require the invoice that is sent to you after treatment as this will have the final breakdown of the treatment and costs. You can read more about this in our hospital FAQ.

The following documents cannot be accepted for your claim:

That's no problem. If you receive new documents, you can simply upload it as a new claim. Our insurer will check new claims against older claims to see if they are relating to a previously claimed event.

You can submit all claims easily through your Feather account!

Simply:

In some cases, you may be asked to submit further documentation for your claim. This might be because the initial documents provided were not sufficient (eg only a payment reminder was submitted). In these cases, you can simply go back to that claim in your Feather account, attach the additional requested documents, and we'll move forward with processing your claim.

You can read further on this topic in our missing claims information FAQ.

If all required documents are submitted and no further information is required, then most claims take 2 weeks to process, but can take up to 4 weeks. You will receive a notification of your outcome via email once your claim has been processed.

In case your claim is taking longer to process than the normal expected timeframe, please reach out to us via our support page.

If your claim was processed and a reimbursement was determined, then we will send the reimbursement amount directly to the IBAN provided when you made your claim.

Feel free to contact our support page, and our team will help assist you further 🙂

If you would like to learn more about expat health insurance or would like to sign up, you can do so here.