I have to admit it was the most difficult one to summarize so far; it is the most integrated healthcare systems I’ve studied yet, its admin side is awfully messy, and its “patient” one is so dead simple it was difficult to follow the structure I set up for the previous pieces. Still, I am happy with the end result, which you can check here: British NHS.
Need a teaser like last time?
By reading it you’ll discover that the British System:
Is most cashless;
Is so good private insurances only insure 11% of britons;
Is much more efficient than the French or the Australian one at managing its cost
I just came across this video and loved it. Its message is simple, and resonate strongly with me: the simplicity of choice and passion makes a business possible.
The reason it moves me is that this is what I’d like to achieve – i.e. find many trusted partners, each with their differences, so we can offer clients solutions which match their situation and expectations. A lofty goal indeed !
Internationalisation has attacked even this bastion of privileges, and it now is difficult outline what defines being an expatriates clearly; Most consider a foreign national working in an exotic country to be an expatriate; the reality is more complex. Expatriates now are splintered across different group or coterie, each quite different from the previous one. After sitting down with many expats, I classed them in the following groups:
Old school expatriates, who are posted in a country for three to five years with their family. They have two contracts, the main one with the headquarters, a second one locally for work permit purposes; their main contract usually comprise a return clause, even though most will be posted to a new country instead of coming back “home”;
High potentials sent abroad to develop their talent and leadership. They usually have a return clause in their contract, and do come home after a few years;
Young graduates who move to the country they wish to start their career in – their contracts are local, but they usually are quite generous by local standard to represent their skills and international background;
Technical experts without manager responsibilities who are sent on emergency mission; they usually work on critical projects and/or locations, and are very well compensated for their skills and flexibility;
Permanent Residents, who decided to stay put in their new country. They usually switch to a local contract after a few years, and end up setting up their own company or consultancy so as to stay where their heart belong;
Project consultant who are single or seniors with grown up kids and are sent abroad on mission of a few months;
Commuters who are based in a country, and travel regionally on a regular basis;
Miles virtuoso who travel the world all year round and rarely stay put more than two weeks;
This segmentation is of course non-exhaustive and is a work in progress.
I’d love to hear your feed-backs and personal coterie-related-thoughts !
After tackling the Australian Medicare System last month, I started working on the French Sécurité Sociale. It took me a bit of time to do justice to the inner beauties and intricacies of the world’s best and most handsome (!) healthcare system; but I am now happy to report that the article is live, and you can read it here: French Sécu.
The teaser? By reading it you’ll discover that the French System:
The Expat Explorer Survey 2009 from HSBC is out. Its scope is quite limited – 2,000 participant only, spread across many different countries -but its conclusions ring true to a degree.
The report shows that the US, Thailand and South Africa are the expat locations which suffered most from the crisis so far. To the point that almost half of the expats surveyed in the US are considering returning home. Financially, Asia remains very attractive, with around 25% of expatriates earning more than 200K USD per year.
Overall, and despite the economic crisis, expats are wealthier and save more than in their home country. They also are more sophisticated investors – not a surprise – with 46% investing in shares, 53% doing so in property, while 42% using managed funds.
All in all, a good read, and an interesting lifeline on the expat situation worldwide. I just have a nagging impression that it does not represent the different type of expatriates out there. Seeing the results, I guess most expatriates interviewed were of the Executive type, who are posted internationally by their MNC. By experience, expatriation is very diverse and more and more expats* are not in this situation.
* To me, an expat is a person who is voluntarily absent from home or country
If you are looking for information on expatriation and living abroad, you landed the right harbor. My name is Jacques, and I am a French expatriate helping expatriates in Malaysia / South East Asia since 2004.
