Feather vs Cigna: A comparison

If you’re planning to relocate or have recently relocated to Belgium and are looking for a visa-compliant health plan, you’re eligible for expat health insurance.

If you want to get covered quickly in order to obtain your visa or temporary residence permit, you can sign up entirely in English for this affordable health insurance.

However, it’s not a long-term solution. There’s a maximum term limit of five years.

Whenever you are registered as a Belgian resident with the local municipality, you are obliged to join the public health insurance system, also called the mutuelle.

Feather Expat Health is an alternative to make sure you are covered for medical issues whenever you are residing in Belgium but are not yet officially registered as a resident.

As soon as you're eligible, Feather can sign you up for public health and cancel your expat policy at the same time, ensuring a smooth transition without a gap in coverage.

Expat health insurance is suitable for anyone who is relocating to Belgium, regardless of their employment status.

Yes, this policy meets the legal requirements (€30,000 minimum coverage and repatriation) for getting your first visa or residence permit in Belgium and after signing up you will receive a document that qualifies as the official proof of your health insurance for the Belgian authorities.

However, it may not meet the requirements to renew your visa or residence permit. If you need help getting health insurance to renew your visa or residence permit, reach out to us. We can talk you through your options after having expat insurance.

Immediately. Your policy documents will be waiting for you in your Feather account after you finish signing up. You can use these documents as proof of health insurance for your visa or residence permit application.

If your visa is denied, this will happen before your planned arrival in Belgium, and therefore before your policy start date.

You can simply cancel the policy in one click from your Feather account, and you’ll be fully refunded automatically.

Refunds usually arrive within 3 working days, depending on your bank.

Yes, in order to register as a resident in Belgium you will have to show proof of medical insurance. Our expat health policy meets all the criteria and comes with a certificate that you can show at your appointment with the commune.

No, you can't access public health insurance if you're not yet a resident. However, to become a resident, you will need to show proof of health insurance. This is exactly what our policy is designed for: you take out expat health insurance, get your residence permit, and can later switch to public health insurance once you're eligible.

Monthly cancellation

Our expat health policies work with a monthly cancellation, which means that you can cancel it anytime. Whenever you cancel, you will no longer be charged during the next monthly billing cycle.

Start date within 14 days of purchase

If you purchase a policy that becomes active within 14 days of purchase, you have 14 days from the date of purchase to cancel your policy and receive a full refund (as long as no claims were made during this period).

Start date in the future (over 14 days of purchase)

If you purchase a policy with a start date in the future (over 14 days), you can still cancel the policy before it has started and get a full refund.

Whenever you have any medical costs, you will have to pay them upfront. We suggest paying the doctor or clinic as soon as possible to avoid any late fees. Following that, you can submit photos of all invoices, receipts, and documents related to the incident in your Feather account in order to get reimbursed. There is a €25 copayment per event that will be deducted from the reimbursement. The reimbursement will be made directly to you, not to the doctor.

You can access the full policy statement here.

When you have purchased the policy, you can also access the full policy statement in your Feather account.