Health Insurance Health Insurance - Au pair living in France

My daughter (18) has just moved to France to work as an au pair for the next 12 months. She is/was covered here by VHI policy and is covered while in France by the health system there.

My question relates to a scenario where she has a serious illness in France and we wish to bring her home to Ireland. While unlikely this did happen to a relation nearly 20 years ago (in Thailand) and cost a lot.

This situation does not appear to be covered under her VHI policy - which may not apply in any case as she is now not resident here (albeit on a shortish term basis). Is anybody familiar with this issue and if there are measures we can take to ensure we are covered if it happens.

Thanks in advance.

My daughter is also moving abroad for 12 months. VHI switched her to its international policy, which provides cover abroad with repatriation to Ireland if she wanted to come home for treatment. The policy also includes travel insurance for trips to other countries while she is away. The policy is not community rated, so the premium depends on factors such as age and health status. In my daughter's case, the premium is less than she was paying for VHI cover in Ireland.

The international policy does not cover any pre-existing medical conditions. VHI also warned that returning to Ireland for treatment mightn't be approved because of the risks involved in travelling during the pandemic.

VHI assured me that she will be able to return to her previous policy when she comes home without having to serve the usual waiting periods.

Thank you very much - that's very helpful.