Expatriates may be classified in different types.  This could refer to visiting professors, independent contractors for the US army and even students studying abroad.  All of these people will be staying in a foreign land for a long period and long enough for them to be faced with troubles or issues that their new environment would give.

If you are working in another country regardless if you are a contractor or a visiting professor you will have a work permit.  In some instances this means that you would fall under the national healthcare plan, but you may not so be sure.  Falling under a national healthcare plan seems great since you dont have to pay for hospital visits or other things, but when you first arrive at your destination you may want to have a travelers health insurance policy until you get that filed away.  This will be in order for you to be certain that you will have coverage.   Even if you dont have a permit, you can surely apply for the national plan as soon as you become a legal resident.

Having a national healthcare plan could be less expensive when compared to traditional insurance policies we know about here in the US.  One concern with national healthcare plan though is the long waits and the level of care may not be what you are used to.  You may want to consider travel health insurance.  This includes senior citizen travel insurance and the cheapest annual travel insurance.

Some independent contractors for the US army have been provided with extended healthcare by the company they are working with so they may still be able to have that coverage but it is based on what type of job you are doing for them.