Broker or buy direct for international health insurance?
Whichever route you take, the policy is the insurer’s contract and the insurer decides the application. The routes differ in what is read for you, whose documents you read and who is paid when cover is placed.
In brief
Should you use a broker or buy international health insurance direct?
The route does not decide the outcome: the insurer’s written terms and underwriting do.
- Direct: you read one insurer’s plans and documents, and the comparison is yours to make.
- A broker compares and reads for you, and is paid by the insurer when cover is placed.
- Either way, compare like for like and have any replacement accepted in writing before you cancel.
Buying direct and going through a broker, side by side.
Neither route is better for everyone. These are the five places where they differ.
| Buying direct | Through a broker | |
|---|---|---|
| Whose documents you read | One insurer’s plans, brochures and terms. | The documents of each insurer compared, read against your situation. |
| The comparison | Yours to make, like for like: age, residence, treatment area, benefits, deductible, co-insurance, currency and the quote date. | Made for you and put in writing, with the alternatives considered and the reasons. |
| The policy you already hold | Yours to check against the new offer. | Read together with the new offer. The recommendation can be to keep it. |
| How it is paid | You deal with the insurer itself; no broker is paid. | The insurer pays a percentage of the premium when a policy is placed. A higher premium can mean higher remuneration. |
| Who decides | The insurer: the application, the acceptance, the claim. | The insurer, in the same way. A broker cannot decide an application or a claim, or guarantee acceptance. |
Premiums are personal quotes, so this table compares what each route does, not what it costs.
The payment is the part to ask about.
International cover is placed on a courtage basis: the insurer pays a percentage of the premium when a policy is placed. A higher premium can mean higher remuneration; this payment model does not remove that potential conflict. Our written report sets out the reasons for a recommendation, the alternatives considered and whether keeping existing cover is appropriate. There is no fee for the review or written report, whether or not you arrange cover through us.
Ask any broker the same question, and ask for the answer in writing. Eight questions to ask any adviser includes it, with our answers to all eight.
Buying direct can be enough.
If you have already settled what the policy must do, and you can ask for quotes on identical assumptions and compare them yourself, buying direct is a reasonable route. Have the insurer’s underwriting decision in writing before you cancel anything you hold.
A broker is worth having where the comparison is the hard part: several insurers, a medical history, a household in more than one country, or a policy you already hold that a replacement could make worse. A new policy can involve fresh health questions, different exclusions and new waiting periods.
- Shortlist the plans available to your household, in your country of residence.
- Ask for quotes with the same age, residence, treatment area, benefits, deductible, co-insurance and currency, and note the quote date.
- Ask for the underwriting decision, and the personal exclusions in it, in writing.
- Keep your current cover until the new one is accepted and the start date is agreed.
Broker or direct: your questions.
Does a broker cost more than buying direct?
This site does not compare prices: premiums are personal quotes. Ask each route for the same plan on the same assumptions (age, residence, treatment area, benefits, deductible, co-insurance, currency and the quote date) and compare the two quotes. There is no fee for our review or written report; the insurer pays courtage when cover is placed.
Can I take a broker’s advice and still buy direct?
Yes. The report is yours whether you act on it, discuss it with another adviser or keep your existing arrangements, and there is no fee for it whether or not you arrange cover through us.
Can a broker offer every insurer?
Expat Savvy is an advisory practice and holds no insurance licences of its own. International cover is placed through SIP Medical Family Office. Availability depends on your residence, the product and the relevant SIP entity; we check the placement route before arranging cover.
Who decides whether I am accepted, and whether a claim is paid?
The insurer decides application and claim outcomes. A broker cannot decide a claim, guarantee that an insurer will accept an application or bind it to cover a condition.
The arrangement, in plain words.
Expat Savvy is an advisory practice and holds no insurance licences of its own. International cover is placed through SIP Medical Family Office. Availability depends on your residence, the product and the relevant SIP entity; we check the placement route before arranging cover.
We hold no exclusive arrangement with any insurer, and no insurer owns part of this business. That does not mean every insurer or product is available to every client. The scope of a recommendation depends on the cover we can consider and arrange for your circumstances.
International cover is placed on a courtage basis: the insurer pays a percentage of the premium when a policy is placed. A higher premium can mean higher remuneration; this payment model does not remove that potential conflict. Our written report sets out the reasons for a recommendation, the alternatives considered and whether keeping existing cover is appropriate. There is no fee for the review or written report, whether or not you arrange cover through us.
Ask us to explain the remuneration attached to a proposed placement. You can read the reasoning before deciding, ask why an alternative was left out, or take the report to another adviser.
These register entries identify the relevant SIP companies, not Expat Savvy: FINMA intermediary register — Switzerland, SIP Switzerland AG registration F01111824 · FMA register — Liechtenstein, SIP Europe AG licence 10116 · FCA register — United Kingdom, SIP MFO Ltd firm reference 989310. The entities and their terms of business are on our about page.
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