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Which international health insurance is best for you?

Start with the life you need to cover. Then compare the policies. Here are useful starting points for expats and families, the differences that matter, and the questions to settle before you choose.

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Your situation, your policy documents, a written recommendation

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In brief

How do you choose the best international health insurance?

The best international health insurance is the plan that can cover you where you live, with benefits you need and exclusions you understand. Cigna, Allianz, Bupa, AXA, APRIL, Global Health (Foyer) and MSH offer different ways to build that cover. The shortlist below explains where to begin; your actual eligibility and written policy terms decide the result.

  • Decide what the policy must do: routine care, treatment geography, medical history, retained costs and continuity.
  • Compare like for like: age, residence, treatment area, benefits, deductible, co-insurance, currency and the quote date, with medical exclusions alongside the price.
  • Keep what already works: before a switch, compare the conditions your existing policy already covers with the new insurer’s written offer.

Expat Savvy editorial research · Sources checked and · Read our method and commercial disclosure

This guide compares selected individual international medical plans. It is not a whole-market ranking. Local compulsory insurance, travel insurance and emergency-only products solve different problems.

These are editorial selection pointers, not a personal recommendation or a quote. Your residence, medical history and written acceptance terms can change the shortlist.

Best international health insurance for your situation.

These are starting points for comparison, not promises that an insurer will accept an application or cover a condition.

Your situation, candidate options and the deciding question
What you needWhere to startWhat decides it
A modular plan with a controlled budgetCigna Global Health Options; Allianz CareCompare the complete core-plus-options price, including outpatient and evacuation where needed. Cigna Global vs Allianz Care
A family choosing a package of benefitsBupa Global Health Plans; AXA Global Health PlanCompare routine care, maternity/newborn terms and each family member’s exclusions. The tier name alone is not enough. Cover for individuals and families
Cover with a medical historyAn individual underwriting assessment firstCompare written underwriting offers. Allianz, AXA and Global Health (Foyer) describe moratorium routes, but those do not automatically cover an ongoing condition. Allianz Care vs AXA Global Healthcare
An existing policy worth keepingYour current plan alongside any proposed replacementCheck accepted conditions and continuity before comparing price. A switch can introduce exclusions or waiting periods. A second opinion on your cover
Care in the US or another countryPlans with the required treatment areaSeparate planned treatment, emergency travel benefits and evacuation. Then verify that the plan can be issued where you live. How international health insurance works

Compare two insurers side by side.

Already down to two? Each comparison sets the two plans’ documents row by row: plan structure, outpatient care, medical evacuation, medical underwriting, treatment countries, renewal and continuity. Who each suits, never a winner.

Seven ranges, different choices.

Compare the actual product rather than the insurer’s name. Country editions, age, medical history and underwriting can change what is available to you.

Cigna Global

Global Health Options: Silver, Gold and Platinum. A core medical plan with optional benefit modules.

Sources checked

Worth considering when
You want to choose outpatient, dental and evacuation options separately, with an explicit budget for the costs you retain.
Check before choosing
Price the complete combination. A hospital-focused quote and one with day-to-day care or evacuation are different purchases.
Day-to-day care
Additional International Outpatient module. Some named core benefits already include outpatient treatment; read both sections.
Medical history
The individual documents use medical disclosure and any agreed exclusions. Do not import the underwriting options of a Cigna employer scheme.

Allianz Care

Care Base, Care Enhanced and Care Signature. Three core levels with optional outpatient and dental plans.

Sources checked

Worth considering when
You want to compare a hospital plan with separately chosen outpatient cover, or investigate the available underwriting routes.
Check before choosing
A moratorium does not mean an ongoing condition is covered. Confirm the qualifying conditions and the exact plan offered in your country.
Day-to-day care
Day-to-day cover is selected separately; emergency outpatient benefits in the core do not replace it.
Medical history
Full medical underwriting and moratorium routes are described. Under the latter, prior conditions need a continuous 24-month period after joining without symptoms or other indications, and without needing or receiving treatment, medication, a special diet or advice.

Bupa Global

Global Health Plans: Major Medical through Ultimate. Five packages with different benefit breadth and deductible options.

Sources checked

Worth considering when
You prefer to compare a range of benefit packages, then choose the tier and deductible that match your household.
Check before choosing
A higher annual ceiling does not establish better everyday cover. Major Medical and the broader tiers have different purposes.
Day-to-day care
Day-to-day benefits vary substantially by tier; Major Medical does not provide the same routine cover as the broader plans.
Medical history
Cover for certain pre-existing conditions is subject to underwriting. The brochure does not establish that your condition will be accepted.

AXA Global Healthcare

Global Health Plan: Foundation through Prestige Plus. Five levels, with optional upgrades as well as tier differences.

Sources checked

Worth considering when
You want to compare tiered cover with clear outpatient choices, including upgrades on Foundation and Standard.
Check before choosing
Lower tiers have different chronic-condition and routine-care limits. Compare those before treating a lower premium as equivalent cover.
Day-to-day care
Foundation and Standard offer optional outpatient upgrades; higher tiers have different included allowances.
Medical history
AXA describes full underwriting, moratorium and transfer bases. Its retiree guidance restricts available bases from age 80; acceptance is individual.

APRIL International

MyHealth International: Explore through Elite. Four plan levels. Hospitalisation with basic repatriation assistance is the core; outpatient, maternity, dental, optical and comprehensive assistance are options.

Sources checked

Worth considering when
You want hospital cover with basic repatriation included, then choose outpatient, maternity, dental or optical benefits separately, from the first euro or as a CFE top-up.
Check before choosing
Planned hospital stays need pre-approval and a facility in the network for your level. Without pre-approval the terms apply a 50% penalty, and care outside the network a 40% co-payment, except in a medical emergency.
Day-to-day care
Optional on every level. Explore caps it at €/US$3,000 a year; the higher levels have no overall outpatient cap but keep per-benefit limits. A 10–30% co-payment applies to outpatient only, if chosen.
Medical history
A health questionnaire signed within three months of the start date; the insurer accepts, sets specific terms or declines. Pre-existing conditions are excluded unless declared and accepted. No moratorium route is described in the documents reviewed.

Global Health (Foyer)

Journey: Basic through Premium. Four renewable plan levels with different limits, deductibles and co-payment options. Journey Short is a separate 3–9 month plan that is not renewed automatically.

Sources checked

Worth considering when
You prefer a defined plan level with outpatient care and evacuation already included, and want to compare full underwriting with a moratorium route, described for applicants aged 55 or younger with the insurer’s agreement.
Check before choosing
A moratorium is not acceptance of an ongoing condition, and a condition that is not reversible is not covered under it. Check a move home, or to Germany, separately.
Day-to-day care
Included on every level: 80% up to €2,000 on Basic, up to €12,000 on Extensive, and no overall outpatient cap on Advanced and Premium. Deductibles and co-payments apply to outpatient treatment.
Medical history
Two routes are described: a medical questionnaire and risk assessment to include pre-existing conditions, or a moratorium route at 55 or younger, with the insurer’s agreement. Under it, conditions from the five prior years need two continuous years without symptoms, medication, consultations or treatment. Ask whether the moratorium is offered on your application.

MSH International

First’Expat+: Quartz through Diamond. A hospitalisation core (HOSPI) with standard assistance, then stacked options: HEALTH, HEALTH+ and HEALTH+CHILD, each at one of four levels.

Sources checked

Worth considering when
You want hospital cover with standard assistance, then add routine care, dental and maternity in steps, priced by the zone where you live.
Check before choosing
Repatriation to your country of origin is in the optional Premium Assistance. Packages, options and deductibles can each be changed only once during membership, and only on an anniversary.
Day-to-day care
Routine care is the HEALTH option. Dental and vision require it, and maternity requires both. In the USA zone, HEALTH is the minimum purchase.
Medical history
A health questionnaire for each person, then medical approval, special conditions or refusal. Pre-existing conditions are excluded unless expressly accepted. No moratorium route is described in the documents reviewed.

International health insurance reviews.

Eight provider profiles, including product families outside the comparison above. Check their purpose and terms before comparing them with comprehensive annual medical cover.

New to the product? Start with how international health insurance works. A profile’s presence here does not mean every plan is available to every reader.

Compare the cost of the same cover.

A lower quote only tells you something useful when the assumptions match. Compare age, residence, treatment area, benefits, deductible, co-insurance, currency and the quote date. Put medical exclusions alongside the price.

If one quote includes outpatient care and evacuation while another omits them, ask for a like-for-like version before choosing. Where the benefits cannot match, write down the difference and the cost you would have to meet yourself.

Our health cost index helps explain differences between countries. Its dated benchmark is not a personal quote or a ranking of insurer prices.

Illustrative decision: a household comparing a hospital-only plan with a broader package should first decide how it would pay for consultations, prescriptions and treatment abroad. This is a fictional example of the review process, not a client case or insurer acceptance decision.

Your next move matters too.

Before a switch, compare the conditions your existing policy already covers with the new insurer’s written offer. An attractive benefits table does not preserve an accepted condition, a completed waiting period or the right to renew after a move.

Ask who must approve hospital admission or evacuation, which costs are paid directly, and what happens if you move again. A provider directory is not confirmation that a particular claim will be settled directly.

Your destination also changes the decision. An international policy does not automatically replace public or compulsory local cover.

A second opinion before you change

We can review the cover you hold and the choices you are considering. The written recommendation may be to keep your existing policy.

How we make the comparison.

We compare published individual-plan documents against practical decisions: routine care, treatment geography, medical history, retained costs and continuity. The seven ranges above are a selected research set, not the entire market. We explain why to investigate each option and what could rule it out; no insurer receives an overall score.

Sources were checked on for Cigna Global, Allianz Care, Bupa Global and AXA Global Healthcare, and on for APRIL International, Global Health (Foyer) and MSH International. The dates and issuing entities below matter: a brochure is a summary, and documents from different regional entities must not be treated as a single contract. Obtain the schedule, benefits and terms that apply to your application.

We have not conducted a claims-service survey for this guide. We do not infer claims quality from an insurer’s advertising or present fictional cases as client outcomes.

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.

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. Meet the practice and read the full disclosure.

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