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.
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 and AXA offer different ways to build that cover. The shortlist below explains where to begin; your actual eligibility and written policy terms decide the result.
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. Read our method and commercial disclosure.
Start with your situation
These are starting points for comparison, not promises that an insurer will accept an application or cover a condition.
| What you need | Where to start | What decides it |
|---|---|---|
| A modular plan with a controlled budget | Cigna Global Health Options; Allianz Care | Compare the complete core-plus-options price, including outpatient and evacuation where needed. Explore this decision |
| A family choosing a package of benefits | Bupa Global Health Plans; AXA Global Health Plan | Compare routine care, maternity/newborn terms and each family member’s exclusions. The tier name alone is not enough. Explore this decision |
| Cover with a medical history | An individual underwriting assessment first | Compare written underwriting offers. Allianz and AXA describe moratorium routes, but those do not automatically cover an ongoing condition. Explore this decision |
| An existing policy worth keeping | Your current plan alongside any proposed replacement | Check accepted conditions and continuity before comparing price. A switch can introduce exclusions or waiting periods. Explore this decision |
| Care in the US or another country | Plans with the required treatment area | Separate planned treatment, emergency travel benefits and evacuation. Then verify that the plan can be issued where you live. Explore this decision |
On a small screen, scroll the table to read all three columns.
Four 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 four 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 2026-09-06. 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.
- Bupa Global Health Plans brochure
April 2026 file, five Global Health Plans; benefits and renewal summary, pp. 11–17. Obtain the applicable membership guide.
- Cigna Global Health Options customer guide
February 2026, UKCEIC guide; benefits and optional modules. Other issuing entities may use different documents.
- Cigna CGIC policy rules
February 2024, Guernsey CGIC edition; clause 13 is a renewal example for that issuer, not a universal Cigna contract.
- Allianz Care individual plans
Care Base, Enhanced and Signature; core, optional plans and treatment areas. Specialised country plans differ.
- Allianz Care Individual Benefit Guide
Effective 1 November 2025, AWP Health & Life SA Irish branch; pre-existing conditions pp. 11–12, renewal pp. 28–29.
- AXA Global Health Plan benefits
Individual combined summary, Foundation through Prestige Plus; outpatient options pp. 5–6, evacuation p. 8. Use with the issued policy.
- AXA underwriting options
Public retiree guidance; full underwriting, moratorium and transfer options, including the age-80 restriction.
The wider reference shelf
Eight provider profiles, including product families outside the comparison above. Check their purpose and terms before comparing them with comprehensive annual medical cover.
Bupa Global
The international arm of Bupa, the British healthcare group. One of the longest-established names in international private medical insurance.
Read the profileCigna Global
The individual international health business of Cigna, the US healthcare group — one of the largest IPMI writers worldwide.
Read the profileAPRIL International
The international health arm of the French APRIL group. Strong in Europe and Asia, and a common answer for French-speaking destinations.
Read the profileGlobal Health (Foyer)
The international health insurer of Foyer, Luxembourg's largest insurance group — relaunched under the "Global Health" brand (verified 2026-08-01); the underwriting entity remains Foyer Global Health S.A.
Read the profileAllianz Care
The international health and life arm of Allianz, operating from Dublin. The group with both individual international plans and employer schemes.
Read the profileAXA Global Healthcare
The international health business of AXA, the French insurance group.
Read the profileMSH International
The international health specialist of the Diot-Siaci group, Paris. Long history with expatriate group schemes and complex postings.
Read the profileSwisscare
A Swiss-based international insurance provider the Swiss practice has worked with for years — strong on students, young mobiles and Swiss-connected expats.
Read the profileNew 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.
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