If you are looking for the best international health insurance, the decision underneath the search is which international policy to buy, for which part of the world, and on what terms. There is no single answer, and anyone who offers one has not yet asked where you are going. International medical insurance pays for private treatment in a region you choose, renewed year by year for as long as you live there, and the right policy for a teacher in Lithuania with a family is a different product from the right one for a retired couple in Mauritius. An FCA-authorised broker can price that choice for your own move, with one specification run through several insurers; fill in the form on this page, which introduces you to one. It costs nothing and does not oblige you to buy.
This page is about how to tell the candidates apart. It does not rank insurers, because we hold no ranking to publish, and it does not price anything, because this site holds no premium data. What it can do is set out what a comparison has to hold constant, show you in UK insurers' own clauses why the policy you may already have is not a candidate, and answer the questions people ask on the way to choosing.
Which international health insurance is best? What the question can and cannot mean
"Best" is a judgement about fit, and fit needs inputs: where you will live, which other countries you will spend time in, whether the United States is on the list, who is coming with you, what you already have wrong with you, and how much of a bill you could carry yourself. Change one input and the answer changes. A worldwide plan with every module switched on is the most complete product on any insurer's list and the wrong one for most people, who would be paying for cover in countries they will never enter. A regional in-patient plan with a large deductible is the lightest shape and the wrong one for anyone who will need out-patient care in a country where it is expensive.
So "which international health insurance is best" has an answer for a filled-in specification, which is a quote, and an answer for a situation, which is a shape. The rest of this page describes the shapes.
Two limits on what this page can say. Every clause described here comes from a UK domestic policy: Aviva's, AXA Health's and WPA's. None is the wording of an international product, and AXA Health international cover and Bupa international cover are dealt with separately. Where this page says what international plans typically do, it is describing the shape of a market, not a named product, and the wording that binds you is whatever arrives with your own quote.
Compare international health insurance on six things, in this order
A comparison is only as good as the specification you hold constant. Set these six the same way at every insurer and the quotes can be read against each other; leave one floating and the cheapest quote is usually the one that quietly dropped something.
- Area of cover. Worldwide, worldwide excluding the United States, or a region such as Europe or Asia. Choose one and ask every insurer for it, and ask what happens on a trip outside the area: some plans give emergency cover there, some give limited cover, some give none.
- Country of residence and time at home. Name the country you will live in and how many days a year you expect to spend in the UK. Ask whether there is a limit on days in your home country, and whether the UK is inside the area for treatment on a visit.
- The layers. Plans are generally built on an in-patient and day-patient core. Out-patient consultations and tests, medical evacuation and repatriation, and modules such as dental, maternity, mental health and routine checks are each a tier or an option, placed differently by different insurers. Switch the same ones on everywhere, and ask which is core, which is a module, and which is unavailable on the tier being quoted.
- Limits. The overall annual limit, the out-patient limit and any limit per condition. Ask whether the out-patient limit is annual or per condition, and what else changes if you take a lower tier.
- Deductible and co-insurance. One deductible figure, and either no co-insurance or the same percentage with the same ceiling at every insurer. Ask whether the deductible applies per policy year or per claim, who you pay, hospital or insurer, and in what currency.
- Underwriting basis. Full medical underwriting, or a moratorium where an insurer offers one. Ask for the same basis everywhere, because a quote with a condition excluded and one with it loaded are not comparable, and get what has been excluded, loaded or declined in writing before you accept.
What the list leaves to other pages is deliberate: what UK insurers' own wording says about treatment abroad is set out in full on international cover for expats, and what moves the premium, input by input, is on what international health insurance costs.
If you would rather not put six questions to each insurer in turn, that is what a broker is for. Hand the job over through the form on this page: one specification, held constant, with the quotes set side by side. There is no charge for asking and it takes minutes.
Why your UK policy is not on the shortlist: Aviva, AXA and WPA side by side
The first candidate most people consider is the policy they already hold, and the three UK domestic wordings we have read on the point are the reason to cross it off. We hold one clause from each, all read 4 September 2026, and nothing from the rest of the three documents; the WPA one comes from a regulatory summary whose fuller wording sits in a separate policy guide. The clauses are quoted in full, in a table, on what international health insurance costs and again on international cover for expats, so here they are compared rather than repeated.
Aviva, in the Healthier Solutions terms and conditions (April 2025 issue, page 24), does not pay for treatment outside the UK. One sentence, no option and no exception within the clause we hold. A caution attaches to it: Aviva's own site now carries a later issue of the same document, dated March 2026 and observed on 9 October 2026, which we have not re-checked. What is described here is the April 2025 wording, and it may no longer be the current one.
AXA Health, in the Personal Health membership handbook (October 2024, page 30), draws the line in a different place and then adds a second line. Its exclusion names the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man alongside the UK as inside the territory, where Aviva's clause says "the UK" and we have not read how that document defines the term. Then it adds a limb the Aviva sentence we hold does not contain: no costs for treatment are covered if you live outside the UK, which on its face bites whether the treatment happens abroad or here on a visit, so a member who has moved is paying for nothing. Whether Aviva's document deals with residence elsewhere, we cannot say.
WPA is the odd one out, because the clause we hold is an option rather than an exclusion. Its Insurance Product Information Document for Complete Health (November 2025, page 1) offers Overseas Emergency Treatment at two levels: up to 35 days per trip with a maximum of 180 days and £250,000, or up to 70 days per trip with a maximum of 180 days and £500,000. It excludes the USA and its dependencies and winter sports resorts. Read the nouns. Emergency, trip, days: it is cover for being taken ill while away and coming home, with the United States left out altogether. It is not cover for living somewhere.
So the plain comparison. Two of the three are exclusions and one is a trip option. AXA's is the only one of the three that mentions where you live. WPA's is the only one that pays anything abroad, and only in an emergency, for a counted number of days per trip, and not in the USA. None of the three is international health insurance, and three clauses cannot tell you what else these insurers sell: whether WPA or Aviva offers an international product of its own is not something we have established, and their absence from this page is not an answer. If you hold one of these policies, ask the insurer in writing when cover ends on a move and whether it can transfer you to an international product, and read the reply before you cancel anything.
Best for where you are going: match the area of cover to the map
The destination changes the question less than you would expect. Mauritius, Bali, Lithuania, Ethiopia, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, "Europe only", "Asia", several countries at once: the answer for each has the same shape, which is why area of cover is the first item in the list above and the first filter on any shortlist.
Three questions sort it. Which area does the country fall into on each insurer's map? Insurers draw their regions differently, and a country can sit in a wider area with one insurer than with another, which changes what you are quoted for the same place. What does private treatment look like where you will actually live? Where the local hospitals cannot do much, evacuation is the benefit that earns its keep and belongs in the core; the plan with the best in-patient terms is not the best plan if it will not move you. And will you cross the edge of the area? A plan for Europe that gives no emergency cover on a fortnight in Asia is a gap you chose rather than one you were given.
Two more for particular readers. If you will spend time in the United States, or could be treated there, the United States has to be inside the area, and the cost page sets out what including it does to a quote. And if a residence visa requires proof of health insurance, the minimum is set by the consulate and not by the insurer, so the best plan for that purpose is the one that meets the requirement in writing.
The UK itself is a case. Someone in London asks for international health insurance either because they are leaving, and the UK matters as the place they will come back to for visits and perhaps for treatment, or because they are from abroad and living here and want cover that travels with them rather than a UK policy that stops at the border. On many plans the UK sits inside the area of cover, sometimes with a cap on days a year in the home country, and that is worth confirming. The NHS is a different question, one of residence rather than insurance, with its own page on international cover for UK citizens.
Comparison sites, insurers' quote tools and a broker: what each can compare
"Compare international health insurance" can mean three quite different exercises, so it is worth being exact about what each route to a comparison actually compares.
A comparison site compares the providers that list on it, on the fields its form asks for. That is useful for a first look at who is in the market. What it cannot do is hold the six things above constant across insurers whose tiers and modules carry different names, or tell you what else moved when a cheaper tier came back with a lower out-patient figure. Treat the result as a list of names to question rather than a ranking.
An insurer's own quote tool asks for everything, but for one insurer at a time and in that insurer's vocabulary, so comparing three of them means translating three sets of tier names into one specification yourself. It is a perfectly good route if you already know which company you want, and going direct is always open to you.
A broker asks once, builds the specification and puts it to several international insurers, which is the comparison this page has been describing. The broker reached through the form on this page is FCA-authorised; this site is not, it gives no advice, and the broker does not cover the whole market. What you get is a set of quotes on the same terms with the differences explained, and the decision stays yours.
Questions people ask before they choose
Is there such a thing as international health insurance?
Yes, and it is a separate product from both UK private medical insurance and travel insurance: an annual policy that pays for private treatment in a chosen area of the world, written against the country you live in, and sold by international specialists and by the international arms of some UK insurers. The insurers a UK buyer tends to meet are named on the cost page.
Is an emergency-only or in-patient-only plan enough?
These are two different things and only one of them is international health insurance. Cover that pays only in an emergency, counted in days per trip, is a travel benefit, and the WPA option above is that shape. An in-patient-only international plan is a real plan, paying when you are admitted and for little else, so whether it is enough depends on what out-patient care costs where you will live.
Can I buy international health insurance for two weeks, a trip or a short stay?
What you want for a fortnight is travel insurance, which is trip-based, emergency-only and priced accordingly. International health insurance is written for a year at a time, for someone living outside the country that would otherwise treat them; cover for trips has its own page on international cover while travelling.
Which international health insurance is best for pregnancy, and is there any with no waiting period?
Maternity is usually a module rather than part of the core, and on many plans it carries a waiting period before you can claim; a plan with none is something to ask each insurer for in writing, not something we can point to, because we hold no international wording on it. If you are already pregnant when you apply, expect the insurer to treat the pregnancy as a condition you had before the policy started.
What about pre-existing conditions, cancer treatment or dialysis?
Ongoing treatment of a condition you already have is the hardest thing to get an insurer to take on, and abroad there is no NHS underneath the policy: expect an exclusion, sometimes a loading, occasionally a decline, and compare insurers on which of those they offer rather than on price. Declare everything, because an undisclosed condition found at claim time can void the policy. The detail is on international cover with a pre-existing condition.
Is there a best international plan for digital nomads or people living in several countries?
The difficulty is not the cover but the country of residence, which an ordinary international plan is written against and which a nomad may not have. Some insurers will write a policy for that case; some will not. Tell the insurer at the outset that you move between countries, and ask how the plan counts time in the UK.
What is best for study abroad, or for a single year?
One year is the ordinary term of an international policy, so a year abroad is not a special case. If the move is for study, check first whether the university or the visa sets a minimum level of cover, because that requirement decides the shortlist before any comparison does, and some institutions run plans of their own.
Does being a US citizen, a European or a foreigner change which plan is best?
International plans are written on where you live, not on your passport, so nationality changes little by itself. What it changes is where you might want to be treated: a US citizen who wants the option of going home for treatment is back at the area-of-cover question above, and a European who will keep visiting family needs Europe inside the area.
Does WPA sell international health insurance?
The documents we hold do not settle that. All we hold from WPA is the November 2025 product information document for its Complete Health policy, whose overseas clause is the trip option set out above. Whether WPA offers an international product as well is a question for WPA.
What is "AXA Best Doctors"?
We have not been able to establish this from the documents we hold; the only AXA document we have read is the UK Personal Health membership handbook, whose overseas clause excludes treatment abroad. If the phrase is what brought you here, ask AXA what it is, and ask whether what you are being offered is a UK policy or an international one, because on the wording we hold they are different things.
How much is international health insurance a month?
We will not give a figure, because this site holds no premium data and any monthly number here would be invented. What moves an international premium, and roughly in what order, is set out on what international health insurance costs; the only monthly figure worth trusting is a quote for your own specification.
The next step is not another list. Fill in the form on this page, give your destination, your household and the six choices above, and the broker can come back with one specification priced at several international insurers: the only kind of "best" this page can honestly point you to.