How much is private health insurance in Europe?

Searching for the price of private health insurance in Europe returns wildly different answers, and most of them are answering different questions. Some quote domestic private policies sold inside one country to its residents. Some quote travel or nomad policies sold by the month. Some quote international health insurance, which is the category built for people living outside their home country for a year or more.

This page is about the third. On our rate card that product is priced by region rather than by country, and all eight of our European destinations sit in the same EU region. So the honest answer is that the premium does not change when you move between them; what changes is everything around it.

Every country we cover runs a public health system, and in most cases you join it once you are resident and enrolled. Private international cover is not a verdict on the quality of those systems. It does two practical jobs.

The first is timing. Enrolment usually follows the residence permit rather than the plane, so there is a gap between arriving and being covered locally, and a visa file often has to show cover for that whole period in advance. The second is portability. An international policy travels with you between countries and on trips home, which a domestic policy tied to one national system does not.

Where a country-specific domestic product genuinely fits your case better, it is worth taking seriously. That is most likely when you are certain of one country for the long term and have no plans to move again.

These are our published 2026 rates, per person, per year, billed annually, starting at adult age 18.

• Essential Health, from $392 a year. Accident and emergency treatment in state hospitals only, and generally not enough on its own for a visa file.
• Major Medical, from $721 a year. Hospital cover: inpatient treatment, surgery and emergencies.
• Standard, from $1,133 a year. Adds everyday outpatient care, prescriptions and tests.
• Comprehensive, from $1,525 a year. Adds dental, wellbeing check-ups and family extras.
• Fully Comprehensive, from $1,906 a year. Full-cover private room and the largest limits.

Every figure is per person, per year, for the EU region, billed annually, starting at adult age 18. Your own price rises with age. Children aged 0 to 17 pay one flat rate per plan, so a family total is not five times an adult price.

These are entry points, not typical prices. Rates are set for each year of age, so the figure for a 45 year old is meaningfully higher than the figure for an 18 year old on the same tier. The full age-banded table is on what expat health insurance actually costs in 2026, and your own figure is on the pricing calculator.

The premium is the same across the eight. The rule you have to satisfy, the stage at which it is checked, and how the public system picks you up are not. Each page below covers one country's cost picture and the rule attached to it.

• Health insurance cost in France
• Health insurance cost in Italy
• Health insurance cost in Spain
• Health insurance cost in Portugal
• Health insurance cost in Greece
• Health insurance cost in Malta
• Health insurance cost in Germany
• Health insurance cost in Austria

Read the one you are moving to before you buy. A policy priced right and worded wrong still fails at the counter.

Pre-existing conditions are excluded, including conditions you did not know you had. Treatment is covered worldwide but excludes the United States. Evacuation and repatriation is an optional benefit at an additional premium rather than part of the prices above. Essential Health covers accident and emergency care in state hospitals only, which is why it is the cheapest line and generally not enough on its own for a visa file.

New applicants are accepted up to age 70, and up to age 80 on Essential Health. Policies run in 12-month terms and renew at the anniversary, priced on your age at that point.

The pricing calculator shows your household's exact 2026 figure by age and tier, and the comparison page shows what each tier buys before you decide how much cover you actually need.

If you want the rule for your destination checked against a policy first, our policy check reads it against the published requirement.