Health insurance for retirees abroad

Retiring abroad on a long-stay visa starts with proving you can support yourself and cover your own healthcare. France's long-stay visitor visa, Spain's non-lucrative visa, Portugal's D7 and Greece's FIP route are the classic retirement paths, and each asks for proof of private health insurance with the application. Italy's elective residence visa is the retirement route for Italy, with its own paperwork and its own timeline.

Consulates want a policy that covers the whole length of stay, meets a minimum coverage level, and is issued before your appointment date. Sorting out insurance too late is a common cause of stalled retirement visa files. The visa insurance requirements guide and the Italy retirement visa page break down what each consulate tends to ask for.

Beyond the visa application form, a typical consulate checklist wants a schedule of benefits showing the coverage limits, a certificate confirming the policy is active for the length of your stay, and proof that the policy meets a minimum coverage figure. Several countries anchor their minimum to the €30,000 Schengen-derived standard, though published consulate checklists vary, so it is worth confirming the figure your specific consulate lists before you submit anything.

Two honesty points matter here. Pre-existing conditions are not covered, including conditions you did not know about, so disclose your health history in full when you apply. This is not travel insurance, and it will not stand in for a short-term travel policy on a holiday. The visa insurance checklist and the pre-existing conditions guide walk through what to gather before your appointment.

US Medicare does not cover routine treatment outside the United States, and the NHS works on residency, not citizenship, so stepping off a plane in Europe does not carry NHS access with you either. Once you give up UK residency to retire abroad, routine GP visits, hospital care and prescriptions in your new country fall outside both systems unless you have arranged private cover.

Cover through the visa route is worldwide but excludes treatment in the United States, so a return trip home for a procedure would not be covered by this policy. That trade-off matters if you plan to split time between countries or keep a home in the US or UK. The Medicare abroad guide, the Spain expat health insurance page and the France visitor visa page cover the country-specific detail.

Premiums are driven mostly by age and the level of cover you choose. On the Essential level, a policy for one adult runs $1,731 per year at age 65, $2,191 at 70, $3,528 at 75 and $5,681 at 80. Moving up a level costs more: Major Medical at 65 runs $3,180 per year, and Fully Comprehensive at 65 runs $8,646 per year. Prices are per person per year on annual billing from the 2026 rate card; your exact rate depends on age.

• Essential: entry-level cover built around the visa minimum, priced by age band.
• Major Medical: broader inpatient and outpatient benefits than Essential.
• Fully Comprehensive: the widest benefit set, including higher limits across categories.

See the pricing page for the full rate card across every age band and level, or start a quote to get a number for your exact age.

Every cover level has a cutoff age for new applicants, and that cutoff is not the same across levels. Applying while you are younger keeps every level open to you and gives you a choice between Essential, Major Medical and Fully Comprehensive. Wait a few years and the field narrows, sometimes to a single level, so timing a retirement visa application around your birthday is worth thinking through before the paperwork stage.

This is especially important for people applying for a long-stay visa in their late sixties or seventies, when a delay of even a year or two can close off a level you were counting on. If you are weighing when to apply, it is worth checking eligibility for your age before you commit to a moving date. The cover for over 55s page and the quote page can confirm what is open to you now.

We are an insurance introducer, not the insurer. We arrange cover through a partner insurer, and our role is to match your age, destination and visa route to the right level and get you an accurate quote. There is no cost and no obligation to using the service, and you can compare the quote against anything else you are considering before deciding.

Once you submit your details, a member of the team calls to walk through the quote, confirm what the policy does and does not cover, and answer questions about the visa paperwork side of things. Bring your target visa, your planned move date and any existing health conditions to the call so the quote reflects your situation accurately. Start with the policy check or go straight to request a quote.