Bupa Global is the international arm of Bupa, providing international private medical insurance (IPMI) for expatriates and globally mobile people who live, work or travel across borders — it’s a different product from Bupa UK domestic private medical insurance. UK residents can hold Bupa Global cover (it’s available to people in the UK, EEA and elsewhere), but it’s designed for worldwide, borderless healthcare rather than simply getting treated privately within the UK. If you live in the UK and only want private treatment here, standard UK PMI is usually the more suitable and cheaper option; Bupa Global suits those who genuinely need international coverage.

They’re different products for different needs. Bupa UK is domestic private medical insurance giving access to private healthcare within the United Kingdom, priced and structured around UK treatment. Bupa Global is international private medical insurance (IPMI) offering worldwide cover for expats and globally mobile individuals, with features like international hospital networks and evacuation. Bupa Global is typically more expensive because it covers healthcare across countries, including potentially the US. If you’re settled in the UK, Bupa UK is usually the better fit; if you live or move abroad, Bupa Global’s international reach is the point. The two are separate policies, not tiers of one plan.

Bupa Global is individually underwritten and quoted, so there’s no single price, but international private medical insurance premiums typically range from around £180 to £950+ a month depending on your age, where you’re covered, the plan level and excess. The single biggest cost driver is whether cover includes the United States — adding US cover commonly increases premiums by 80–115% because of the exceptionally high cost of American healthcare. Because it’s bespoke, the only way to know your cost is a personalised quote. If you only need cover within the UK, domestic UK PMI is almost always significantly cheaper than a global plan.

Potentially yes, but it isn’t automatic — this is the single most important thing to get right. When moving from an international plan to UK domestic PMI, you’ll want to ask about continued personal medical exclusions (CPME) or a continuation basis, which can carry across cover for conditions that arose while you were insured, rather than treating them as new pre-existing exclusions. This is not guaranteed and depends on your circumstances, continuous cover history and the insurer’s terms at the time. The key is to arrange the transition deliberately — request continuity in writing before cancelling anything — rather than letting one policy lapse and starting the other from scratch, which risks losing that history.

You’ll change benefits rather than simply lose them, because the two products are built differently. You’ll give up worldwide cover, international hospital access and evacuation features you don’t need once settled in the UK — and in exchange gain a UK-focused plan that’s usually much cheaper and better matched to being treated here. The risks to manage are around continuity of cover for existing conditions and any gap between policies. Handled well — with continuity arranged and no lapse — a move to Bupa UK is usually a sensible downgrade in scope and cost for someone no longer living internationally, not a loss. Handled carelessly, you can lose valuable medical history.

It comes down to where you live and get treated. If you’re settled in the UK and want private treatment here, standard UK private medical insurance is usually the better and more cost-effective choice — Bupa Global’s international features are expensive and largely wasted if you’re not using them abroad. Bupa Global (or another international insurer) makes sense if you’re an expat, living or working abroad, or genuinely globally mobile and need borderless cover. A useful test: if a map of where you’ll need treatment fits inside the UK, choose UK PMI; if it spans countries, an international plan earns its cost. A broker who handles both can confirm the right fit.