Insights from our latest Global Intermediary Advisory Board

We’ve just hosted the latest edition of our Global Intermediary Advisory Board (GIAB), where we bring senior intermediary partners together with our Bupa Global leaders to examine the pressures and opportunities shaping International Private Medical Insurance (IPMI). Find out what we discussed below.

To help frame this discussion, Dr Robin Clark, Medical Director at Bupa Global, shared early findings from our Global Healthcare Insights Report which is launching November 2025.

Setting the scene

“The population is getting older and more overweight. By 2030, we’re expecting one in six people to be more than 60 years of age, and we’ve already got around one billion people globally living with obesity.”

- Dr Robin Clark

Let’s start with some key findings from the Global Healthcare Insights Report which launches in November 2025. Changes in demographics and lifestyle is putting demand on IPMI. The global population is getting older and increasingly overweight, and these shifts are creating a fundamental change in healthcare.

We’re moving away from acute, short-term care towards more complex, ongoing care. People are living longer but living more years in ill health and with multiple chronic conditions.

This represents both challenges and opportunities for everyone. Healthcare systems must find a balance between delivering personalised and innovative care and maintaining affordability and sustainability.

Theme 1: Wellbeing prevention and digital experience

Prevention has to feel relevant, not generic. We heard that anything we do around wellbeing, screening and prevention only works if it’s genuinely personalised to the individual and to the market or region. There is a need for greater transparency around investment in prevention, showing where it delivers measurable value for clients and members.

Shift from “risk management” to “engagement and behaviour change”. We agreed that prevention has always been framed around reducing risk and claims. This needs to evolve into helping people change behaviour, stay well and stay engaged.

Digital is the bridge. We heard that digital capability is fundamental in meeting customers where they are, and making prevention convenient and accessible. The growing role of connected tools and wearable data is turning information into action.

Theme 2: Flexibility of proposition and pricing

Data must sit alongside pricing. We agreed the need for real-time, accessible data that can be shared with clients. Having up-to-date evidence alongside pricing conversations will be key to supporting longer-term models.

Flexibility needs to be tangible. We discussed that clients are increasingly asking for selective networks, directed care and virtual triage models to improve outcomes and manage spend. We need to move away from simply downgrading benefits or adding co-pays to lower costs over time.

The 12-month renewal cycle is limiting progress. The value of annual pricing was questioned. A one-year horizon can make it difficult to manage long-term outcomes and often turns renewals into pricing debates. There was a strong interest in exploring multi-year and risk-sharing models where both sides commit and benefit.

Theme 3: Data, analytics and personalisation

We’re past ‘more data’. Now we need the ‘so what?’. The challenge isn’t access to data, but the interpretation of it. Intermediaries want to be able to sit with clients and turn that data into actionable insights.

Link insight to action. We talked about joining up claims data with what customers see on the ground, and using this to guide next steps on pricing, network choices and preventive treatments.

Genomics and predictive analytics are the next frontier. There was optimism about the potential of genomic testing and predictive modelling to personalise care and manage risk earlier. We agreed that responsibly using genomics data could deliver significant benefits for both customers and insurers.

Critical to the future of IPMI

“Just paying the claim isn’t enough anymore. We have to be far more proactive, using data, insight and partnership to deliver better outcomes.”

- Anthony Cabrelli, Managing Director, Bupa Global

Across all conversations, three themes emerged as critical to the future.

1. Personalisation: Whether through tailored reporting, flexible propositions or region-specific wellbeing approaches, relevance to the client, market and member is what creates value.
2. Prevention: Shifting from reactive claims management toward sustained health engagement. Prevention should be practical, data-driven and demonstrate clear impact on outcomes, cost and experience.
3. Proactivity: Using data, genomics and predictive analytics to identify trends, recommend interventions and manage risk collaboratively with intermediaries, rather than responding after the fact.

What’s next?

We’re looking forward to continuing the conversation into 2026. We’ll keep you updated on future changes to our propositions as well as further conversations with intermediary partners.