Health Insurance Renewal: What to Check Before You Renew
Your renewal notice has arrived. Here is what happens at renewal, why the premium has changed, what to check before you accept it, and when switching insurer does — and does not — make sense.
Trusted by clients across the UK — Operated by My Health Protected Ltd, an FCA-authorised firm (FRN 785132)
What Happens When Private Health Insurance Renews?
Private medical insurance in the UK is normally an annual contract. Shortly before your renewal date your insurer issues renewal terms, setting out the cover for the coming year and the premium. From there you can accept the terms, adjust the policy — the excess, hospital list or outpatient limits, for example — or look at what other insurers would offer. Whether the policy renews automatically depends on your provider, your payment arrangement and your policy terms.
Does Health Insurance Renew Automatically?
Often, but not always. Many UK policies are set up to roll over automatically on the renewal date, particularly where the premium is collected by monthly direct debit. Others need you to confirm before cover continues. Your renewal notice should say which applies to you and show the new premium. If you are not sure, check with your insurer or broker before the renewal date rather than after it.
Automatic renewal is convenient, and for many people it is the right outcome. The point of a review is not to move for the sake of it — it is to make the decision deliberately, with the renewal terms in front of you, rather than by default. If your renewal is approaching, start a free health insurance review and see how your current policy compares.
Why Premiums Change at Renewal
Several things move the price. You are a year older, and private medical insurance is priced by age. Medical inflation — the cost of consultations, scans, drugs and hospital care — tends to run ahead of general inflation. Your claims history and, on some products, the insurer’s wider claims experience can feed into the price, and insurers periodically reprice whole products. Broader UK market data is published by the Association of British Insurers.
An increase is not in itself evidence that a policy is poor value, and a small increase does not mean there is nothing worth checking. Pricing varies between insurers and can change at different rates, so the useful question is not “has it gone up?” but “is this a sensible price for this cover, at my age and in my circumstances?” It is worth checking whether the renewal remains competitive, whatever the size of the change.
What to Check on Your Renewal Notice
The premium, and what moved with it
Compare the new premium with last year’s, then check whether anything else changed at the same time. A higher excess, a different hospital list or a change to outpatient limits can explain or offset a price movement. See what UK cover typically costs by age.
Whether the cover still fits
Circumstances change. A new job with a workplace scheme, a change in family situation, a move to a different part of the country, or a shift in what you actually use can all change what level of cover makes sense.
The details people skip
Hospital list, outpatient limit, excess, therapies and mental health cover, and any personal exclusions on your policy. These decide what actually happens when you claim, and they are far easier to change at renewal than mid-year.
Your underwriting basis
Whether you are on moratorium or full medical underwriting matters if you ever consider moving insurer, because it affects the terms another insurer is able to offer you. It is worth knowing before you start comparing.
Should I Switch Health Insurance at Renewal?
Not automatically. Switching can reduce cost or improve how well the cover fits, but it is not always the right move. What matters is your underwriting position, whether you have ongoing or planned treatment, your claims history, and whether another insurer will offer acceptable terms at all. For some people the existing insurer remains the most suitable option, and staying put is a perfectly legitimate outcome of a review.
Switching Insurer and Your Medical History
This is the part that carries real risk, and where general advice online is most often wrong. Moving insurer does not automatically carry your existing cover across with you.
Continued Personal Medical Exclusions (CPME)
Where an insurer offers CPME — sometimes called switch underwriting — it may accept you on broadly the terms you already hold, carrying over your existing personal exclusions rather than re-underwriting you from scratch. It is not universal. Availability depends on the insurer, on the type of policy you are moving from and to, and on whether you meet that insurer’s eligibility criteria, and the terms finally offered may differ from your current ones.
Continued moratorium
If your current policy is written on moratorium underwriting, some insurers will let you carry over the moratorium period you have already served rather than restart it. Again, this depends on the insurer and on meeting its criteria.
What that means in practice
You will normally need to make a medical declaration, the exclusions applied to a new policy may not be identical to your existing ones, and continued cover for a condition you have now is not guaranteed. The safe sequence is straightforward: do not cancel your existing policy until the new insurer has confirmed its underwriting terms in writing and you are satisfied they are acceptable.
When switching may not be appropriate
If you are mid-treatment, have a claim open, are waiting for a procedure to be authorised, or have had significant recent medical history, moving insurer can interrupt cover for precisely the thing you need it for. In those situations, reviewing the policy with your existing insurer is often the better route. My Health Protected, the FCA-authorised broker that operates this site, advises on switching cover and on when staying put is the better option.
How to Review Your Renewal, Step by Step
- Find your renewal date and give yourself a few weeks before it.
- Read the renewal notice properly — new premium, previous premium, excess, hospital list, limits and any exclusions.
- Note your underwriting basis, moratorium or full medical, and any personal exclusions on the policy.
- Decide what you actually need this year, rather than re-buying last year’s policy by default.
- Look at the options, including adjusting your existing policy as well as moving insurer. Compare providers and what separates them.
- Get underwriting terms in writing before cancelling anything.
If you would rather not work through that alone, review your health insurance with us. We will look at your current cover alongside options from a range of leading UK health insurers. If keeping your existing policy appears more suitable, we will explain why. If something better fits, we will show you exactly what it is and how it compares.
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