What is included in Aviva health insurance depends on the options sitting on the policy, so the decision behind this search is less "is Aviva any good" than "which Aviva set-up am I being shown". Below are Aviva medical insurance benefits from its policy wording, sorted into lines the wording attaches to an event such as a hospital stay or a cancer diagnosis, benefits it ties to a lettered option, and choices that take cover back out. A broker can price Aviva with the options you want beside other insurers, on matching settings. Asking is done by leaving your details in the page's form; there is no charge. If it is discounts or a gym offer you were after, Aviva health insurance: discounts and offers has them.
Which issue of Aviva's terms is this?
Every Aviva line here comes from the Healthier Solutions terms and conditions published by Aviva Health UK Limited, in the March 2026 issue (print code AV1590050_GEN6842_0326), downloaded directly from Aviva on 21 October 2026. The one exception is the charity-nurse donation under the cancer heading, which is quoted from the April 2025 issue (print code AV1207200_GEN6842_0425, read on 4 September 2026 from a copy on an intermediary's website) because the March 2026 issue words it differently. The newer PDF is for policies that began or were renewed before 1 November 2026, so cover taken out or renewed later may follow a revised issue; set these lines beside the wording issued with your quote, and ask a broker to go through any differences when they ring back, free.
Every page number below is a page of the PDF. The number printed on the page is two lower, so page 19 of the PDF is the page printed as 17.
This page picks out lines from those terms; it is not a benefit schedule, a brochure or a certificate, and the papers that come with your own quote are the ones that bind you.
How Aviva's wording separates what is included from what is chosen
Nearly every Aviva line below comes with a condition, and a column of tick marks would not show it. The lines fall into three groups.
- Lines attached to an event. Private ambulance, home nursing and short-term kidney dialysis are each linked to treatment in hospital, and the cancer benefits to a cancer diagnosis and the treatment that follows. The hospice donation row is grouped here too, although its row names no trigger. None of these clauses names an option letter.
- Benefits tied to a lettered option. The wording places GP-referred physiotherapy, chiropractic, osteopathy and acupuncture under option D, and dental and optical benefits under option E.
- Choices that narrow or remove cover. Reduced out-patient cover with C2, the reduced out-patient limits, the £0 limit, the six week option and the hospital option do not add a benefit; each changes when or whether the lines above pay.
Which lines are in every Aviva policy and which are paid for as extras is settled by the schedule that comes with a quote, so request that before anything else. Three of the rows carry an asterisk, hospice donation, the NHS cash benefit and speech therapy for children, each pointing to a footnote, so the first group is "lines whose wording names no option", not "lines everyone gets"; a broker can explain what each asterisk means for the policy you are quoted, free, on the call-back.
Extras around a hospital stay
These are the lines most readers mean by "additional benefits".
| Benefit | What the wording says | Page of the PDF |
|---|---|---|
| Private ambulance | Travel "to the nearest available facility" if it is needed with covered in-patient or day-patient treatment, "you travel between hospitals as part of your treatment", and it is "medically necessary for you to travel by ambulance" | 15 |
| Home nursing | "In full. Immediately following treatment as an in-patient or day-patient that is covered by the policy." | 5 |
| Hospice donation | "£70 each day, up to 10 days" | 5 |
| Short-term kidney dialysis | Three cases: regular dialysis needed during an admission for another eligible condition, secondary kidney failure arising during eligible in-patient treatment, or immediately before or after an in-patient kidney transplant | 22 |
| External prosthesis | "following surgery for cancer", up to £5,000 "towards the cost of purchasing the first prosthesis after your surgery", fitting included | 19 |
All from the March 2026 issue of the Healthier Solutions terms, read 21 October 2026.
The ambulance clause joins three conditions with "and", so a claim has to meet all of them: a link to covered in-patient or day-patient treatment, a transfer from one hospital to another, and medical need for an ambulance. Whether a journey from home is paid for depends on the policy, so ask. For home nursing, the timing is what counts: the line follows straight on from covered in-patient or day-patient treatment, and nursing that starts later is not what it describes. Hospice donation is a payment of £70 a day for up to ten days, and the asterisk beside it points to a footnote to read on your own copy. The row does not say who the donation goes to or what sets it off.
The prosthesis line is easy to over-read. The cap of £5,000 applies to external prostheses "following surgery for cancer", the examples given are arms, legs, breasts and ears, and it contributes to the first prosthesis only. It is not a prosthesis benefit after surgery in general. Dialysis is similarly narrow: each of the three cases is tied to an in-patient admission or a transplant.
Each of these triggers is a question about the schedule on your own quote. A broker can ask Aviva which of these rows appear on the quote in front of you, alongside the same rows from other insurers.
Cancer cover, line by line
Aviva's cancer wording runs to many separate lines, and each one has its own terms, so this section is arranged by what each line pays for. How cancer cover compares across insurers is on Private health insurance: cancer cover; this section stays on Aviva.
The treatment itself
Chemotherapy and radiotherapy are each paid in full, provided the treatment happens at a hospital the member's hospital option covers (pages 18 and 20). That ties both treatments to the hospital option on the quote. Hormone therapy is paid for "if you need it to shrink a tumour before you have surgery or radiotherapy" (page 18). During chemotherapy or radiotherapy, the wording pays for "treatment prescribed by your specialist that you need to deal with the side effects", with antibiotics, anti-sickness drugs, steroids, pain killers, drugs to boost the immune system and blood transfusions given as examples (page 20). And where a member has chosen an out-patient monetary limit of £0, £500 or £1000, the limit is stated not to apply to cancer treatment received after diagnosis (page 17), a clause that the cost page reads in full.
Recovery and what follows surgery
Several lines cover what comes after the operation. Consultations immediately following surgery are paid for, with a dietician, a stoma nurse and a nurse showing the member how to manage lymphoedema as examples (page 19). Where cancer or its treatment leaves someone unable to eat properly, the wording pays for "the insertion and replacement of a tube", naming a central line, PICC line or PEG; the nutrition itself is paid while the member is in hospital for cancer treatment, but "once your cancer treatment has finished we will no longer pay for the nutrition itself, or maintenance of the line" (page 19). A wig is paid up to £100 where hair loss is caused by cancer treatment (page 21). For an implant fitted after cancer treatment, removal and replacement at the end of its lifespan is paid, "providing you were covered under the policy when the cancer treatment took place and you have had no break in cover since then" (page 22).
Two lines run on for longer. Preventive surgery is paid for "only if you have already had treatment for cancer that we have paid for", the example given being a mastectomy to a healthy breast after a diagnosis in the other (page 19). And ongoing medical needs such as regular replacement of tubes, drains or stents are paid for up to five years after the cancer treatment has finished, as long as the person is still a member of the policy (page 19).
Home care and daily payments
Where a member stays at home but a nurse from a registered charity visits, the April 2025 issue says Aviva will "donate £50 a day to one charity for each day they need to be with you, up to the £10,000 limit" (page 18). The March 2026 issue rewords that sentence on the same page, paying "that charity" and ending "up to a combined £10,000 limit", so check which version your own policy carries. Two further lines pay £100: for each day of intravenous chemotherapy at home, and for each week of oral chemotherapy drugs taken at home (page 19). The clause does not name the benefit those payments belong to, so what else must be true before they are made depends on the rest of the policy.
One more £100 line reads two ways, so the words are set out in full:
"We will pay £100 for each day you: • receive out-patient radiotherapy, chemotherapy or blood transfusions • undergo out-patient surgical procedures"
— Aviva, Healthier Solutions terms and conditions (March 2026 issue), page 19 of the PDF (numbered 17 in print), read 21 October 2026.
It sits among the cancer benefit terms and does not name the benefit it belongs to. It can be read as the out-patient rate of a cash payment made when the treatment is taken on the NHS, or as a daily payment for out-patient cancer treatment however it is funded. Which reading applies matters: the question for Aviva is whether the £100 is paid when the out-patient treatment is privately funded as well, and a broker can take both that and the home-payment conditions up with Aviva on your behalf, free, once they phone back.
The lettered options: D for therapies, E for dental and optical
The wording ties some benefits to a letter, and a quote can include a lettered option or leave it out. Option D is the therapies option. Its row reads, in part, "Claims for the benefits in option D will not affect your no claim discount", then lists "GP referred treatment by" a physiotherapist, chiropractor, osteopath or acupuncturist, "Up to 10 sessions in combined total", "For each member, each condition, every policy year" (page 10). Separately, a therapies benefit term covers "up to ten sessions in combined total (for example five physiotherapy sessions and five osteopathy sessions) each policy year on referral from a GP for each separate condition" (page 16). Both speak of ten sessions in combined total each policy year on GP referral, but the page 16 term does not mention option D, so confirm with Aviva which term governs the option. A practitioner-fees line may also bear on what is paid: it covers fees "such as physiotherapists, osteopaths, psychiatric therapists" only "up to the limits in our fee schedule" (page 14), so ask to see that schedule.
Therapy a specialist refers you for is dealt with separately. Where a member has chosen either reduced out-patient cover with selected benefit reduction (C2) or reduced out-patient cover at a £0 limit with selected benefit reduction, the page 16 wording says there is no cover for specialist referred treatment by these four practitioners "in any circumstances"; What private health insurance includes quotes it in full. That clause is about specialist referral; it does not mention option D or the GP-referred sessions. Under an "Additional benefits" heading on page 6 there is also a line for "GP referred treatment by a speech therapist for children*", "Up to 2 speech therapy sessions", "For each child covered by the policy", with a footnote worth reading on your own copy.
Option E is the dental and optical option. On page 10, "Claims for the benefits in option E will not affect your no claim discount", and the rows read "Treatment by a dentist of an accidental dental injury Up to £600", "Routine dental treatment Up to £250" and "Optical benefit Up to £150". A separate clause on page 11 says "Routine dental treatment and optical benefit each have an excess of £50". For the dental clauses themselves, see Aviva dental cover; how benefit limits work in general is on Private health insurance benefit limits explained.
Choices that take lines out, and where the NHS comes in
Some of what a quote contains is a decision to give something up. The reduced out-patient limits of £500 and £1,000 are a combined limit on a group of out-patient benefits (page 7), and a separate clause says that with either one "you are not covered as an in-patient, day-patient, or out-patient for treatment for: complications of pregnancy and childbirth, or surgical procedures on the teeth performed in a hospital" (page 8). At the £0 limit, "we do not cover treatment as an out-patient, including consultations and diagnostic tests" (page 24). Both are set out, with the price direction, on Aviva health insurance: what it costs.
Two lines bring the NHS in. One is the NHS cash benefit, "£100 each night, up to 30 nights", marked with an asterisk pointing to a footnote (page 5). The other is the six week option. If it is on the policy and NHS treatment is available inside six weeks from the date the specialist recommends it, the clause rules out claims for private in-patient and day-patient treatment, for the NHS cash benefit and the NHS cancer cash benefit, and for an NHS amenity bed (page 11). What the option saves is a matter for the quote. The discounts and offers page follows how the two lines meet, the Aviva cost page quotes the full clause, and Private health insurance versus the NHS weighs the private route against the NHS one.
The three groups at a glance
| Group | Lines covered here | Pages of the PDF | Settle before you buy |
|---|---|---|---|
| Attached to an event | Private ambulance, home nursing, hospice donation, short-term kidney dialysis, external prosthesis after cancer surgery, fifteen cancer clauses | 5, 15, 19, 22; cancer 17 to 22 | That each row is on your schedule, and what sets it off |
| Tied to a lettered option | Option D therapies (up to 10 sessions); option E dental and optical | 10; dental and optical excess 11; separate therapies term 16 | Whether D or E is on the quote at all |
| Narrows or removes | C2, reduced out-patient limits, £0 limit, six week option, hospital option | 7, 8, 11, 16, 24; hospital option 18, 20 | Which of them the price assumes, and what each took out |
The Healthier Solutions terms, March 2026 issue; the middle column is a selection, not everything in Aviva's policy.
The right-hand column is the useful one, because the same Aviva name can sit on two quotes that are not the same cover. A broker can price those same options at Aviva and at other insurers and show you the results side by side, and the form here is where that starts.
How other insurers word the same lines
A benefit with the same label can be a different promise from one insurer to the next: a private ambulance, home nursing or a hospice donation elsewhere may be set off by something other than Aviva's conditions. The pairings, with each insurer's own wording, are on What private health insurance includes, which is the page to read if you are comparing rather than reading Aviva alone.
Questions about what Aviva includes
What is included in Aviva health insurance?
Aviva's terms set out lines tied to an event (a hospital stay, a cancer diagnosis), two lettered options (D for therapies, E for dental and optical) and choices that cut cover back, such as C2 and the six week option. Which of them are on every policy is down to the schedule on your own quote, and that decides what you actually get.
Does Aviva health insurance include a gym membership or discounts?
Whether Aviva offers them depends on the policy and on Aviva's offers at the time. Aviva health insurance: discounts and offers covers what people search for and what would have to be written down to prove it.
Does Aviva private medical insurance cover cancer?
Aviva's March 2026 terms have a section of cancer benefit terms covering chemotherapy, radiotherapy, side-effect treatment, recovery lines and home payments, each with conditions, as set out above. Chemotherapy and radiotherapy are paid in full where the treatment is at a hospital covered under the hospital option (pages 18 and 20), so check that option first.
Is private ambulance included?
Aviva's March 2026 wording covers it, but only for travel between hospitals as part of covered in-patient or day-patient treatment, where travelling by ambulance is medically necessary (page 15). Ask whether the line is on your schedule.
Are dental and optical benefits included?
The wording places them under option E, with up to £600 for an accidental dental injury, up to £250 for routine dental treatment and up to £150 for optical (page 10). Whether E is on a given quote is a question for the quote.
How does the NHS affect what Aviva pays?
Two lines bear on it: an NHS cash benefit of £100 each night, up to 30 nights (page 5), and the six week option (page 11). Where the six week option is on the policy and NHS treatment is available inside six weeks of the specialist's advice to treat, neither private in-patient or day-patient treatment nor the NHS cash benefit can be claimed. Check whether your quote carries the option, because it can stop the cash line paying.
Is there an Aviva health insurance benefits brochure?
A brochure summarises; the policy terms and your schedule are what bind. Ask Aviva for the benefit table and schedule for the policy you are being quoted, and the issue date of its terms, or ask a broker for them when they ring back, free.
Your next move is to list the options you want to see on the quote: an excess, an out-patient limit, whether D or E should be on, and the hospital option. Then put them to the broker through the page's form, with Aviva beside at least one other insurer, set up identically.