A group health insurance comparison works best insurer by insurer: Bupa, AXA Health, Aviva, Vitality and WPA each print their own rules on when medical history is set aside, how cover is built, how the excess works, whether renewal follows the firm’s claims and how families join. No scheme is best for every employer; headcount, staff ages and the cover you want decide it. The tables below set the five side by side, and prices sit on what group health insurance costs. Choosing the scheme that fits your staff list is the decision here, and an FCA-authorised broker able to set one brief before several insurers will ring you, free, once your name and number arrive by the form on this page.
Bupa, AXA Health, Aviva, Vitality and WPA group schemes compared
Numbers in square brackets point to the source list under the tables. “Confirm at quote” marks a setting to settle with the insurer, which a broker can ask for on the call-back at no charge.
| Insurer | Scheme and group size | Levels or building blocks |
|---|---|---|
| Bupa [1] | Small business health insurance, 2 to 249 employees | Three levels: Key, Enhanced, Complete. Out-patient consultations, therapies and diagnostic tests: £1,000 each year, £1,500 each year, paid in full. Over 300 partnership facilities (Key, Enhanced) or over 600 participating facilities (Complete); Guided Care also offered. |
| AXA Health [2] | Business Health and Business Protect, 1 to 249 employees | Options chosen one by one, such as Treatment, Diagnostics Only, Outpatient, Therapies, Mental Health, Extended Cover. Business Protect has a smaller list of hospitals and specialists than Business Health. |
| Aviva [3] | Solutions, 1 to 249 employees; Optimum, 100 or more | Core cover, then add benefits or reduce cover. Solutions core: acute conditions, cancer, musculoskeletal, mental health. Optimum offers three levels of cancer cover. |
| Vitality [4] | Small business health insurance, up to 249 employees; Corporate Healthcare, 100+ | Core cover plus added options, including Mental Health, Out-patient, Therapies, Optical, Dental and Hearing, and an Employee Assistance Programme. |
| WPA [5] | Enterprise Flexible Benefits, 2 to 14 staff; Precision Corporate Healthcare, 10 or more | Modular: health insurance, cash plan, LifeStage Health and dental can be mixed; each employee can have different benefits. |
| Insurer | Medical history disregarded | Excess | Partners and children | Claims-linked pricing |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bupa [1] | More than 15 people covered | Employees pay nothing each policy year, or a £100, £150, £200 or £500 excess | Can be added at an additional cost per person | Confirm at quote |
| AXA Health [2][6] | 15 employees or more | Per employee, for example £100, £250 or £500 | Group administrator can add family members at any point | Mid-Corporate plan, 65 to 250 employees: renewal rates held after the first 12 months of each two-year period if annual claims cost is below 75% of premium; rise at that renewal capped at 25% unless Biological Therapy claims are ongoing; half the difference back if claims are under 80% of premium over the two years [6] |
| Aviva [3] | Confirm at quote | Solutions: policy excess £50 to £500. Optimum: member excess is an option | Confirm at quote | Confirm at quote |
| Vitality [4] | Confirm at quote | Can be tailored with benefit options and hospital cover | Added or removed in Employer Zone; family status affects price | Over 100 employees: claims-rated plan through Corporate Healthcare |
| WPA [5] | Precision Corporate Healthcare: minimum 50 employees, or 25 on the version with heart and cancer declarations | Shared Responsibility, excess or a mix of the two, applied per member per scheme year | Can be added, with their own options and levels of cover | Group Deductible, with any unclaimed part reimbursed; Precision Analytics for schemes over 30 employees on cover |
- Bupa, Small business health insurance, Internet Archive copy of 19 September 2026.
- AXA Health, small business product and cost-management pages, read 22 October 2026.
- Aviva, business private medical insurance (Solutions) and corporate private medical insurance (Optimum), read 22 October 2026.
- Vitality, Small business health insurance, Internet Archive copy of 23 August 2026.
- WPA, Precision Corporate Healthcare Scheme Summary (effective from 1 October 2026) and the Enterprise Flexible Benefits page, read 22 October 2026.
- AXA Health, Advance Mid-Corporate Plan page, read 22 October 2026.
Read across a row before down a column: a scheme generous on one setting may be tighter on another, and the tables show what each insurer prints, not what it will offer your staff.
Medical history: where each insurer draws the headcount line
Bupa, AXA and WPA each print a minimum group size above which staff members’ past illnesses are no longer taken into account. Bupa will disregard medical history when more than 15 people are covered; AXA offers the option to firms covering 15 employees or more, and the cost page quotes both wordings. On WPA’s Precision Corporate Healthcare the option needs at least 50 employees, or 25 on the version with heart and cancer declarations, and the scheme summary describes it this way: "This option ignores all previous medical history and allows members to claim for conditions regardless of when the condition first occurred." A firm of exactly 15 therefore clears AXA’s line but not Bupa’s, and a firm of 30 clears WPA’s 25-employee line but not its 50.
Below the line, the choice is between declaring history and not. The same WPA summary describes full medical underwriting as a set of questions: "The member will be asked a number of questions to help us understand their medical and family history." On its moratorium basis the member does not have to give medical history details on application, and AXA and WPA both describe a clear period before an earlier condition may be covered. A firm moving from another insurer may be able to carry its old terms across, which AXA calls continuing medical exclusions and WPA calls Continued Moratorium or Continued Personal Medical Exclusions. Quotes written on different bases describe different cover, which is why how insurers treat pre-existing conditions is worth reading beside them.
Levels or building blocks, and where the excess lands
Bupa sells three fixed levels that differ in out-patient allowance and facility access, so compare level to level. AXA, Aviva, Vitality and WPA start from core cover and add or remove options, which means two quotes can carry the same product name and different contents. List the out-patient limit, hospital list, mental health and cancer cover for each quote; AXA describes the hospital and specialist list as the main difference between its two plans, and hospital lists explained shows how to check one.
The excess takes at least three forms. Bupa lets the firm choose whether employees pay nothing each policy year or an excess. On WPA’s Enterprise Flexible Benefits page, Shared Responsibility is a co-payment: WPA pays 75% to the treatment provider, then "We will then inform the employee of their share which they will need to pay themself." The page adds that "Shared Responsibility is applied per person, per Scheme year and not per claim." AXA states its excess per employee, and Aviva’s Solutions page calls its option a policy excess. A higher excess generally lowers the premium, as the excess explained sets out, so settle before signing whether staff or the company will carry it.
Claims-rated pricing: where it starts
Claims-rated means the price follows the group’s own claims. Vitality puts the starting point above 100 employees: "If your business has more than 100 employees and you want a plan where the price depends on your claims history (claims rated), please email us." Whether Bupa or Aviva lets a small group’s own claims shape its renewal price is something a broker can explain on the free call-back.
AXA Health’s Advance Mid-Corporate Plan, for 65 to 250 employees, shows the mechanism in numbers: "At the end of the first 12 months of each two-year period, we’ll hold your renewal rates as long as your annual claims cost is below 75% of your premium." Premium there means premium after intermediary commission and taxes. At that same renewal the rise is capped at 25%, but the cap does not apply if Biological Therapy claims are ongoing when the group moves across, which AXA confirms in writing within three months. If claims are under 80% of premium at the end of the two-year period, half the difference comes back. WPA’s Precision Analytics, for schemes with over 30 employees on cover, shows what is driving premium increases. Where quotes differ on this, compare what claims level triggers a larger rise, whether the rise is capped, and over how long.
Partners and children: four insurers’ rules
Bupa says partners or children can be covered for an additional cost per person. AXA lets the scheme administrator add family members at any point, and "Depending on the underwriting option chosen, the amendment to your policy can often be authorised over the phone." Vitality lists family status among its pricing factors and lets the employer add or remove family members online. WPA allows family members, each with their own options, with one condition: "Family member(s) on an employee’s scheme must have the same, or at least equivalent, level of underwriting as the employee."
Pricing the same staff list twice, with and without partners and children, shows what dependants add; a broker can price both versions once a short visit to the form on this page prompts the call.
Sole traders, new joiners and tiered cover
Can a one-person limited company or a sole trader buy a group scheme?
“LLC” is a US label; in the UK the question is about headcount. Bupa quotes from 2 employees, AXA, Aviva Solutions and Vitality from 1, and WPA’s Enterprise Flexible Benefits covers 2 to 14. AXA asks plans for one or two people to include Treatment or Diagnostics Only. For a sole trader with no staff, self-employed cover is the other route.
How do employees join, and who adds them?
The firm buys one scheme and each employee joins it as a member. At Vitality the employer adds and removes people through Employer Zone; at WPA, through its secure online portal.
What does a tiered group scheme look like?
One where cover differs by role or seniority. AXA Health publishes a 20-employee example in three categories, priced on the cost page, and WPA’s Precision summary suggests one category mixing health insurance, cash and dental benefits beside another that is purely cash plan or LifeStage Health.
Before the call, jot down your headcount, who you would add and which column of the second table matters most; that brief is what a broker can carry to more than one insurer when your short request by the form on this page comes in.