Your renewal notice has arrived and the figure is higher than last year's. You can accept it, change the policy so the figure comes down, or move insurer. This page is for that decision, and the one thing in it that matters most is this: moving insurer normally means being underwritten again, and a condition that arose while you were insured can become pre-existing at the new insurer unless your existing terms are carried across. To have the renewal checked against what several other insurers would offer for the same cover, on your existing underwriting, fill in the form on this page and you will be put in touch with an FCA-authorised broker. It is free. You can also go direct to an insurer.
What this page answers
What happens at renewal, why the figure moves, what you can change without leaving, and what must be true before moving is safe. It quotes the policy wording we hold, from six insurers, and says where it is describing the general shape of the market instead. It quotes no premium: this site holds none, and the only renewal price that applies to you is on your notice. How a policy renews, as distinct from what it costs, has a page of its own.
What happens at renewal, and why the price moves
None of the wording we hold describes the renewal notice itself, so this is the general shape; your notice settles the specifics. The policy is an annual contract. Before the renewal date the insurer sends the new premium, normally with last year's beside it, and any change to the cover. Many policies renew automatically unless you say otherwise, and the notice gives the date by which to say so. Your underwriting does not change: renewing with the same insurer does not ordinarily mean new health questions, and a condition you were covered for stays covered. The rest of this page turns on that.
Four things usually make up a health insurance renewal premium increase, and the notice rarely separates them.
- Age. Premiums follow the likelihood of a claim, and you are a year older. Many insurers use age bands, so some birthdays move the figure more than others; no clause we hold states any insurer's bands.
- Claims. Where a policy carries a no-claims discount, a claim moves you down the scale. The Exeter's product summary names the mechanism: "A No Claims Discount, where you'll earn discounts on your premiums if you stay healthy and don't claim" (The Exeter, Health+ Insurance Product Information Document, October 2025, page 1, read 4 September 2026). Whether your policy has one is on your notice; we have not established which do.
- Medical inflation. The cost of private treatment rises and feeds into every premium on the insurer's book, claim or no claim. We hold no figure for it and would not trust a generic one.
- Changes to the product. An insurer can alter limits, the hospital list or the options at renewal, and the notice must say so. A price hike with a change to the cover underneath it is two changes, not one.
One more thing. The FCA's 2022 rule stopping an insurer charging a renewing customer more than a new one for the same policy applies, as we understand it, to home and motor insurance, not private medical insurance. Do not assume it protects you here; it does make "what would you quote a new customer for this cover?" a fair question.
The switching trap: a new insurer underwrites you again
A new insurer takes you on as a new customer, which means underwriting from the start. AXA Health's handbook lists the routes:
"(full medical underwriting) Continuing medical exclusions Medical history disregarded Moratorium. In the following panels, we've explained how each of these work"
— AXA Health, Personal Health membership handbook (October 2024), page 14, read 4 September 2026. The copy we read is hosted by an intermediary rather than by AXA; the four names are headings from a panel layout, which is why the clause reads as a list.
In general terms, since the handbook explains each in panels we have not read: full medical underwriting declares your history and lists specific exclusions; moratorium asks no questions but excludes recent conditions until you have gone a set period clear of them, the clock starting when you join; medical history disregarded is in general a company-scheme term; and continuing medical exclusions, more often called continued personal medical exclusions, CPME or switch terms, is where the new insurer takes over your existing underwriting instead of starting afresh.
The trap in the first three is the definition of a pre-existing condition, which runs from the start of the new policy, not from the day you first bought cover:
"A pre-existing condition is a medical condition you had before your cover under this policy started. We will not cover a medical condition, or a related condition, you had within the five-year period before your cover with us started unless we have agreed to cover that condition."
— Freedom Health Insurance, Freedom Elite Policyholder's Guide to Cover (April 2025), page 8, read 4 September 2026.
"Any conditions, special conditions, pre-existing conditions, moratorium conditions, conditions or symptoms, illnesses or injuries you had before your policy started aren't usually covered. If a special condition applies, we'll send a confirmation of special conditions to the main member"
— Bupa, Bupa By You policy guide (BINS 14718, 2024), page 11, read 4 September 2026.
Read "before your cover with us started" from the new insurer's side. A condition that first appeared this year, while you were insured and it was covered, is on those words one you had before the new policy started: declared and excludable under full medical underwriting, inside the look-back under a moratorium. The thing you most need cover for is the thing most likely to drop out. Freedom's wording gives the one way through: "unless we have agreed to cover that condition". That agreement is what switch terms are. Without it, whatever the new premium is, you have paid for it with the cover you most needed.
What the clauses do not settle: whether a given insurer will offer switch terms to you; what conditions it attaches, which in general can include no gap in cover, the same or a lower level of cover, and a time limit from leaving the old policy; and whether a condition being treated when you move comes across at all, since some transfers exclude one under active treatment. None of that is in wording we hold, so get the new insurer's answer in writing before you cancel anything.
This is where a broker earns the conversation: one can put your existing underwriting to several insurers at once and tell you which will take it across, and on what conditions, before you commit. The form on this page reaches one at no cost to you; an insurer will also answer directly if asked.
What you can change without leaving: the excess and out-patient limit, in the insurers' own words
The two things most policies let you change at renewal are the excess and the out-patient limit; in general a higher excess or a lower limit is the lever for a lower figure. By how much, only your insurer can say; none of the clauses below states it. What they do state is what each change does to a claim.
| Insurer and document | What the excess wording says | Page |
|---|---|---|
| Aviva, Healthier Solutions terms and conditions (April 2025 issue) | "Excess options £100 Benefits covered under this policy will be subject to an excess payable for each member every policy year. £200 £500 £1,000 £3,000 £5,000" | 11 |
| Bupa, Bupa By You policy guide (BINS 14718, 2024) | "Helen has some physiotherapy which costs £250. We pay Helen's physiotherapist £150 and we'll let Helen know that she needs to pay the physiotherapist £100 (which is the policy excess). If Helen needs other treatment during the policy year, she doesn't need to pay another excess." | 10 |
| Freedom Health Insurance, Freedom Elite Policyholder's Guide to Cover (April 2025) | "If this policy does have an excess, we will deduct this amount from the first valid invoice we receive and from any subsequent valid invoices until the excess has been fully applied. We will tell you when we have done this and you will then need to pay the excess amount to the relevant provider." | 31 |
| WPA, Complete Health Insurance Product Information Document (November 2025) | "Where an excess is chosen, you must pay your excess for eligible treatment up to your chosen level per Policy year before we provide benefit. Where Shared Responsibility (co-payment) has been selected, you must pay 25% of claims for eligible treatment up to your chosen level of Shared Responsibility." | 2 |
All four read 4 September 2026; one clause from each document on this point. The Aviva copy is hosted in an intermediary's document library rather than on Aviva's own site.
The excess on these policies is per policy year, not per claim, so raising it costs at most one extra payment in a bad year. Freedom's shows you pay it to the provider, not the insurer. WPA's Shared Responsibility is a different dial, a quarter of each eligible claim up to a ceiling you choose, and the only co-payment option in wording we hold. And an excess need not touch everything: "If you have a Direct Access phone or video assessment you won't need to pay an excess for it and the cost won't be subtracted from your outpatient benefit allowance (if either of these apply to your policy)." (Bupa, same guide, page 7.)
The out-patient limit is the other dial, and Aviva's wording shows what a lower one can carry with it:
"If you have chosen a reduced out-patient limit of £500 or £1,000 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"
— Aviva, Healthier Solutions terms and conditions (April 2025 issue), page 8, read 4 September 2026.
A lower limit paid for with cover you may not have noticed you had, and the clause does not say what it does to the premium. WPA's summary shows the dial running the other way, a standard cap with a paid option above it: "Out-patient Treatment Consultations with a Specialist – £250 (increase with the Extra Out-patient Consultations Optional Extra)" (Complete Health Insurance Product Information Document, November 2025, page 1, read 4 September 2026). Ask the insurer for the figure at each excess level and out-patient limit, and for what a lower limit removes.
Common questions
How much does a health insurance renewal cost, and is there a renewal fee?
No standard figure exists: the cost is the new year's premium, set for your policy and shown on your notice, and we hold no premium data to put beside it. No wording we hold describes a separate renewal fee; if your notice shows a charge that is not the premium, ask what it is.
Does the premium go up at every renewal, even if I have not claimed?
Usually, because age and medical inflation apply whether or not you claimed. A claim-free year can earn a step on a no-claims discount where the policy has one, but it does not freeze the price.
Does the premium go up with age?
As a general rule, yes: premiums follow the likelihood of a claim, and many insurers use age bands, so some birthdays move the figure more than others. No clause we hold states any insurer's bands, so ask whether this renewal crosses one.
How much have private health insurance prices risen in 2026?
We hold no market-wide premium data for 2026, or for 2024, and will not repeat a percentage we cannot stand behind. The only private health insurance price increase that applies to you is on your notice.
If I move insurer, will the condition I claimed for this year still be covered?
Not unless the new insurer agrees to it. On the wording above, a condition that began before the new policy started is not usually covered, so ask the new insurer, in writing, for continued personal medical exclusions and whether that condition is included, before you cancel anything.
What happens if I do nothing when the notice arrives?
It depends on whether the policy renews automatically; the notice says, and gives the date by which to tell the insurer if you are leaving. If you are moving on switch terms, do not let the old policy end before the new one has started in writing, since a gap is one thing a new insurer can refuse a transfer over.
Is there a "national health insurance" renewal fee in the UK?
No. The NHS is not an insurance policy and has no renewal or renewal fee; the phrase comes from countries that run a national health insurance scheme with an annual contribution. In the UK the only health insurance with a renewal price is a private policy.
What to ask before you accept the renewal
- What was last year's premium, what is this year's, and what is the increase made of: age, claims, medical inflation or a change to the product?
- Has anything in the cover changed: limits, hospital list, exclusions, excess?
- What is the figure at each excess level and each out-patient limit, and what does a lower limit remove?
- Is there a no-claims discount, and where am I on it after this year?
- What would you quote a new customer for this cover, and will you match it?
- If I renew, are my underwriting terms unchanged? Does the policy renew automatically, and by when must I say if not?
- If I am considering moving: will the new insurer offer continued personal medical exclusions, on what conditions, and does a condition under treatment now come across? In writing, before the old policy ends.
Put the first six to your insurer and the seventh to a broker: the form on this page puts you in touch with an FCA-authorised one who can set your renewal against several insurers on your existing underwriting in one conversation, free. Then decide.