"Medical history disregarded" is the name of one underwriting route, and underwriting is how an insurer settles what to do about your health history when you buy private medical insurance. Which route sits behind your quote, whether a moratorium, full medical underwriting, continuing medical exclusions or medical history disregarded, can decide what you are asked and when you learn where you stand. Medical history disregarded is named in AXA Health's handbook, and what it means depends on the policy you are offered, so it is a route to ask about by name. This page sets the routes side by side, quotes the insurers' wording that bears on each, and lists what to ask. A broker can tell you which routes the insurers it deals with would offer you, and price each; the form here asks one FCA-authorised broker to call you.
Four routes in one handbook: private medical underwriting in practice
Private medical underwriting, private healthcare underwriting and health insurance underwriting are one job under different names: the insurer works out how your past health bears on the policy. The plainest list of the ways it can do that comes from AXA Health. Its Personal Health membership handbook (October 2024, page 14 of the PDF, numbered 13 in print; read 4 September 2026 in a copy hosted by an intermediary rather than the insurer) names four routes as panel headings: "(full medical underwriting) Continuing medical exclusions Medical history disregarded Moratorium. In the following panels, we've explained how each of these work". The handbook explains each route in those panels, so read AXA's own account in the handbook you are sent; where the table describes a route, the description is a general one, not the handbook's.
| Route | In general terms | What insurers' wording adds |
|---|---|---|
| Moratorium | No full medical form at the start; a look-back period is applied to your history instead, and the wording sets whether and when that can change. | Vitality's guide gives a five-year look-back; a separate clause sets a two-year clear period. |
| Full medical underwriting | You give your history when you apply, and the insurer sets its terms before cover starts. | Aviva's terms refer to what you told Aviva in writing when you applied; Bupa's guide refers to a written "confirmation of special conditions". Neither clause names the route. |
| Continuing medical exclusions | Depends on the insurer: ask what it means on your policy. | Named in AXA's list of routes. |
| Medical history disregarded | Depends on the insurer and the product: ask who it is offered to. | Named in AXA's list of routes. |
Wording differs between insurers, and an insurer may not offer every route on every product. Before setting two quotes side by side, then, find out which route each rests on: prices built on different routes are not like for like.
Medical history disregarded: what the name does and does not tell you
AXA's handbook gives the name as the third of its four routes. What that version does with your history, who it is offered to, whether a person buying alone can have it, and how its price compares all depend on the policy, and a general description could be wrong about the very policy you are considering; on the policies open to you, the broker can explain what the route means, with no fee.
What you can do is put the question in a form that gets a usable answer. If you are offered medical history disregarded terms, or want them, ask the insurer in writing whether the route is available on the policy in front of you, what it means on that policy, and where the policy documents describe it. The same applies to cover through an employer: private health insurance for employees deals with group schemes, where the same questions apply.
Moratorium underwriting on PMI: one insurer's numbers
A moratorium is the route most people mean when they ask for health insurance with no underwriting, since there is no full medical form at the start. It is still underwriting. In general terms the insurer has moved the reading of your history to later, so what the look-back catches may only become clear when a claim is examined.
One insurer's figures come from Vitality. Its Membership Guide (Your Personal Healthcare plan terms and conditions), August 2024 issue, read 10 October 2026 in a broker-hosted copy, sets a five-year look-back in which the test is what you were aware of, whether or not a GP was involved (page 48). A separate clause sets a continuous two years without treatment, advice or medication, counted from taking out the plan (page 30); check in the guide you are sent what that clause applies to. Those numbers are one insurer's, not a market norm. Freedom Health Insurance's guide also reaches back five years, though in how it defines a pre-existing condition and without calling it a moratorium (Freedom Elite — Policyholder's Guide to Cover, April 2025, page 8, read 4 September 2026). What those two clauses leave open is read closely on Vitality health insurance: underwriting.
If a quote you are shown rests on a moratorium, ask the broker for that insurer's look-back and clear period in its own wording; getting a quote costs nothing and is a few minutes' work.
Full medical underwriting: the application carries the weight
In general terms, full medical underwriting reverses the order: you answer health questions when you apply, and the insurer sets out its terms before cover begins, so you can see them before paying.
Aviva's wording shows why the answers matter. Its Healthier Solutions terms and conditions (April 2025 issue, page 27 of the PDF, numbered 25 in print, read 4 September 2026) tie how a pre-existing condition is handled to whether "you advised us of that condition in writing when you applied for the policy and either we did not apply an exclusion for it, or it is not excluded under the policy". Which underwriting route the clause belongs to, and how exclusions are decided, are matters for the full terms you are sent. On the clause's words, though, what you declared in writing at application is part of the test, which is why a form answered from memory, or something said on a call and never confirmed in writing, is a weak footing. A newer issue of the same terms, dated March 2026 (print code AV1590050_GEN6842_0326), has since been published, so treat this as the April 2025 wording and compare it with the issue you are sent; the broker who rings you can point out what changed, free.
Bupa's guide shows the written end of the process: where a special condition applies, it says it will send the main member a confirmation (Bupa By You policy guide, BINS 14718, 2024, page 11, read 4 September 2026). Which route produces that confirmation depends on the policy. How a Bupa application is approached, and your legal duty when you answer one, are on Bupa health insurance: underwriting.
The questions for this route are practical: will the terms reach you in writing before you pay, will the insurer look beyond your own answers, and can the terms be reviewed later?
Continuing medical exclusions: if you hold cover now
AXA's list names "continuing medical exclusions" as one of its four routes. As with medical history disregarded, what it carries across, from which insurers and on what conditions depends on the insurer quoting you. If you already have a policy, that makes it a question to ask before anything else: does the insurer quoting you offer a route of this kind, and what would it need from your current insurer? Putting that to the insurers it deals with is something the broker can do for you without charge.
The reason to ask early is a general one, not any insurer's term: an insurer reading your history afresh will see whatever happened while your current policy ran. The steps for moving insurer, including when to give notice, are on Switching private health insurance provider.
Questions to ask whichever route you are offered
- Which route is this figure based on, and which others are open on the same policy?
- Where in the policy documents is that route described? I would like to read it before paying.
- On a moratorium: the look-back in years, what the wording counts as treatment, advice or medication, and whether a routine appointment breaks a clear spell.
- On full medical underwriting: what you will want beyond my own answers, and when I will see your terms.
- On medical history disregarded or continuing medical exclusions: is it offered on this policy, to me, and what does it mean here?
- If I want a different route at renewal, is that possible, and what becomes of terms already recorded?
Putting six questions to several insurers yourself is slow. A broker can ask them across the insurers it works with and bring the answers back together, and asking for that introduction carries no charge.
What each route means for a condition you already have is the subject of Do insurers cover pre-existing conditions? and, for the decisions around it, Private health insurance with a pre-existing condition.
Short answers on underwriting
What does health insurance underwriting mean?
It is how an insurer decides what your health history means for the policy: by asking for it when you apply, by applying a look-back, or by another route the insurer offers. The route decides when you learn where you stand.
What is moratorium underwriting in health insurance?
In general terms, a route with no full medical form at the start and a look-back applied to your history instead. Vitality's guide sets that look-back at five years, and other insurers set their own.
Can I get health insurance without underwriting, or without a moratorium?
Even a policy with no medical form at the start is underwritten, through a moratorium, so ask what route a "no underwriting" quote really rests on. AXA's handbook lists four routes for one product, only one of them a moratorium, so ask which are open to you and which your quote assumes.
Can I choose my underwriting route?
That depends on the insurer and the product, and the quote should tell you which you are on. The moratorium-or-full-underwriting question at Vitality has its own page.
What helps determine the premium when underwriting group health insurance?
The factors differ from one insurer and scheme to the next, so ask the scheme's insurer or broker what they use, and keep their answer in writing.
Before weighing any price, find out which route sits behind it. A broker can establish that with the insurers it quotes: leave your details in the form and expect a phone call.