Private health insurance that covers a pre-existing condition does exist in the UK, on terms each insurer sets in its own wording. General & Medical Healthcare sells an upgrade, for an extra premium, covering up to two conditions from a list of fourteen within an annual limit. With every insurer compared below, a condition you already have can also come into cover by staying clear of it for two years on a moratorium, by being accepted when you declare it under full medical underwriting, or by carrying terms across when you switch. An FCA-authorised broker can weigh how several insurers would treat your history, ringing you back at no charge when the form on this page arrives.
Which insurers offer a way for a pre-existing condition to be covered
Every route below has conditions attached, and the one that applies to a policy is printed on its certificate or schedule. The right-hand column names the providers whose published terms set out each route. A provider missing from a row may still offer that route, so it is worth asking about any insurer you are weighing up.
| Route | What it means for a condition you already have | Set out in the published terms of |
|---|---|---|
| Moratorium | No health questions when you apply. A condition from the five years before cover is excluded, and may come into cover after two clear years. | Bupa, AXA Health, Vitality, Aviva, WPA, The Exeter, National Friendly, Freedom, General & Medical |
| Full medical underwriting | You declare your history and the insurer tells you what it will accept, exclude or limit. | All nine above |
| Continued terms on a switch | Exclusions, or moratorium dates, carried over from the policy you hold now. | All nine above; in National Friendly's summary this is continued personal medical exclusions, one of the three forms of underwriting it lists |
| Medical history disregarded | Pre-existing conditions accepted without personal exclusions, for the people each insurer offers it to. | AXA Health, Vitality, Aviva, Freedom |
| Paid-for cover | An extra premium to cover a pre-existing condition. | General & Medical (up to two conditions from its list); Freedom (one form an endorsement can take, which the policyholder must agree) |
Paying extra to cover a named condition
General & Medical Healthcare's page on pre-existing conditions says its cover "can be added to your policy for an additional premium". You pick up to two conditions at the outset from a defined list: acne, arthritis, asthma, carpal tunnel syndrome, Crohn's disease, diabetes, eczema, fibrocystic breast disease, gastro-oesophageal reflux disease, glaucoma, hypertension, psoriasis, ulcerative colitis and varicose veins. Cover for them is subject to an annual limit of £1,000, which rolls up by £1,000 each year to a maximum of £10,000 after 10 years, "provided cover has been continuous and there have been no claims relating to the pre-existing condition". The limit therefore starts small and grows only while you stay with the policy and do not claim for that condition.
The same page spells out the cost of leaving: "For existing customers, if you switch over to a different insurer it may be that you will lose the additional benefit accrued with us for your pre-existing conditions, as many other providers do not offer cover for this." It adds that the rolled-up annual limit would be lost too, and that a new provider may exclude related conditions. The remark about other providers is General & Medical's own view of the market.
Freedom Health Insurance's Elite guide describes a second form of paid cover. Its definition of an endorsement, a change to the standard terms shown on the certificate, includes "an extra premium to cover a pre-existing condition (this must be agreed by the policyholder)", and the guide says you can ask for any endorsement to be reconsidered within the first 30 days of each period of insurance. Whether either provider would offer this for your condition, and at what premium, is something to raise with the broker whose call follows the form on this page.
Cover after two clear years: how each moratorium is worded
On a moratorium the insurer looks at your history only when you claim. Each wording sets what must not happen for two years before an old condition can be paid for, and the small differences decide whether yours clears.
| Insurer and document | Look-back | Clear period, and what breaks it |
|---|---|---|
| Bupa By You policy guide (BINS 14718, 2024), PDF p. 12 | Five years before your Bupa cover began. | Two consecutive years with the policy without any symptoms, treatment, medication or advice for the condition. |
| AXA Health Personal Health membership handbook (October 2024, PB116343a/10.24; copy hosted on crm.more-health.co.uk), PDF pp. 14–15 | Five years before joining, including symptoms of a condition not yet diagnosed. | At least two years in a row after joining with no visit to a GP, physiotherapist or other medical practitioner, and no treatment or advice; no medication (over-the-counter drugs included) or special diet because of it. Extra rules apply for diabetes, raised blood pressure and PSA tests. |
| Vitality Membership Guide (VHTCR0002 08/2024; copy hosted on mytribeinsurance.co.uk), p. 30 | Five years: treatment, symptoms or advice, or a condition you were aware existed. | Two continuous years after cover starts without consulting anyone for treatment or advice (check-ups included) or taking medication, including over-the-counter drugs, special diets or injections. Conditions needing regular or periodic treatment are permanently excluded. |
| Aviva Healthier Solutions terms, March 2026 edition (AV1590050_GEN6842_0326), PDF p. 27; check the terms sent with your quote | Five years before joining: symptoms, medication, diagnostic tests, treatment or advice. | A continuous two years after joining with no medication, diagnostic tests, treatment or advice for the condition. Symptoms appear in the look-back list but not in this one. |
| WPA Complete Health brochure, effective 1 October 2026 (PDF p. 24) | Five years before membership starts. | Two continuous years without symptoms, treatment, medication (prescribed or over-the-counter) or advice. |
| The Exeter Health+ Policy Document (MKTG762, July 2026), p. 27 | Five years before the policy starts: symptoms, medication, treatment or advice. | A continuous two-year period after the policy starts without any of those. Up to five years of medical records may be requested on a claim. |
| National Friendly My PMI Policy Summary, p. 17 | Five years: anything you were aware of or had signs or symptoms of, or had consultations, investigations, medication, monitoring, advice or treatment for. | Not covered for at least the first 2 years; then two years in a row after joining without signs, symptoms, consultation, investigations, medication, monitoring, advice or treatment. |
| Freedom Elite Policyholder's Guide to Cover (01/04/2025), pp. 8, 36–37 | Five years before cover started, including symptoms and undiagnosed conditions. | A full, unbroken two-year period after the moratorium date with no advice, treatment, medication or symptoms; any of them starts the period again. |
| General & Medical Healthcare, pre-existing conditions web page (read 22 October 2026) | The previous five years. | Excluded "for a set period, 24 months in our case". |
Two things in that table matter more than the numbers. First, the way back in is worded as a possibility, not a promise: WPA's brochure says that after two clear years, benefit for pre-existing conditions "may be covered", Freedom says cover may then be available, and Vitality makes eligibility subject to its plan terms and conditions. Second, a condition that needs regular treatment or advice is unlikely ever to clear, because each treatment restarts the clock. Freedom's guide says such a condition "will never be covered", and WPA names diabetes, uncontrolled hypertension, fibromyalgia and multiple sclerosis as examples of long-term conditions it gives no benefit for on a moratorium. AXA's additional rules for diabetes, raised blood pressure and PSA tests are set out on our page on AXA and pre-existing conditions.
Chronic conditions are a separate test. The product information documents for WPA's Complete Health and The Exeter's Health+ list long-term or chronic conditions as an exclusion of their own, next to pre-existing conditions, so clearing a moratorium does not by itself settle cover for a condition that keeps coming back.
If you are leaning towards a moratorium, write down each condition you have had with the month and year of the last symptom, test, prescription or appointment. Keep that list handy: when the form on this page brings the broker's call, you can go through it and ask how each insurer quoted would count it.
Declaring a condition up front: accepted, excluded or limited
Under full medical underwriting you give your history before cover starts and the insurer decides. National Friendly's summary puts the outcome plainly: "We will tell you whether we are prepared to offer you cover for those conditions." Its policy schedule then shows which conditions are excluded or covered only to a limited extent. On this route, then, a declared condition can be accepted, excluded or limited.
In several of these documents the test for an exclusion turns on future treatment. Vitality's guide excludes conditions you have or had that are likely to need treatment in the future, recorded as personal medical exclusions; The Exeter may have applied exclusions to declared conditions it felt would need treatment in the future; and WPA's underwriters determine, for example, whether you have a greater than average risk of requiring treatment. Freedom comes at it from the other side: it does not pay for a pre-existing condition unless you told it about the condition on your application form and it has not added an endorsement saying the condition is not covered.
An exclusion is not always permanent. Bupa lets a member ask for a special condition to be reviewed at renewal if they are unlikely to need treatment for it, paying any charge for the doctor's report. Aviva's terms allow a review at renewal on request, though not for an excluded condition that in Aviva's view is likely to need treatment in future, and some exclusions, a chronic condition for example, are not reviewed. Vitality allows a review in some cases after at least 12 months' cover, within 30 days of renewal, but adds: "However, we will not review or remove any personal medical exclusion for a chronic condition." An AXA Health certificate shows whether an exclusion can be removed after a period of time.
Accuracy carries the weight on this route. AXA's handbook warns that an answer which was not full or accurate, even by accident, may leave treatment for that condition uncovered. Whether a given insurer's underwriters would accept, limit or exclude your particular condition is something the broker can find out for you, free, during the call.
Switching with a condition: terms that travel, and history disregarded
If you hold cover now, the insurer you move to may carry your existing terms across instead of underwriting you afresh. The dates are where the wordings part company:
- Bupa may continue full medical underwriting terms from a previous policy with another insurer or a Bupa group policy, but it must agree and there must be no break in cover; on a moratorium switch with no break, your moratorium start date continues from the previous policy.
- AXA Health may start a carried-on moratorium from when it began with your previous insurer, under rules that may differ slightly; the membership certificate shows the start date.
- Vitality can apply its moratorium backdated to when your cover began with your previous insurer, in some cases with extra personal medical exclusions from your Vitality start date.
- Aviva, on a continued moratorium, counts both the look-back and the clear period from your initial date of cover, meaning the day you joined your first insurer, as long as cover has been unbroken.
- WPA keeps the underwriting dates of an existing moratorium, though it adds: "This option is not available for existing insurance that is on a ‘Fixed Moratorium’." Personal exclusions carry over where you completed full medical underwriting and have stayed continuously insured on a full medical underwriting or continued-exclusions basis since.
- Freedom takes over the remaining period of a moratorium. For a fully underwritten previous policy its guide says: "If your cover transferred to us from another policy which full medical underwriting originally applied to, we will cover all pre-existing conditions unless the certificate says otherwise."
Because most of these depend on unbroken cover, a gap between policies can cost you the dates you have built up. The practical side of moving is covered in our guide to switching private health insurance provider.
Medical history disregarded
This route applies no personal exclusions for pre-existing conditions, but who can have it is narrow. Freedom's guide gives it one line: "We will cover all eligible pre-existing conditions." Aviva's terms set it out for members transferring from it on another policy; AXA normally keeps it for people continuing cover from another insurer or a company membership, and for a newborn added to a membership; and Vitality says it will usually only apply to newborn babies. For a first-time personal buyer it is a route to ask about rather than expect, and our guide to private health insurance underwriting sets it beside the others.
Cover for an existing condition: what readers ask next
What private health insurance covers pre-existing conditions?
It depends on the route more than the brand. All nine providers in the first table set out both a moratorium and full medical underwriting, and General & Medical adds a paid upgrade for up to two listed conditions. Which one could cover yours depends on the condition, when you last had symptoms or treatment, and whether you are switching.
Does a symptom I never saw a doctor about count?
On several wordings it does. Vitality's moratorium takes in a condition known to you during its five-year look-back, even one you never took to a GP or got a prescription for; Bupa's definition takes in symptoms you had or conditions you knew existed, diagnosed or not; and National Friendly's includes conditions you were aware of or had signs or symptoms of.
Can an over-the-counter remedy restart a moratorium?
On some wordings, yes. AXA, WPA and Vitality each name over-the-counter medicines in their clear-period rules. Aviva's list says "medication" without defining it there, so ask how the policy you are offered reads it.
Which document shows the route I am on?
Bupa, AXA Health, Vitality, The Exeter and Freedom show it on the membership or policy certificate, and Aviva on the policy schedule. WPA records personal exclusions on the Certificate of Insurance, and National Friendly lists excluded or limited conditions on the policy schedule. If a quote does not name the route, ask for it before you accept.
Your own answer comes down to three facts: what the condition is, the dates of your last symptoms, tests or treatment, and what cover you hold today. Note those three facts, then complete the form on this page; a free conversation with an FCA-authorised broker follows, and the broker can put your dates and condition to the insurers it deals with. For the general position, see whether insurers cover pre-existing conditions at all, and for choosing between policies once a condition is excluded, the best options with a pre-existing condition.
Documents quoted
- Bupa, Bupa By You policy guide (BINS 14718, 2024), PDF pages 11, 12, 34 and 49.
- AXA Health (AXA PPP healthcare Limited), Personal Health membership handbook, October 2024, print code PB116343a/10.24, PDF pages 14 and 15, in a copy hosted on crm.more-health.co.uk, an intermediary's site.
- Vitality, Membership Guide (Your Personal Healthcare plan terms and conditions), VHTCR0002 08/2024, pages 30, 31 and 48, in a copy hosted on mytribeinsurance.co.uk, a broker's site.
- Aviva, Healthier Solutions terms and conditions, the March 2026 edition (AV1590050_GEN6842_0326), PDF pages 27 and 28; check the terms sent with your quote.
- WPA: PDF pages 24 and 25 of the Complete Health brochure (effective 1 October 2026), plus the Complete Health IPID, effective 1 November 2025.
- The Exeter, Health+ Policy Document (MKTG762, July 2026), page 27, and Health+ insurance product information document (MKTG770, June 2026).
- National Friendly, My PMI Policy Summary, page 17, read October 2026.
- Freedom Health Insurance: pages 8, 36, 37 and 51 of the Freedom Elite Policyholder's Guide to Cover (01/04/2025).
- General & Medical Healthcare, Health Insurance for Pre-existing Conditions web page (generalandmedical.com/private-health-insurance/options/pre-existing-conditions), read 22 October 2026.