Yes, you can usually apply to switch private health insurer, including during the policy year, although switching at renewal is often simpler. If you have medical history, recent claims or treatment under way, the question that matters is how the new insurer will treat your existing underwriting. Do not cancel your current policy until the new insurer has accepted the application and confirmed the terms.
Switching is worth looking at if your premium has risen sharply at renewal, your cover no longer fits how you use it, or another insurer offers benefits you would actually claim on. It is less likely to help if you have significant medical history, an open claim, or underwriting terms that would be difficult to reproduce elsewhere.
Premium alone is the wrong comparison. Weigh it against the excess, the hospital list, outpatient limits, cancer cover, the consultant pathway and, above all, how the new insurer would treat your existing underwriting.
What you might gain
Premium: Another insurer may quote less for broadly similar cover, particularly if your current premium has stepped up at renewal.
Cover that fits: A different product may suit you better on outpatient limits, mental health support, therapies or cancer cover.
Hospital access: A different hospital list may include the facilities or consultants you want to use.
Service: Claims handling and day-to-day support vary between insurers.
What you might lose
Underwriting terms: Your existing terms may not carry across in full. Continued underwriting is offered at the new insurer's discretion, on its own criteria.
Recent medical history: Anything that has developed since you were last underwritten can be looked at again.
Treatment under way: An open claim does not transfer. The new insurer may exclude the condition behind it.
Discount built up: A no-claims discount earned with one insurer may not be matched by another.
Timing
When can I switch health insurance?
Renewal is the natural point to move. Your insurer sends renewal terms ahead of the policy anniversary, which gives you a defined window to test the new premium against the market without ever being without cover.
You are not restricted to renewal. Insurers will normally consider an application at any time of year, and most will allow you to cancel an existing policy during the policy year, subject to their own terms. What changes outside renewal is the admin, not the principle.
Two points apply whenever you move. Apply early enough that the new insurer can confirm terms before your existing policy ends, and ask for continued underwriting terms at the point of application rather than afterwards.
If a renewal increase is what prompted this, our guide to health insurance renewals covers what to ask your current insurer before you decide to move at all.
Mid-Policy
Can I switch health insurance mid-policy?
Usually yes, but it needs more care than moving at renewal. Individual private medical insurance in the UK is generally written as an annual policy. Insurers may permit cancellation or a switch during the policy year, and the notice required, any cancellation charge and any refund all depend on your existing insurer's terms. Read the policy wording, or ask the insurer directly, before you commit to anything.
The order of events matters more than the date. Get the new policy accepted and the underwriting terms confirmed first. Only then cancel the existing policy, and line the dates up so there is no gap between the two. A break in cover can affect your eligibility for continued underwriting, so even a short gap is worth avoiding.
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Check Cancellation Terms
Notice, charges and any refund are set by your existing insurer's policy wording, not by a general rule.
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Confirm Before You Cancel
Wait until the new insurer has accepted the application and confirmed the underwriting terms in writing.
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No Gap in Cover
Set the new start date against the old end date. A break in cover can affect continued underwriting.
Medical History
Can I switch health insurance with a pre-existing condition?
Medical history does not automatically stop you switching. What it changes is the basis on which a new insurer will take you on, and that is where the risk sits.
There are two broad outcomes. Either you are accepted on continued underwriting, where your existing underwriting basis is carried across or mapped to the new insurer's equivalent, or you start again on new-customer underwriting, where your medical history is assessed from scratch. The second route is the one that usually costs you cover, because conditions that had cleared, or that were only ever excluded in a narrow way, can be looked at again.
Which of the two applies depends on how you were underwritten originally, whether your cover has been unbroken, your recent medical history, and the new insurer's own eligibility criteria and switch questions. Insurers set those criteria individually. None of them is obliged to offer you continued terms.
In practice: get the new insurer's switch terms in writing, then compare the exclusions on that offer against the exclusions on your current certificate of insurance, line by line. Our guides to moratorium versus full medical underwriting and to pre-existing conditions explain the underlying bases in more detail.
Open Claims
Can I switch health insurance during a claim or ongoing treatment?
An open claim does not transfer with you. If you are part-way through a course of treatment, your current insurer is the one that agreed to fund it. Moving to a new insurer does not carry that agreement across.
A new insurer may decline continued underwriting terms while a condition is active, or accept the application with that condition excluded. Either way, treatment already under way is at risk of not being funded by the replacement policy.
This is not an absolute bar. People do switch during treatment, usually where the condition is minor or the course of treatment is close to finished. But you need to establish precisely what the new insurer will and will not cover for that specific condition before you commit. Where the treatment is significant, waiting until the course is complete is often the safer choice.
If you are switching because you are leaving an employer scheme rather than moving between personal policies, the timing question works differently. See our guide to continuing health insurance after leaving a company.
Thinking of switching? We'll tell you honestly whether it is worth it, free of charge.
Underwriting Options
Underwriting when you switch
Underwriting is the single biggest factor in whether a switch is a good idea, because it decides how the new insurer treats anything already in your medical history. Three routes come up most often, and the detail varies by insurer.
Continued Personal Medical Exclusions (CPME)
CPME is the switch route for people who were originally fully medically underwritten. The personal exclusions on your current policy are normally carried across, or mapped to the new insurer's equivalent wording, rather than your history being assessed again from the start.
It is not automatic. Insurers set their own eligibility criteria, typically requiring an unbroken period of cover since you were underwritten, and you will usually be asked a short set of switch or medical declaration questions. Additional exclusions can be applied where those answers disclose something new. The new insurer's own policy terms, definitions and benefit limits apply from day one, and those may differ from your current policy even where the exclusions themselves match.
Continued Moratorium underwriting (sometimes shortened to CMORI)
Continued Moratorium underwriting applies where your current policy is written on a moratorium basis. The aim is to preserve your original moratorium date and the progress made under it, rather than restarting the moratorium period from day one with the new insurer.
Again, this depends on the new insurer accepting you on those terms. Its eligibility criteria, switch questions and its own moratorium wording still apply, and further health questions or additional exclusions are sometimes required. Moratorium wording is not identical across insurers, so read the replacement policy's definition rather than assuming it matches the one you hold.
Full Medical Underwriting (FMU)
With full medical underwriting you disclose your medical history upfront, and the insurer confirms any personal medical exclusions when it accepts the application. The benefit is that you know where you stand on your own history before the policy starts.
It is not a blanket assurance of cover. The policy's general exclusions, benefit definitions and claim eligibility rules still apply, and a claim can be declined on those grounds even where no personal exclusion has been applied.
Medical History Disregarded (MHD)
MHD underwriting sets aside pre-existing condition exclusions. It is generally associated with employer and group schemes, where the size of the scheme allows the insurer to price for it. It is not a standard option for an individual moving between personal policies, although people leaving a group scheme sometimes have limited continuation rights. Ask which basis is actually being offered rather than assuming MHD is on the table.
CPME vs Continued Moratorium vs FMU
Application
Short medical or switch declaration usually required
Exclusions
Existing personal exclusions normally carried across or mapped to the new wording
Pre-existing
Assessed previously, but new disclosures can add exclusions
Typically for
Fully underwritten policyholders with unbroken cover
Application
Switch questions usually required; not a full re-assessment
Exclusions
New insurer's moratorium wording applies; further exclusions possible
Pre-existing
Original moratorium date normally preserved rather than restarted
Typically for
Moratorium policyholders with unbroken cover
Application
Full medical history disclosed upfront
Exclusions
Personal exclusions confirmed when the insurer accepts the application
Pre-existing
Assessed individually; some may be covered, some excluded
Typically for
Those who want their own history settled before the policy starts
Whichever route you are offered, the general rule is the same. Continued underwriting on a switch is offered at the new insurer's discretion, subject to its own criteria, and should never be treated as automatic.
Insurer Variation
Do all health insurers have the same switching rules?
No. Switching is not a standardised process in UK private medical insurance. Insurers differ on which continued underwriting routes they offer, how long you must have held cover to qualify, what they ask on their switch questions, how they word moratorium and exclusion clauses, and which benefits carry qualifying periods.
Product differences matter as much as insurer differences. Two policies from the same insurer can treat outpatient limits, cancer cover, mental health benefits and consultant choice quite differently.
That is why a premium comparison is misleading on its own. The question worth answering is what the replacement policy covers for you, on the terms you have been offered.
A higher excess lowers the premium but you pay more per claim. Compare on the same excess first.
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Hospital List
Lists differ by insurer and by product. Check the facilities you would realistically use.
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Outpatient Limits
Consultations, diagnostics and therapies are often capped. The cap can matter more than the premium.
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Cancer Cover
Structures vary. Check what sits in the core policy and what needs an optional extra.
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Consultant Pathway
Guided and open-referral models direct or limit consultant choice in return for a lower premium.
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Six-Week Option
Restricts when private treatment is funded if suitable NHS treatment is available in time.
Consultant pathway and guided options
Insurers use different guided and open-referral models. Broadly, they direct or limit which consultants you can see, and the premium is lower as a result. They are not interchangeable. Some restrict consultant choice while leaving hospital access largely unchanged, others affect both, and the saving depends on the insurer and the product. Ask what the option actually removes before you take it.
Six-week and NHS options
These reduce the premium by restricting when the insurer funds private treatment. Where suitable NHS treatment is available within the insurer's specified timeframe, the private benefit does not fund that treatment and you use the NHS instead. The timeframe, and how the option applies across different benefits, varies by insurer and product. Check the wording rather than assuming a standard six weeks covers everything.
No-claims discount and renewal pricing
Insurers structure renewal pricing differently. Some run a stepped no-claims discount scale with a claim threshold, others adjust premiums on another basis entirely. A discount built up with one insurer is not automatically matched by another, so ask how it would be treated before assuming it moves with you.
Claims history
Having claimed does not by itself mean a new insurer will charge you more. What it can affect is your eligibility for continued underwriting terms, the exclusions you are offered, and how practical the move is while treatment is under way.
For the wider cost levers, including cover you may be paying for and not using, see our guide to saving money on health insurance.
Step by Step
How do I switch my health insurance policy?
The process is straightforward once the order is right. Here is how we handle it.
01
Review Your Policy
Check your cover level, excess, hospital list, exclusions and underwriting basis. Your certificate of insurance is the document that matters.
02
Compare the Market
As an independent FCA-authorised health insurance broker, we compare policies from a broad range of leading UK insurers.
03
Discuss Your Position
Tell us about medical history, recent claims and any treatment under way. That is what determines which underwriting routes are open to you.
04
Confirm the Terms
We ask the new insurer to confirm the underwriting basis and any exclusions in writing before anything is cancelled.
05
Line Up the Dates
Once the terms are accepted, we set the new start date against your existing end date so there is no gap in cover.
If the answer turns out to be that you are better off staying put, we will tell you that too. Sometimes the sensible move is to renegotiate the renewal rather than move insurer.
FAQs
Switching FAQs
In practice, usually yes. Insurers will normally consider an application at any point in the year, and most allow you to cancel an existing policy mid-year subject to their terms. Renewal is still the simplest point to move, because the timing is already defined.
Usually, but check your existing insurer's cancellation terms first. Individual UK policies are generally annual, and the notice required, any charge and any refund depend on that insurer's wording rather than a market-wide rule.
Often, yes. Medical history does not automatically prevent a switch. What it decides is whether you are accepted on continued underwriting terms, or underwritten again as a new customer. That turns on how you were underwritten originally, whether your cover has been unbroken, and the new insurer's criteria.
On continued underwriting terms, existing personal exclusions are normally carried across or mapped to the new insurer's wording, though the wording itself is rarely identical. If you are underwritten as a new customer instead, the exclusions can be wider. Compare the offer against your current certificate before accepting.
CPME stands for Continued Personal Medical Exclusions. It is the switch route for people who were originally fully medically underwritten. Existing personal exclusions are normally carried across rather than the history being assessed from scratch, subject to the new insurer's eligibility rules and switch questions.
Continued Moratorium underwriting, sometimes shortened to CMORI, applies where your current policy is on a moratorium basis. It aims to preserve your original moratorium date and the progress made under it rather than restarting it, subject to the new insurer's criteria and its own moratorium wording.
An open claim does not transfer. The new insurer may decline continued terms while a condition is active, or exclude it, so treatment already under way may not be funded. It is not an absolute bar, but check what the replacement policy would cover for that condition first.
No. Wait until the new insurer has accepted the application and confirmed the underwriting basis and any exclusions, then cancel and set the dates so there is no gap between the two policies. A break in cover can affect your eligibility for continued underwriting.
There is no single waiting-period rule across UK private medical insurance. Medical history is handled mainly through underwriting and exclusions rather than a blanket waiting period. Some benefits and products do carry qualifying periods, and these vary by insurer. Check the replacement policy wording for the benefits you expect to use.
No. A lower premium often reflects a different excess, hospital list, outpatient limit or consultant pathway. Switching can also change how your medical history is treated. Compare the terms alongside the price, not the price on its own.
Editorial
How we reviewed this guide
This guide is written by Patrick Baxter and fact-checked by Sadie Sansford. The switching and underwriting statements on this page were checked in September 2026 against the insurers' own published guidance rather than against comparison websites.
Primary sources checked for this review:
Bupa, underwriting and switching guidance (bupa.co.uk)
Aviva, switching health insurance and underwriting guidance (aviva.co.uk)
Vitality, switching health insurance and medical underwriting explained (vitality.co.uk)
WPA, switching health insurance and what is underwriting (wpa.org.uk)
All four treat continued underwriting on a switch as conditional rather than automatic, which is the principle this page is built on. Where insurer guidance conflicted with wording previously published here, the page was corrected.
Insurer criteria, product names and policy wording change between product cycles. Treat this guide as general information and check the current position with the insurer, or with us, before you switch.
how this site works
This site is run by My Health Protected, an FCA-authorised broker. Our guides compare UK private health insurance providers and are reviewed regularly against current insurer wording.
We aim to give you a clear, honest read on each insurer and plan: what is covered, what is not, where the trade-offs sit and where there might be gaps, especially when you are switching from one insurer to another. Always read your own policy documents and check details directly with your insurer or a broker before you buy or switch.
If you would like a quote, or a second opinion on a plan you already hold, contact us. The advice is free, independent and without obligation.
Disclaimer
The information on this site is for general guidance only and not professional advice. For tailored advice or a personalised quote, contact us directly.
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