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Yes, age matters when buying health insurance. While most insurers will continue to offer cover long after you turn 60, premiums can climb steeply with age.
With health insurance, age is one of the most important factors in pricing, alongside where you live, your lifestyle, and any pre-existing medical conditions.
This is because, as we grow older, the likelihood of developing health conditions and needing medical treatment increases. So private health insurers charge older customers more, to allow for the greater likelihood that they will need to pay out for claims.
Please note that the information in this article is for information purposes only and does not constitute advice. Please refer to the particular terms and conditions of an insurer before committing to any financial products.
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Some, though not all, providers place upper age limits on who can take out a new policy. The table below shows the maximum age at which you can take out a new policy with leading providers.
Provided you take out a policy before any cut-off age, insurers will continue to insure you after this age as long as you carry on paying your premiums.
| Provider | Maximum age to purchase new policy | Take out a policy* |
| Aviva | No upper limit | Use the service provided by LifeSearch |
| AXA Health | No upper limit | |
| Bupa | No upper limit | Use the service provided by LifeSearch |
| Saga | No upper limit | |
| Vitality | 79 | Use the service provided by LifeSearch |
| WPA | No upper limit, subject to conditions* for age 66+ | Use the service provided by LifeSearch |
* If you join WPA Complete Health aged 66 or over, you will be required to be fully underwritten and must take a minimum excess of £500.
While some insurers place limits on how old you can be when you take out a policy, none of the providers we've analysed in our review of the best private health insurance providers place age limits on their cover for existing customers.
If you have any pre-existing medical conditions, this may affect your private health insurance cover in a number of ways.
Any new private health insurance provider typically won't cover any conditions that were known to you, or for which you had symptoms, before you took out the policy.
There are some exceptions to this rule. Some policies might exclude a condition initially, but start to cover it after a waiting period or 'moratorium' – two years is typical – provided you have no symptoms or treatment.
This depends on the provider and what was agreed when you took out the policy. And if you have a workplace policy, this may include pre-existing conditions, so it's worth checking.
It's also worth noting that most long-term (chronic) conditions that required ongoing treatment, such as diabetes or asthma, are almost always excluded from cover as standard. Cancer is a notable exception to this rule.
Even if pre-existing conditions are excluded from your cover, they may still affect the price you pay.
When you take out a policy, you'll typically need to declare any current or previous health conditions. Your insurer may take these as evidence of poorer health in general, and assume you're more likely to suffer health issues again in the future. They may increase prices to account for this.
Depending on the extend, complexity and seriousness of your pre-existing conditions, some insurers may not be prepared to offer you health insurance cover. If you struggle to find cover because of your health, it may help to speak to an insurance broker.
Yes, most health insurance policies cover cancer, either as a core benefit or – in some cases – an optional extra.
The level of cancer cover you get varies by policy. For example, there may be differences in the cancer support services or range of cancer drugs you have access to. Some lower-level policies may offer very limited cover, so check policy wording carefully if cancer cover is important to you.
Bear in mind that if you had cancer prior to taking out the policy, it is likely to be excluded as a pre-existing condition. This means that if you decide to take out a policy, it will only cover you for claims that are unrelated to your cancer diagnosis and treatment.
Health insurance is unlikely to cover care in a care home (or ongoing care at home). This is because chronic conditions - those without a known cure, which continue indefinitely - are usually excluded.
However, if you have a non-chronic 'acute condition', specific costs connected to your treatment would still be covered, even if you're living in a care home. This is unlikely to include care home fees however.
There's no single type of insurance that covers the cost of long-term care.
However, there are ways you can prepare your finances, including buying an immediate needs annuity. This is an annuity that only pays out to care providers, free of tax.
Unlike an insurance policy you pay one lump sum to buy the policy, rather than regular premiums.
Hospices tend to provide care free of charge. However, most major insurers will donate to a hospice their customers are staying in, or receiving care visits from.
If you provide the hospice with your insurance details, the hospice can request a donation.
Yes. Provided you are able to pay the premiums, health insurers will happily accept your custom regardless of your employment status.
If you're taking out individual private health insurance for the first time as a retiree, having previously had it as a workplace benefit, you may find that conditions that were covered as part of your workplace policy are excluded by your new provider.
If you're planning to retire soon, it could be worth contacting your company scheme administrator to see if it's possible to extend your company scheme into a personal scheme. This may mean you're able to retain cover for anything that was covered under the workplace scheme. It's worth getting some quotes from new providers too, though, so that you can compare prices and cover levels.
Find the right private health insurance policy using the service provided by LifeSearch. Find out more
The first step in finding the best health insurance is to consider what you need from your policy.
Many policies offer the option to include or exclude certain aspects of cover. For example, you may be willing to live without outpatient cover in exchange for a lower premium. Or you may be happy to opt for cover that only kicks in if you can't get seen on the NHS within a certain time period.
Once you've decided what's important to you, get quotes from a number of providers so that you can compare cost and quality of cover.
If you'd value a bit of help getting the right cover at the right price, speaking to a broker could help, especially if your needs are more complex.
The British Insurance Brokers' Association (BIBA) or the Association of Medical Insurers and Intermediaries (AMII) both have directories of brokers, or you could use the service provided by Lifesearch.
Find out more from our insurance guides:
Find the right private health insurance policy using the service provided by LifeSearch.
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