“It surprises me how many people I speak to who don’t realise they can move to a new health insurance provider and stay covered for a pre-existing condition – ie, one they’ve already been treated for.
As a result, they often remain with the same insurance company, despite rising premiums, thinking that they’re trapped and there’s nothing they can do about it.
The reality is there has to be a certain amount of freedom of movement for people with personal or company health insurance plans, so all providers allow new customers to join them using what we call “Continued Underwriting”.
This means that your new provider will apply the same underwriting terms to the new plan as are applied to your existing provider’s plan.
You will therefore retain cover for a condition that is eligible for treatment under your current plan.
I met a man this week who had both knees replaced four years ago. I’ve been informing him about ways that he could reduce his premiums for the past two years, but he’s always decided to remain with his current provider, which has surprised me.
We’ve always discussed his options over the phone, but this year I was able to sit down with him. I asked him why he’s never moved to an alternative provider despite having the option to save significant sums of money.
He explained that he feared he might need further procedures on his knees in the future, and for that reason he couldn’t move elsewhere without losing cover.
At that point I explained about Continued Underwriting, and that the premiums his company was paying to insure five members of staff could be reduced from £1,156 to £657 per month, just by moving to an alternative provider – yet still retaining the same cover for his knees.
Needless to say, we’re now in the process of moving his company’s policy!
There are some situations where the Continued Underwriting process isn’t available, but in the majority of cases it’s a straightforward process. What’s more, we often find that this process can lead to significant savings for the customer, as they’ve often stayed with their current provider for prolonged periods, watching their premiums increase and thinking that there was nothing they could do about it without being penalised.”
If you’ve been hanging on to the same provider for similar reasons, please feel free to get in touch on 0844 809 4897, or complete a call back request – let’s see if we can save you some money.
