This is one of the questions most frequently asked by our private health insurance customers.
In short, the answer is yes!
Many people assume that private health insurance will only cover them for illnesses they haven’t had yet. In most cases, this won’t be true, and it will be possible to switch to a new healthcare provider whilst retaining cover for conditions that developed after you entered your current healthcare policy.
People will often mistakenly remain with the same provider when they could have qualified for significantly cheaper premiums by switching to someone else, because they’re concerned that a certain medical condition won’t be covered by a new insurer.
There is a process that lets you switch to a new private health insurance provider without having to go through the underwriting process again. It’s called “continued underwriting” and (although a small number of exceptions could either delay the process or make it impossible) in the majority of cases it’s a very straightforward process that is available on both business and personal policies. Continued underwriting allows a reasonable amount of freedom of movement in the marketplace, without penalising the customer. This creates healthy competition between providers, too.
Illnesses that would make moving to another provider difficult include cancer, heart and psychiatric conditions in particular, but even these can qualify for cover subject to certain criteria. In addition, those who’ve had recent cause to visit a consultant or hospital, or those who have treatment pending, might also find it harder to go through this process as well.
If you’d like an informal chat to find out if you can reduce your private health insurance costs and stay covered for any existing conditions, please give us a call, or fill out our contact form and we’ll ring you back.
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