Health insurance frequently asked questions

Whether we can or can't cover a pre-existing condition, and how we deal with it, depends on the type of underwriting you choose.

A 'pre-existing' condition is when you've had symptoms, medication, advice, treatment, or diagnostic tests for a disease, illness, or injury before taking out health cover.

Your health insurance might not cover a pre-existing condition, because it's meant for new, unexpected, or short-term conditions that happen after you take out the policy.

Find out more about health insurance and pre-existing conditions.

We don't ask for a medical exam when you're applying for health insurance. However, depending on the type of underwriting you choose, we may need your medical records before we can share our decision.

There are a few different factors that can affect your premium, such as age and location, claim history, cover, and policy excess. 

Find out more about what shapes the price of your policy in our article on how much health insurance costs.

You can only get a health insurance policy with us if you're 18 or older.

Your health insurance cover with us also gives you access to the Aviva Digital GP app*. Provided by Square Health, it gives you unlimited, 24/7 access to GP video consultations, per member, per policy year.

If you have an appointment with a GP through the app and they refer you for further assessment or treatment, you'll then need to start a claim.

We don't cover any charges to see an NHS or private GP, or for any treatment or diagnostic tests they carry out.

* The Aviva Digital GP app is a non-contractual benefit and can be changed or withdrawn at any time. You can find terms and conditions and the privacy policy for the Aviva Digital GP service in the app.

Our health insurance only covers you in the UK, not abroad. That means you're covered in England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man. 

We don't offer international health insurance. However, if you're travelling abroad and are looking for cover while you're away, you could explore our travel insurance. It's not health insurance, but includes a limited amount of cover for medical emergencies. It might also be able to cover pre-existing conditions.

Explore what our travel insurance covers.

Yes, you can get dental cover depending on what you choose when you apply.

Our core cover includes surgical procedures on teeth carried out in a hospital. Though this won't be covered if you choose our reduced outpatient option.

You can also enhance your basic cover with our dental and optical add-on, for an additional cost. With this option, you'll also be covered for routine dental treatment and optical expenses, up to a limit.

Yes, we do. But how it works depends on when you register your baby.

If you apply to register your baby as a dependant on your policy before they're three months old, we'll give you up to three months free health cover for them. We'll also disregard their medical history and no personal exclusions will apply.

If you add your baby after they're three months old, we'll then underwrite any pre-existing conditions.

Your baby will continue to get free cover after the first three months if you already have other children on the policy aged 19 or under. That's because a premium is payable for the eldest child aged under 20 on the policy. All other children aged under 20 on the policy are covered for free.

We also offer a ‘baby bonus’ where any family member covered by the policy will get £100 from us when they have a baby or adopt one up to one-year old. Premiums must be paid to date, and a 10-month qualifying period applies to members with either a moratorium or fully medical underwritten underwriting.  

Yes, absolutely. You don’t have to be married to take out couples’ health insurance with us.

It could be cheaper to get joint cover, rather than two individual policies. This depends on how old each of the policyholders are, and which one is the main policyholder.

Our health insurance covers you individually for therapy or counselling relating to mental health conditions such as anxiety, depression and OCD. It doesn’t cover relationship counselling.

You can add your spouse, partner, or civil partner to your policy, as well as your children. This will make them members of your policy, and they have to be a UK resident for the duration of your policy year.

You can add new members to your policy at any time by getting in touch with us. If you or any of your family members have a baby while covered by your policy, you can add them to your policy. If you do this within three months of them being born, we'll give you up to three months of free health cover for them and we'll disregard their medical history (so no personal exclusions will apply).

Having family health insurance can give you faster, easier access to medical care when you need it, but that’s not all. It also gives you access to a range of wellbeing services to help you and your family get more out of everyday life.

It may also be more cost-effective to share a policy with your partner than taking out individual policies. You can also add your baby to your policy for free if you apply within three months of their birth date. And you’ll only pay for one child as long as your eldest is under 20.

Discover more about the benefits of family health insurance.

The cost of your health insurance depends on a couple things, including the level of cover you choose as well as factors like your age and location, and the type of medical underwriting you choose.

We review your premiums every year, and they can change to reflect to overall changing costs of claims and medical inflation.

Our private family health insurance helps you manage the cost of healthcare services outside of the NHS, and you pay for it through premiums. How it works can vary from provider to provider, but it generally works like this: 

• You may need to fill out a medical questionnaire before starting a policy
• Pay monthly or annually for cover
• Make a claim if you get ill or injured 
• Choose where you want to be treated 
• Pay an excess towards the cost (unless it’s already fully covered) 
• Get a payout from the insurer.

Learn more about how private health insurance works.

Yes, you don’t need to wait until the end of the policy year before switching. However, it’s a good idea to check with your current provider to see if there are any early exit or cancellation fees that would need to be paid.

The first step to switching is to get a quote - you can do this online or over the phone. How long it will take will depend on the individual – you might have questions to ask or want to mull things over. You don’t have to accept your quote straight away, but once you have we’ll send you the relevant policy documents. The only things left to do will be to cancel your current policy and email or post us your current provider’s certificate of insurance within 21 days to complete the switch.

If you’re already having treatment and want it to continue, then it’s unlikely you’d meet our criteria for switching to us and bringing over your medical history. We’d be able to offer you a policy based on new underwriting terms, but this means that any pre-existing conditions, especially if ongoing, will not be covered.

Yes, customers can switch at any time, you don’t have to wait until renewal. Remember to check with your current provider to see if there are any early exit or cancellation fees that would need to be paid.

No, if one or more family members want to stay with your current insurer (for example if they’re going through a claim), then you can choose to only switch the family members who want to move and the others stay where they are.

Once your GP has referred you for further tests or treatment, you can start a claim in MyAviva or by giving us a call. We'll just need to know your symptoms, when they started, and what you've been referred for.

Make sure you start your claim before any treatment or tests, so you know if they're covered.

You can find all the information you need and contact details on our make a health insurance claim page.

Yes, you need a referral from a GP to make a claim.

If you see a GP and they want you to see a specialist, tell them you've got private medical insurance with us.

They'll then either give you an open referral or a named referral with a specific consultant, specialist or clinic. If you ask for an open referral, we can help you find a hospital and specialist covered by your policy. If you've chosen our Expert Select hospital option, you'll always need to ask for an open referral.

Remember to start your claim with us before having any tests or treatment, so you know if they're covered or not.

Discover more about making a health insurance claim.

Yes, you'll need to renew your policy every 12 months. We'll send you an invite to renew around 30 days before your renewal date, so you can check your details are still right and the cover still meets your needs.

If you've previously been a part of MyHealthCounts, our digital health and wellbeing programme, you'll also find out if you've qualified for a discount on your renewal premium.

Once you've checked all the renewal details, you can simply leave the rest to us if you don't need to make any changes. We'll automatically renew your policy on your renewal date and take payment (using the payment details we have saved for you). You'll then be covered for another 12 months, unless you stop making payments.

How much you pay for your health insurance could change every year. That's because we look at a few different factors when working out your renewal price. Some are about you specifically, like age or postcode. Others are about things happening in the world or the insurance market, like the cost of medical treatments going up. Any of these things could affect your premiums.

Learn more about what could make you health insurance premiums change.

You can make certain changes to your personal or policy details at any time. This could be changing the name, title, or address of anyone on the policy, correcting information on the policy schedule, or taking members off your policy. Give us a call on 0800 068 3827* to let us know about any changes.

You can increase or decrease your cover at renewal, such as adding routine dental and optical treatment or changing your hospital option. We'll just need to check your claim history before deciding if you can make these changes, and it could affect how much you pay.

*We may monitor or record calls. Calls to 0800 numbers from a UK landline or mobile are free.

Yes, you can add other people to your health insurance policy, if they're part of your immediate family group. This could be a spouse, partner, or your children.

If you add two or more children aged 19 or under, you'll only pay for the oldest (until they turn 20). Plus, adding your partner to your health insurance rather than having your own individual policies could save you money.

Yes, you can cancel your policy at any time, for any reason.

If you cancel within 14 days of the policy start date or renewal, and haven't made any claims, we'll refund the full premium.

Want to cancel your policy? Call us on 0800 092 4590*.

Alternatively, you can write to us at Aviva Health UK, Unit 1A, Hampshire Corporate Park, Templars Way, Eastleigh, Hampshire, SO53 3RY.

*We may monitor or record calls. Calls to 0800 numbers from a UK landline or mobile are free.

There are a range of ways to get in touch with us. If you need a BSL interpreter, you can contact us using Convo (formerly known as SignLive), a free British Sign Language interpreter app we've partnered with.

You can contact us using this service if you need to talk about setting up a new policy, making a claim, or have a customer service question.

Find out more about Convo and accessibility at Aviva.

If this service doesn't meet your needs, there are other ways of contacting us. You could use our LiveChat or one of our online forms, or log into MyAviva to manage your query yourself.

At Aviva, we’re proud of our ambition to become a Net Zero company by 2040. We believe in taking action to help tackle climate change and are committed to reducing our environmental impact across our business.

We are currently working to align our Health Insurance business with Aviva’s Net Zero transition plan. At this time, Health claims suppliers are not included in our Group’s ambition for 70% of suppliers to have validated Science Based Targets. This is due to a number of factors, including the diverse nature of our supply chain and the lack of an industry-agreed way to measure the carbon impact of health insurance claims at this time.

We are actively working to change that and remain committed to evolving our strategy as industry guidance and standards develop. This includes developing a better understanding of the carbon emissions linked to the services and suppliers we use to fulfil claims.

Our goal is to align our health insurance business with our transition plan as soon as we can - providing customers with treatment options that are clinically effective while also aiming to minimise carbon emissions wherever possible. To learn more about our Net Zero ambition and our progress, read our full Transition Plan (PDF 10.5 MB).