It is the switch basis that copies your old policy's exclusions onto the new one, so moving insurer does not re-open your whole medical history.
What actually happens
Continued personal medical exclusions — usually shortened to CPME, and sometimes called a switch basis — is a way of moving insurer without being treated as a new applicant. The new insurer agrees to apply the same personal exclusions you already had, rather than re-underwriting you from scratch. What was covered stays covered; what was excluded stays excluded.
It sits between the two starting bases. Full medical underwriting asks you to declare your history and sets exclusions accordingly. A fresh moratorium ignores declarations but parks recent conditions until you have gone a symptom-free period. CPME sidesteps both by simply carrying your existing terms across, which is why it is the safe route for anyone who has been treated for something since taking out cover.
It depends on continuity. Insurers generally offer CPME only if you have held cover without a break and move straight across with no gap, and some ask that your existing policy has been in force for a minimum period. If cover lapses, the offer can fall away and you are back to fresh underwriting.
CPME does not upgrade your cover. If a condition was excluded before, it remains excluded after — the point is to protect what you have, not to gain new benefits. To have an exclusion reviewed you would need to ask the insurer directly, and that is a separate conversation from the switch itself.
Questions to put to the insurer or broker
- Do you offer continued personal medical exclusions for someone with my history?
- How long must my current policy have been in force to qualify?
- Will there be any gap in cover during the switch, and how do we avoid one?
Related questions
- Can I switch health insurer and keep my condition covered?
- Does private health insurance get more expensive every year in the UK?
- What do I lose by downgrading my private health insurance at renewal?
- Do new customers pay less than me for private health insurance?
What a switch cannot change
Switching insurer or adjusting cover changes the price, not your medical history. A condition you already have stays excluded when you move — carried across as it stands on continued personal medical exclusions, re-declared under full medical underwriting, or parked under a fresh moratorium. Chronic conditions are excluded by every insurer whose wording we hold, and renewal terms change each year, so read the document you are actually offered before you commit.
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