Usually yes — and this is exactly where a low out-patient limit does the most damage.

What the policy documents actually say

Diagnosis happens out-patient. Consultations, blood tests, scans and the follow-up to discuss results all draw on the out-patient allowance before anyone knows what is wrong. Aviva covers diagnostic tests in full — blood tests, X-rays, scans and ECGs — while AXA Health pays CT, MRI and PET scans in full only at a scanning centre in its Directory of Hospitals, on a specialist's referral.

WPA sets out-patient consultations with a specialist at £250 a year as standard, extendable by buying its Extra Out-patient Consultations option. The Exeter puts CT, MRI and PET scans in core cover but sells broader out-patient consultation and diagnostic cover as an add-on, with an unlimited out-patient diagnostics option on top.

The sequencing problem is real: a £500 out-patient limit can be exhausted mid-investigation, leaving generous in-patient cover you cannot reach because you cannot afford to finish finding out what is wrong.

There is a second trap. Investigation of a symptom you had before the policy started is pre-existing even though nothing has been diagnosed yet. The absence of a diagnosis does not make a long-standing symptom new.

If diagnostics matter to you — and for most people they are the reason to hold cover at all — compare on the out-patient limit and what draws against it, not on the headline premium.

Questions to put to the insurer or broker

  • Does the out-patient limit cover the scan and the consultations?
  • Are diagnostics paid in full or capped?
  • Is an undiagnosed but long-standing symptom excluded?

Related questions

Sources

  • Source: Aviva — Healthier Solutions Terms and conditions (2025-04), read 4 September 2026.
  • Source: AXA Health — Personal Health membership handbook, October 2024, read 4 September 2026.
  • Source: The Exeter — Private Medical Insurance — Insurance Product Information Document (Health+) (2025-10), read 4 September 2026.
  • Source: WPA — Private Medical Insurance — Insurance Product Information Document (Complete Health) (2025-11), read 4 September 2026.

The limit behind every answer here

None of this reaches a condition you already have. Cover is written for problems that arise after it starts, so anything you have symptoms of when you apply is excluded — permanently under full medical underwriting, or until a symptom-free period has passed under a moratorium. Chronic conditions are excluded by every insurer whose wording we hold. Figures quoted come from current policy documents and change at renewal, so check the document you are actually offered.

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