Employer cover ends, personal cover gets more expensive, and the switch between them is where conditions get excluded.

What the policy documents actually say

Employer schemes usually end with employment, and most are written on medical history disregarded terms — the one basis that ignores your history. Moving to a personal policy generally means being underwritten for the first time in years, and anything that developed while you were covered becomes pre-existing on the new one.

The mechanism to ask about by name is continued personal medical exclusions, where the new insurer accepts the exclusions the old scheme applied rather than assessing you afresh. AXA Health lists it as one of four underwriting routes. It is not always offered and it is rarely volunteered.

Premiums rise steeply with age, and the levers to pull back are the same structural ones: a higher excess, a narrower hospital list, or the six-week option. Aviva's excess tiers run to £5,000 and apply once per policy year rather than per claim, which suits someone claiming rarely but substantially.

The Exeter positions itself around later-life applicants and offers a choice of underwriting depending on whether you are switching from another insurer or new to cover — the distinction that matters most at this point.

Timing is the practical lesson. Arranging a personal policy before the scheme ends, rather than after, is the difference between a continuous history and a gap that resets everything.

Questions to put to the insurer or broker

  • Will you accept my scheme's exclusions rather than re-underwrite?
  • Can I arrange this before my scheme ends?
  • What does each excess tier save at my age?

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.

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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