Move on a continued-cover basis with no gap, and the qualifying periods you have already served usually carry across instead of restarting.

What actually happens

Some benefits carry a qualifying period — a stretch after the policy starts before you can claim for them. Take out a brand-new policy and those periods begin again, which can leave you unable to claim for a benefit you were fully entitled to on your old cover. That is the cost of switching as a new applicant rather than a continuing one.

Switching on a continued basis is what avoids it. When a new insurer accepts you on continued personal medical exclusions and you move straight across with no gap, it generally recognises the cover you have already held, so served qualifying periods do not restart. The continuity is the whole value of the switch route.

That makes timing the critical detail. Line the new policy up to start the day the old one ends, so there is no day uninsured, and confirm in writing that qualifying periods are being carried across rather than reimposed. A gap of even a few days can hand the new insurer grounds to treat you as new.

A broker arranging the move can confirm which insurer will honour your continuity and put the no-gap changeover in place. Insurers such as AXA Health, Aviva and Bupa switch policyholders on this basis regularly, but the terms depend on your history and on the handover being clean.

Questions to put to the insurer or broker

  • Will my served qualifying periods carry across, or restart on the new policy?
  • Can the new cover start the exact day my current policy ends?
  • Will you confirm the continuity terms in writing before I commit?

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: Bupa policy guide — Bupa By You health insurance (BINS 14718) (2024), read 4 September 2026.

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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