Full underwriting tells you where you stand immediately. A moratorium keeps the question open, sometimes to your advantage.
What the policy documents actually say
Under full medical underwriting you complete a medical declaration and the insurer writes back with the exclusions that apply. You know at the outset what is and is not covered, which is the point. AXA Health lists it as one of four routes alongside continuing medical exclusions, medical history disregarded and moratorium.
A moratorium reverses the order. Nothing is declared upfront, and instead the insurer excludes anything you have had symptoms, treatment or advice for in a defined recent period — commonly the last five years — with the exclusion lifting once you have gone a set time without any of those. You learn where you stand when you claim.
The trade is certainty against optionality. If your history is straightforward, full underwriting removes ambiguity and there is little reason to avoid it. If your history is complicated or ambiguous, a moratorium avoids permanent exclusions being written against conditions that may never recur.
Aviva ties one benefit directly to the choice: its £100 baby bonus is only available on moratorium or full medical underwriting terms if the baby arrives more than ten months after joining.
Switching insurers later is where the choice compounds. Moving from a moratorium policy usually restarts the clock unless the new insurer offers continued personal medical exclusions, which is why the underwriting basis matters more at renewal than at purchase.
Questions to put to the insurer or broker
- Would my history produce written exclusions under full underwriting?
- How long is the symptom-free period on the moratorium?
- Can I switch insurer later without restarting it?
Related questions
- Can I add my partner, child or parent to my policy?
- Is company-paid private health insurance taxed as a benefit in kind?
- Does private health insurance cover A&E or an emergency?
- Will private health insurance pay for cosmetic surgery?
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.
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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