A higher excess lowers the premium, and it is worth it if you claim rarely — but check whether the excess applies once a year or to every claim.

What actually happens

The excess is what you pay toward a claim before the insurer pays the rest, and raising it is one of the most direct ways to bring a renewal down. Because you are taking on more of the small, frequent costs, the insurer charges less to carry the rest, so a higher excess trades a lower premium for a larger bill on the day you claim.

The trade turns on how you claim. If you use the policy for the occasional significant treatment, a higher excess usually saves money overall, because you pay it rarely. If you claim often for smaller things — out-patient appointments, physiotherapy, diagnostics — a high excess can quietly cost you more than it saves across the year.

The detail that decides it is how the excess is applied. A per-policy-year excess is paid once however many times you claim; a per-claim excess is paid each time. The same headline figure means very different things under those two structures, so confirm which your plan uses before you raise it.

Insurers such as AXA Health, Aviva, Bupa, The Exeter and WPA publish a range of excess levels, and moving between them is a simple renewal adjustment rather than a re-underwrite. Model the premium at a couple of excess levels against how often you actually claim, and pick the point where the saving outweighs the risk.

Questions to put to the insurer or broker

  • Is my excess charged once a year or on every claim?
  • What is the premium at each excess level you offer?
  • Given how often I claim, which excess leaves me better off across the year?

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.
  • 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.

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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