Health insurance for over 70s

Health insurance for people over 70 is as valuable as ever, as it can help you avoid some of the worst of what’s happening in the NHS. But, getting health insurance over 70 is a minefield, so, our team of private medical insurance experts have created this comprehensive guide explaining your options, who the best providers are, how to get a policy and save money.

Health insurance vs. health cash plans

There’s often confusion about health insurance and whether health cash plans, like those from Benenden or SimplyHealth, are insurance products. To help you know the difference, here’s a brief explanation:

Health insurance covers unpredictable health conditions that typically require hospital treatment or surgery. Private health insurance often extends to other services such as physiotherapy and mental health care, but crucially, it covers unpredictable health issues.

Health cash plans help you budget for routine medical expenses such as trips to the dentist, opticians, audiologists and sometimes physiotherapy. These plans aren’t insurance, as they’re there to cover predictable costs.

Why is health insurance more expensive the older we become?

We have a detailed guide explaining why health insurance gets more expensive as we age. But in short, it’s because we’re at a higher risk of developing medical conditions as we age. Treatment also becomes more complicated and costly due to patients often having comorbidities that have to be considered. Finally, recovery from treatment often takes longer, again pushing the cost of claims up for insurers.

Comorbidities

Medical conditions that coexist alongside a primary diagnosis and affect your health, including your treatment and outlook.

Benefits of health insurance for over 70s

The benefits of private medical insurance for to the over 70s are significant and go far beyond simply faster treatment:

Avoid NHS waiting lists – Get diagnosed*, treated and better soonerExcellent cancer cover – Most policies provide outstanding coverage in relation to cancer24/7 Virtual GP – Speak to a private GP by phone or video at anytimePrivacy in hospital – A private room if you’re admitted to hospitalMore choice – Choose where, when and who performs your treatmentsAnnual health checks – Proactively manage your health to catch things soonerCashback – Get help with routine costs like trips to the dentist and opticians

*Pre-diagnostic consultations are typically only available if you opt for out-patient cover

What does over 70s private health insurance cover?

All health insurance in the UK is designed to cover new, acute medical conditions that come on after taking out a policy. Basic policies will usually cover the cost of treatment in private hospitals once you are diagnosed, with more comprehensive policies including out-patient cover so that you can go private for diagnostic testing and consultations, too.

A note on cancer and mental health conditions

Both cancer and mental health conditions can share characteristics with both acute and chronic conditions. However, they are usually covered so long as you have the appropriate policy options.

What’s excluded from over 70’s health insurance policies?

While each insurer will have a list of exclusions, which is well worth looking at, the two exclusions of particular note are chronic and pre-existing medical conditions. Chronic conditions are those that require management and where a full recovery often isn’t possible, for example diabetes and asthma.

Pre-existing conditions are things you’ve suffered from or sought treatment for in the past. With Moratorium underwriting, anything in the past five years will automatically be excluded, whereas with Full Medical Underwriting, your insurer will be more specific about your exclusions.

What upper age limits apply to health insurance in the UK?

Some top health insurance companies have upper age limits that restrict people from joining after a certain age. Importantly, these restrictions only apply to people joining these companies. If you get a policy before you reach one of the ages listed below, you can keep it for as long as you wish.

Age limits for new members by provider:

Aviva – no upper age limitAxa Health – Full medical underwriting after 75th birthdayBupa – no upper age limitNational Friendly – 85 years oldSaga – no upper age limitThe Exeter – 80 years oldVitality – 80 years oldWPA – strict joining criteria after 65th birthday

You can learn more about health insurance age limits in our dedicated guide.

Your underwriting options when looking at health insurance

Underwriting is the process your insurer goes through to assess the risk of insuring you, and with private medical insurance, you usually get a choice between several types, moratorium, full medical, and switch underwriting.

What is moratorium underwriting?

Moratorium underwriting is often the simplest option when getting a new policy, as your insurer will ask only a limited number of questions about your medical history. With moratorium underwriting, your insurer will usually automatically exclude any health conditions you’ve suffered from in past five years, including those you’ve had treatment for, or merely sought advice about. If you get a policy and don’t experience symptoms of a previously excluded condition for two years, it’ll be covered in future years.

Benefits of moratorium underwriting:

Quick and easy, there is no need to complete a medical questionnaire.Enables you to regain coverage for conditions that might have previously been excluded.

What is full medical underwriting?

Full medical underwriting takes a different approach. You’ll need to complete a medical questionnaire about your history of illnesses, injuries and previous conditions. Your insurer will then use that information to provide you with a list of exclusions, and you’ll have the choice as to whether you’d like to continue and take out the policy, or not. Unlike moratorium underwriting, once you have exclusions on your policy from full medical underwriting, it’s unlikely to be removed unless you were to negotiate it with your insurer.

Benefits of full medical underwriting:

Gives you more clarity over what is and isn’t covered by your policy.Can sometimes reduce premiums.

What is switch underwriting?

Finally, if you already have a health insurance policy and you’re looking to switch to a new provider, you’ll have the option to consider “switch” underwriting. With this type of underwriting, you can move to a new insurer while preserving your current list of exclusions, i.e. minimising the risk of more being added. Each insurer has different switch criteria you’ll need to meet to benefit, and it won’t be an option for everyone.

Benefits of switch underwriting:

Avoid adding more exclusions to your policy when you change providers.Potentially save money by moving to a new insurer without significant risk.

What’s the best health insurance for seniors over 70?

Our team of private healthcare and insurance experts regularly review the market of UK health insurance companies to help you better understand how they all compare. We look at policy benefits, limits and restrictions, costs and customer satisfaction to provide a balanced view of the private healthcare market.

In 2024, our top private health insurance providers for over 70s are:

1. Bupa

Bupa is the best-known private health insurance provider in the UK and has an outstanding reputation among customers and brokers. Bupa is a not-for-profit organisation, meaning it doesn’t pay profits to shareholders but instead can invest them into the business to benefit members. Bupa has several unique benefits including “Direct Access” which allows you to bypass your GP and go straight to them if you suspect you might have cancer and several other concerns.

Alongside that, Bupa also has very competitive pricing, especially for seniors. With no upper age limit to join, they’re a good choice regardless of how many years you have under your belt.

Finally, customers of Bupa also thing they’re “Excellent”, with a current score of 4.3 out of 5 stars on the reviews platform Trustpilot from 25,417 reviews.

2. The Exeter

The Exeter are one of the lesser known health insurers among consumers but should be close to the top of your list of contenders when looking at over 70s health insurance. True they only accept new members up to their 80th birthday but, if you’re in your 70s they might be an excellent choice.

What stands The Exeter out from others is fairness. They are the fairest insurer regarding how claims affect your renewal premiums, meaning smaller claims affect your no-claims discount less with The Exeter. They’re also one of the best in terms of medical underwriting and how previous medical issues affect your policy exclusions. From what we understand, The Exeter’s underwriting team is far more targeted with their exclusions, and that can lead to fewer restrictions.

Customers of The Exeter also think they’re “Great” with a score of 4.2 out of 5 stars on Trustpilot from 888 reviews.

3. Vitality

Vitality is one of the newer health insurance brands in the UK and does things differently from the rest. With Vitality, the cost of your policy is linked to how fit and active you are, meaning if you like to keep in shape and are happy to track your activity, they’ll reward you for it in lower premiums. Vitality is also the only insurer in this shortlist that doesn’t operate a no-claims bonus and, instead, has something called their A+B+C pricing model (Age+Base Inflation+Claims) to try to make renewal pricing more simple and transparent.

Unfortunately, if you’re 80 years of age or older, you can’t join Vitality, but if you get a policy before that age you’re fine to stay with them beyond that. The only other consideration with Vitality is that as your activity levels impact your renewal premiums, if you’re not active for whatever reason, then you will see higher premiums into the future.

Vitality currently outperforms others in this list in terms of customer reviews, with a total of 43,802 and a score of 4.3 out of 5 stars and a rating of “Excellent” on Trustpilot.

4. Axa Health

Axa Health’s Personal Health policy is an excellent choice for the over 70s, albeit you’ll need to go through full medical underwriting after your 75th birthday. Opt for a hospital list rather than guided consultants (more on this later). You’ll have access to one of the best standard hospital lists in the market, with very few exclusions. Axa Health also has very generous standard out-patient limits and no limit on out-patient therapies if that cover option is selected.

Currently, Axa Health scores 4.2 out of five on Trustpilot from over 12,135 reviews.

5. Saga

Finally, Saga is a choice that many will consider, not realising that their policies are underwritten by Bupa, with Bupa also handling their claims. The attraction to Saga beyond brand recognition in the market is that they have no upper age limit and slightly different underwriting terms to many leading insurers. Many of the benefits with Saga are comparable to that of Bupa, such as mental health cover included as standard and direct access to MSK and mental health services.

Saga currently has a score of 4 out of 5 on Trustpilot based on close to 40,000 reviews. However, as Saga offers many services beyond health insurance, it’s difficult to know how well it does in that respect.

How much does private health insurance cost for a 70-year-old?

Our latest 2024 research found that the average cost of private health insurance for a 70-year-old was £141 per month for a plan without out-patient cover and £203 with out-patient cover.

These prices are purely indicative and depending on where you live, your cover options and other factors your premiums could be higher or lower.

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What should you consider when looking at over 70s health insurance?

When you start looking at private health insurance cover there are several key considerations and decisions you’ll need to make. Here we summarise some of the main ones to be mindful of, and to raise with your broker come the time you speak with one.

Underwriting method – as explained earlier, this is perhaps the most important consideration and one that’s worth taking time to understand.Hospital list or guided care – do you want almost free choice over your treatment options, or are you happy to be led by your insurer?Level of cover vs. budget – your premiums will only rise as you get older, consider whether your policy will remain affordable and look at removing policy benefits if necessary.Insurer reviews – many leading insurers have comparable policy benefits, but customer service and claims experience can be key differentiators.

Why it pays to speak to a health insurance broker

Health insurance is a relatively complicated financial product, so we always recommend you speak with a health insurance broker or financial adviser before buying a policy and getting expert advice. They don’t charge you for their service; you’ll pay the same, and sometimes less than you would go direct, and you’ll have an expert on hand to answer any questions you have. If you compare health insurance with myTribe, we’ll introduce you to one of our highly-rated, fully vetted health insurance brokers. Each of those we work with is excellent, and we continually get glowing feedback from people about them.

Disclaimer: This information is general and what is best for you will depend on your personal circumstances. Please speak with a financial adviser or do your own research before making a decision.