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What are the different types of underwriting in UK health insurance?
What are the different types of underwriting in UK health insurance?
Updated over 6 months ago

Underwriting refers to the process used by insurance companies to assess the level of risk associated with insuring an individual or group and to determine the terms of coverage and premium rates. It normally involves evaluating various factors, that may include age, medical history, current health status, lifestyle habits (such as smoking or exercise habits), occupation, and pre-existing medical conditions. These practices are regulated to ensure that underwriting decisions are transparent, non-discriminatory, and based on objective criteria.


Kota's UK health insurance underwriting includes four options, that you can select based on your preference and previous existence of group health insurance. Learn more details about each one of them below before you make your decision.

Full Medical Underwriting

Your employees will be asked about their medical history. Based on this assessment, the provider might need to exclude some pre-existing conditions from their cover. Yet, this will always be communicated with clarity and detail upfront, so they will always know what's covered and what's not.

Moratorium Underwriting

In this case, the provider won't require any prior assessment of your employees' medical history. However, whenever they make a claim, they might be asked further questions and only then the provider will confirm whether they are covered for that claim or not.

This underwriting suits people who have no previous medical history or medical conditions. Nonetheless, this type of underwriting may not suit those who do, as pre-existing medical conditions may not be covered or waiting periods to have this condition covered may apply.

Continued Personal Medical Exclusions Underwriting (CPME / Switch)

This is only an option if you've already got a company health insurance plan with another provider than Vitality. It allows your employees to switch health insurance plans while maintaining continuity of coverage, with continued restrictions on coverage for pre-existing medical conditions or treatments.

Medical History Disregarded Underwriting

This is an option if you've already got a company health insurance plan with another provider than Vitality, where you've opted for this same underwriting method. Or, if your company is currently uninsured and has a minimum of 20 employees to be covered.

Your employees' pre-existing medical conditions or past medical treatments are not considered in the underwriting process. Nonetheless, this option may still have coverage limits, exclusions, or waiting periods for certain treatments, procedures, or medical conditions.

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