What this site is for
The question that decides everything else
Buying private medical insurance for the first time rarely starts with insurance at all. It usually starts with a diagnosis, a long wait for an NHS appointment, or a renewal letter showing a premium that has jumped. The health problem comes first, and the insurance question comes second.
Most explanations of private medical insurance begin with what a policy covers: in-patient treatment, out-patient diagnosis, cancer cover, and the rest of it. This site begins earlier, with the decision that settles what any of that cover will actually do for the condition that prompted the search. A policy written on moratorium underwriting excludes pre-existing conditions at the outset, then lets some of them back into cover after a period free of symptoms, treatment and advice. A policy written on full medical underwriting decides what is excluded at application, and that exclusion holds for as long as the policy runs. That choice is made before a policy is bought, and it is the one most first-time buyers never see named until a claim turns on it.
What the underwriting basis decides, and what it does not
Under either basis, the condition that brought someone to look for cover is usually excluded from the start. Knowing this before comparing policies changes what a reader is actually comparing. An interactive tool here lets a reader enter their own medical history and see, under each basis, which conditions would likely sit outside cover and which could come into it later. Its output follows the published range of rules across insurers, so it cannot confirm exactly what a particular policy would decide, and nothing entered into it is stored or sent anywhere.
Who comes here
Most readers are UK adults looking at private medical insurance for the first time, usually prompted by a health concern. A second group already holds a policy and is weighing up whether switching insurer, or switching underwriting basis, would reset what counts as pre-existing for a condition they already have.
The underwriting basis
Moratorium underwriting and full medical underwriting decide, before any claim is made, whether a condition can ever come into cover.
The condition that brought you here
Usually excluded at the outset under both bases, which is worth knowing before comparing anything else about a policy.
Who this is for
First-time buyers working out what cover would actually do for them, and existing policyholders wondering what switching would reset.
How this site is funded
This site is funded by display advertising, the kind of banner and panel adverts you see alongside the articles and the tool. Nobody pays to have their insurer named, ranked or recommended here, and no insurer pays for placement in the directory or anywhere else on the site.
No affiliate links, no referral fees
A link to an insurer or a source is given because it is where a reader can check the rule for themselves. There is no affiliate relationship with any insurer, and no fee is earned when a reader goes on to take out a policy.
No data collection
The medical history you might enter into the underwriting tool is not stored, not transmitted, and not used to target the advertising you see. It stays in your browser and nowhere else.
How figures are sourced and dated
A rate or a period doesn't stay still for long. The standard rate of Insurance Premium Tax is set by government and reviewed from time to time, and the years an insurer looks back when assessing a medical history is a term in its own published documents. So wherever a figure like that appears, it sits next to the page or document it came from and the date it was read, because that's the only way to know how current it was.
Why a range rather than one number
Insurers don't all use the same look-back period or the same trouble-free period before a condition can come into cover. One insurer's published terms might differ from another's by several years. The lower and upper bounds are given together, each with the source that sets it, so you can see how much the figure actually moves between insurers.
Where a definition comes from
Where a definition or a rule is drawn from a particular insurer's own published wording, that insurer and document are named. Terms differ from one insurer to the next, and the version that applies to a policy is usually set out in the membership certificate issued after you buy, not in the quote documents you saw first. Checking that document against what's written here is still worth doing before you rely on it.
What this site does, and does not, do
This site sets out general information about how private medical insurance works, including how underwriting rules affect a given medical history. Nothing on it amounts to financial advice or insurance advice, and nothing here recommends that you take out, keep, switch or cancel any policy.
No regulated activity takes place here
This site does not carry out a regulated activity under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000. It does not introduce, arrange, advise on or refer you to any insurance product or provider. Where a decision depends on your own circumstances, that decision sits with you, and with an insurer or a regulated adviser where one is needed.
What the tool can and cannot tell you
The interactive tool shows what published underwriting rules imply for the medical history you enter. It cannot confirm what a specific insurer will decide about a specific claim, and its output is not a coverage determination. Where a rule matters to your decision, check it against the insurer's own published documentation, including the membership certificate issued after purchase.