How to compare health insurance quotes in the UK

What a quote is made of

A health insurance premium is built from seven choices, and a quote only compares with another quote made from the same seven. Vitality lists them: your age, where you live, your claims history, the level of cover, the hospital list, the excess and the underwriting method. Change any one and the price moves.

Vitality's published example shows how specific a quote is. Core Cover from £44 a month applies to a 35-year-old in Peterborough, starting in April 2025, with full medical underwriting, the Consultant Select hospital list, a £250 excess and a £500 out-patient limit. Move the same person to London, raise the age to 55, or cut the excess to zero, and £44 no longer applies. Premiums also drift upwards by around 3% a year with age, before any rise for claims.

Where to get quotes

Four comparison sites return quotes from several insurers from one form:

• Compare the Market
• MoneySuperMarket
• GoCompare
• Compare My Health Insurance

They are listed as examples, not endorsements. The Dose Club has no arrangement with any of them and takes no payment from them. Insurers also quote on their own sites, and a broker can quote across the market and is paid by commission from the insurer.

Three things a comparison result does not show you. It does not show the exclusions list. It does not show whether the excess is per year or per claim. It does not show what the premium will be at the second renewal. Each of these has to be read from the insurer's documents.

Set the quotes to match

Before reading any price, fix these on every quote:

Only with the settings matched is the cheapest quote the cheapest policy. The excess, limits and underwriting methods are explained on the excess and exclusions page.

Read the exclusions

Every insurer publishes an insurance product information document, two pages that list what is insured, what is not and what is restricted. Read it for each shortlisted quote. Bupa's lists accident and emergency admissions, weight loss, out-patient drugs and unlicensed experimental drugs as not insured, with restrictions on chronic conditions, pre-existing conditions, pregnancy and cosmetic surgery. AXA Health excludes chronic conditions, pre-existing conditions, routine pregnancy, dental procedures, private prescriptions and preventative tests with no symptoms.

The lists are similar across insurers because the product is similar. Private medical insurance pays for diagnosis and treatment of new, acute, curable conditions in a private hospital. The ABI's wording is that insurers typically do not cover chronic conditions, and that you will normally not be covered for any illness you currently have or have already had.

Weight loss medicines

Mounjaro, Wegovy, the Wegovy pill and Foundayo are unlikely to be covered by any policy you compare. Three separate rules each rule them out. Bupa lists weight loss as not insured. Bupa and AXA Health exclude out-patient and take-home drugs and private prescriptions. Vitality applies a 25% co-payment to weight loss and corrective surgery, and its cover options page does not mention the medicines at all.

If the reason for buying insurance is to get one of these medicines paid for, the policy will not do it. The private pharmacy prices are compared on the Mounjaro, Wegovy, Wegovy pill and Foundayo price pages.

The pitfalls, in plain terms

The quote is for a healthy you. Under moratorium underwriting the insurer checks your history when you claim. Anything treated in the previous five years is excluded until you have gone a set period, usually two years, without trouble from it.

The excess may be charged twice. Bupa warns that treatment running across a renewal date can trigger the excess in both policy years.

The out-patient limit runs out fast. A £500 cap covers two consultations at £218 each and little else. Vitality covers MRI, CT and PET scans in full outside the limit, which not every insurer does.

The renewal price is not the first-year price. Vitality bands claims and applies a larger rise at renewal to higher bands.

Emergencies go to the NHS. Accident and emergency admissions are not insured at Bupa, and no private policy replaces A&E.

Switching mid-term costs. The ABI says a fee may apply, and a new insurer may start a new moratorium.

Add-ons change the comparison. Dental and optical cashback at AXA Health pays 80% of fees up to £400 and £200 a year. A cash plan from £5 a month may do the same job, as set out on the health cash plans page.

Steps to compare

1. Decide the excess you can pay at short notice and the out-patient limit you need, then fix both on every quote.
2. Get quotes from at least one comparison site and two insurers direct, all with the same settings.
3. Download the insurance product information document for each of the three cheapest.
4. Check the underwriting method on each. If you have a condition from the last five years, ask each insurer in writing how it will be treated.
5. Ask for the renewal pricing rules, including the claims bands.
6. If your employer offers a scheme, compare its cover before buying your own. The ABI notes group schemes usually need no medical history.
7. After buying, use the 14-day cancellation window under FCA rules, or 21 days at Bupa, if the documents differ from the quote.

Where the figures come from

Premium factors, the £44 example and the out-patient and excess options are from Vitality's cost guide, excess and cover options pages. Exclusions are from Bupa's product information document and AXA Health's explainer. Market figures and underwriting rules are from the ABI. The cancellation period is from the FCA Handbook, ICOBS 7.1. All read on 22 October 2026.