Whether you’re quitting your job, retiring, getting laid off, or have been laid off, it’s more than likely that your company’s private health insurance will end on or around the day you leave. In this guide, we explain what usually happens when you leave your job and how you can ensure you continue to have private health insurance in the future.
What happens to health insurance when you quit or leave your job?
In almost all cases, when you leave your job, your company’s health insurance will stop, but exactly when this happens will depend on your employment contract. In a few rare cases, company cover will continue, but this is usually only when the individual is a senior executive or director who has been with the company for a long time. For the rest of us mere mortals, leaving will mean the loss of an excellent job perk.
That said, there are some great options to choose from while away; you might even get a better policy and benefits as a result. The key is to compare markets, spend time researching your options and speak to an independent professional before committing. Luckily, you’re in the right place to do all three!
Health insurance for group travel
The first thing you should do when you leave your job is to do a market comparison, looking at the best private health insurance providers in the UK. With a number to choose from, each with their own options and benefits, it’s usually quickest to request a quote through us and our team will do the work for you. The services provided by health insurance brokers are free and work in your best interest, not the interest of the insurer. Working with an independent broker ensures that the policy you decide on is the best for your specific circumstances. With health insurance being such a complicated, yet important type of protection, you need to get it right.
All of the top corporate and business providers offer what is commonly referred to as a “Bulk Leave” policy. As the name suggests, these are policies that have been created specifically for people like you, who are leaving the group scheme. The problem with many of these policies is that they are not always the best for the individual in question, as they are often configured to your previous employer’s specifications rather than your own. On top of that, they can be expensive because some, usually larger companies, have medical history neglected (MHD) policies. This means that the insurer will cover all employees for any condition, regardless of whether they have had symptoms related to it in the past. While that’s great when you’re an employee and probably affordable for a large company that will get discounts based on its size, an insured MHD policy will be expensive compared to other options for a single person or even a family.
Choosing a health insurance policy
If you’ve been on a group health insurance policy, you’ve probably never had much say in the level of coverage you receive. Now that you are leaving the company, you have the opportunity to configure your private health insurance policy as you wish, removing what you don’t need and adding what you consider essential. Here’s a list of pretty standard options you’ll get when you configure your policy:
- Outpatient diagnosis and treatment
- Therapies such as physiotherapy, chiropractic and osteopathy
- Mental health cover
- Routine dental and optical cover
- Whether you want to be able to choose the consultant who treats you
- Which hospitals you want to include (usually called your hospital list)
- Your excess policy
- Whether you want to cover your partner and/or family
- Download method used (see later in this guide)
- And often much more
Keep in mind that all health insurance policies usually include hospital and day care as standard.
Although often what makes it complicated, the great thing about private health insurance is that policies can be tailored exactly to your requirements.
Choosing an insurer when you leave the company
In addition to the above choices you will have to make, you will also be given the option of which insurer you want to go with. Maybe one is better for you based on your age or maybe because you lead a very fit and healthy lifestyle. Likewise, a particular private health insurance provider may give you special discounts and benefits that will offset the cost of your policy. Finally, you can choose one based on reputation, reviews, and price. The key is to have a choice!
Explanation of risk taking
We’re starting to get into the finer details of private health insurance, but that’s a good thing because you need to understand the options that will be offered to you.
Insurance is a term you may have come across when looking at insurance in the past; it is the process the insurer will go through to assess the risk of the policy and then offer the terms, including the price. All insurance policies are contracted, but the method used may vary. With health insurance, you can choose which method to use, and this will affect the coverage and price of your policy.
For new policies or those leaving companies, there are three main types of insurance to consider. Neglected Medical History (MHD) is often the most expensive option, moratorium and full medical history insurance.
Warranty moratorium
Moratorium insurance is the most popular form used for private health insurance in the UK. It’s hard to get exact figures for the market as a whole, but in our experience, over 90% of policies are written using it.
“In our experience, more than 90% of health insurance policies are written using moratoriums.”
When the policy is contracted on the basis of a moratorium, the insurer does not ask you any medical questions at all. They simply rule out any condition you have suffered from in the past five years. If you do not experience new symptoms two years after taking out the policy, the previously excluded condition will automatically become covered. With no medical questionnaires or letters to doctors, it’s easy to see why this is a quick and easy way to implement a policy.
The only downside to Moratorium Underwriting is that you don’t know what is specifically covered by your policy. To give you an example, you may have been involved in a minor car accident a few years ago, which resulted in several physio treatments for your neck. A few years after that, you take out health insurance on a moratorium. A year later, you suffer from a series of severe headaches, requiring medical treatment. Your general practitioner assesses you and suggests that a physiotherapist might be a good idea. During your first physiotherapy, the consultant treating you thinks he has identified the problem as coming from your neck. Your insurer may then decide to exclude your current condition on the basis that you have had neck problems in the last five years, albeit minor ones. Of course, this is just an example, but hopefully it illustrates our point.
Full medical history
In addition to insuring a full medical history, the insurer will ask you to fill out a detailed health questionnaire before telling you what it will and won’t cover. Unlike Moratorium Underwriting, Full Medical History, as the name suggests, looks at your entire medical and injury history, not just the last five years. It is a time-consuming way of taking out a policy as you, the insurer and even your GP have to fill in the forms and analyze the results. For this reason, not many policies are written based on a full medical history, but the question is why are some?
Let’s go back to what we mentioned as the only disadvantage of the Warranty Moratorium that you don’t know what is and isn’t covered until you file a claim. The advantage of signing a full medical history is that you know exactly what it isso there can be no nasty surprises about the claim. Your chosen insurer will clearly state which conditions they will and will not cover based on your published medical history. People opting for a full medical guarantee may have had slightly more complicated medical records and want clarity on exactly what their policy will provide.
“The benefit of signing a full medical history is that you know exactly what is covered by your private health insurance policy.”
Medical history neglected
Finally, Neglected Medical History, which is by all accounts the best form of insurance from a coverage perspective, as the insurer covers everything, regardless of pre-existing conditions. The problem with this type of policy for consumers like yourself is that they are very expensive, almost ridiculous compared to the other two options listed above. Indeed, this type of insurance is not even available to most individuals; usually offered to larger companies. While it is of course the gold standard and the best from a coverage perspective, it will cost you a fortune to maintain a policy and you may even think that private health insurance is unaffordable.
Download summary
As with all the other factors and variables you need to consider regarding your private health insurance when you leave a company, it pays to talk to a health insurance broker about what form of insurance is best for you. Instead of trying to guess, you can work with an expert who has countless years of experience and can help you choose the right path based on your circumstances.
