CPME allows you to change health insurance providers while maintaining the terms you had with your previous insurer. It is only available with full medical insurance. If you have a warranty moratorium, switching your warranty will be a better option for you. Here’s how it works.
A brief introduction to taking out health insurance
If you need to change health insurance providers, the process will depend on the insurance options you choose. Here’s our quick guide to what different medical insurance terms mean.
Full medical insurance
When you choose comprehensive health insurance, you will be asked to complete a medical questionnaire when you take out a health insurance policy. This means that if you have any pre-existing conditions, they may be excluded from coverage from the outset.
The main benefit of this for you is that it means your claim can be dealt with more quickly as you know exactly what is covered. It’s also easier for your insurer to assess any risks arising from your medical history, which means it can be cheaper than a moratorium.
Warranty moratorium
The warranty moratorium excludes any pre-existing conditions that required treatment, usually within the last five years. The moratorium period usually lasts for the first two years of your policy. At that stage, your insurers may review your policy and include any pre-existing conditions that did not require treatment within the first two policy years.
You won’t be asked to provide your full medical history, but this can sometimes mean that claims will take longer, as your insurer will need to research your medical history when you make a claim.
There is also a type of insurance called neglected medical history, but this only applies to group insurance policies offered to employees by larger corporations.
Why you might need CPME insurance because of your medical history
CPME insurance allows you to transfer your private health insurance policy to a new insurer without losing the policy terms that suit you. You may decide to do this because you received a renewal offer after the first year of your policy and found that you can save money or get better benefits by switching providers. At the same time, you may need to keep some conditions the same.
For example, you may have already received treatment for a certain condition and want that coverage to continue. Without a CPME guarantee, the new insurer will treat this as a pre-existing medical condition and exclude it from cover. With CPME, you can switch to a new insurer and continue to get the treatment you need. This will only apply if you are being treated for an acute condition, something that the course can cure. If you have a chronic condition that requires ongoing treatment, this will be excluded by all health insurers, and the same applies to CPME.
CPME insurance means your new insurer won’t have to reassess all your personal medical exclusions when you move your policy. They will simply continue to use the same information you have provided to your current provider. Your personal medical exclusions will remain the same.
How does Continued Personal Medical Exclusions Underwriting (CPME) work?
If you have decided to switch to a new private health insurance provider using CPME insurance, you will need to provide your new insurance company with information about your existing policy. This includes:
- A copy of your most recent insurance certificate.
- Details of any claims you have made on your current health insurance policy.
- Some basic information about your medical history and personal medical exclusions.
The medical information you provide will not be as detailed as the health questionnaire you completed when you took out the original policy because your insurer will not use it as part of the underwriting process. However, this will allow them to decide whether they can offer you a new policy with the same terms as your existing one. If they are willing to provide you with health insurance, they will use your current policy certificate to apply the same exclusions to your new policy.
When you receive your new documents, it’s also important to check the terms and conditions carefully. While the insurance terms may be the same, some terms may be different.
What are the benefits of CPME downloads?
When you switch health insurance policies using CPME Download, you can keep the same level of health insurance coverage even though your insurer has changed. Sometimes known as a ‘protected warranty’, it’s designed to make sure your new terms are no worse than your old ones. The idea is that your new private health insurance company will transfer the exclusions you already had on your old policy to the new one. It should also mean they don’t add further exclusions.
However, it is important to check whether your new insurer has any exclusions that the old one did not. There are always standard exclusions in any health insurance plan, but some insurers have a longer list than others.
One of the other benefits of the CPME download is that you will only need to provide basic information and not your full medical history. If you switch to a new insurer with full medical coverage, you will need to go through a completely new medical questionnaire.
If you’re already receiving treatment and need it to continue with your new health insurance policy, the last thing you want is for your treatment to stop because it’s suddenly excluded from your new policy. CPME will allow your treatment to continue as it will not be excluded from the policy as a pre-existing condition.
What is “warranty replacement” (continuation of warranty moratorium)?
If your current health insurance uses an insurance moratorium, you can still change your provider, but you will need to use “Change Insurance” instead of CPME. The clue is in his real name; Continued Moratorium underwriting (or CMORI) allows you to transfer the moratorium you’ve already earned on your previous health insurance policy to your new one. It’s kind of like transferring the no-claims bonus on your car insurance to a new provider.
Health insurance that uses an underwriting moratorium allows you to add coverage for a pre-existing condition if you have not needed treatment for an uninterrupted two-year period at the start of your policy. If you stay with the same private health insurance provider, it’s easy because your insurer will simply review your policy and adjust your coverage. If you change insurers without a takeover moratorium, you will have to start your qualifying period from scratch.
In contrast, if you decide to switch to a new insurer using an insurance switch, you will be able to transfer the moratorium you have already earned to the new policy.
Let’s say, for example, that you have been treated for a musculoskeletal disease for the past five years. It’s a pre-existing condition, so your current insurance providers won’t cover it, but it’s managed with treatment. However, this is the type of thing that may require further treatment in the future, especially as you get older. You have had your insurance policy for a year, and the condition has not recurred. Then decide to switch to new insurance providers to save money or get better benefits. You are covered if you use an insurance replacement and need treatment 18 months after your new policy. If you started over those two years, you wouldn’t be.
Important note about changing service providers
The right policy for you will depend on the types of treatment you are likely to need, your lifestyle and even your job. Hopefully, when you were first choosing your health insurance, you looked at the types of coverage each provider offers and the benefits of each health insurance policy. It’s just as important to revisit those details if you decide to switch to another provider.
Different insurers offer different benefits and types of policies. Some will provide cover for conditions that others do not, but may balance this by excluding conditions that other insurers offer as standard.
You can switch insurers using CPME or CMORI insurance because the premium is cheaper or because you like the range of benefits they offer. It is important to check that the coverage they offer is as good as your previous health insurance policy. Sometimes the differences can only become clear when you study the terms and conditions of your policy in detail. You may be able to get an idea of the health insurance your new provider offers on their website.
Talk to an independent health insurance broker
If you’re thinking about switching insurers and want to make sure you keep the same level of cover while getting extra benefits, it can all seem like a minefield. There are many different insurers and the information available to you through their websites can vary greatly. It would be a good idea to speak to an independent health insurance broker who will be able to guide you through the process and have all the relevant information at your fingertips. They will ensure that you get the right advice based on your pre-existing medical conditions and the level of cover available on your current policy; they will also be able to offer you advice on further personal medical exclusions when switching.
