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Moratorium underwriting means your insurer doesn't ask about your medical history when you apply, instead automatically excluding anything you've had symptoms, treatment or advice for in the 5 years before your policy starts. If you then go 2 continuous years without any symptoms, treatment or advice for that condition, it becomes covered again automatically, this is the most common underwriting type for new UK health insurance policies.

Moratorium needs no medical questionnaire upfront, instead automatically excluding anything you've had symptoms, treatment or advice for in the past 5 years, until you go 2 years symptom-free. Full medical underwriting asks for your complete history upfront, and the insurer confirms specific exclusions in writing before you join, giving more certainty from day one but requiring more effort at the start.

CPME carries over a specific list of accepted exclusions when you switch insurer, regardless of your original underwriting type. Continued Moratorium (CMORI) only applies if your original policy was on moratorium terms, and instead of carrying a list of exclusions, it carries over the actual time already served on your moratorium clock, so you're not starting the wait over from scratch.

MHD means the insurer disregards your medical history entirely, no exclusions are applied for pre-existing conditions at all. It's used almost exclusively for larger company or business health insurance policies rather than individual personal cover, and policy terms and benefit limits still apply even though individual underwriting doesn't happen. Some insurers, including WPA, also offer a variant with heart and cancer qualifying questions built in.

No, 5 years is the market standard but not universal. Saga offers a shorter 3-year look-back option for many conditions, and AXA offers both a 3-year and the standard 5-year product too. Always check the exact current terms with your broker rather than assuming the standard figure applies.

Generally, underwriting type is set when you first take out a policy and doesn't change while you stay with the same insurer. Changing underwriting type typically means switching insurer entirely, at which point CPME or Continued Moratorium can help protect the cover you've already built up, depending on which type your original policy used.

Not always. Most insurers offer moratorium regardless of age, but WPA is a genuine exception, moratorium isn't available at all from age 66, and new joiners at that age must use Full Medical Underwriting with a minimum £500 excess instead. Worth checking this specifically if you're comparing cover in your late 60s or beyond, since it can affect which insurers are genuinely available to you.