Too Old For Health Insurance?

It stands to reason that as we get older more things can go wrong with our health but how does this affect our health insurance premiums and is there an age where we can no longer get health cover? This article compares age related price increases in the medical insurance market.

All the information that follows was taken from the gocompare.com website apart from the figures from Freedom Healthnet Ltd which were taken from their own private medical insurance site. The health insurers that we looked at were: BUPA, Freedom Healthnet, Standard Life and Norwich Union Healthcare. We looked at comprehensive medical health insurance cover for non-smoking males between the ages of 20 and 80 living in the south of England. The information was collected on 23rd January 2009 and refers to the cost of monthly health cover premiums.

We found that the cost of health insurance quotes goes up with every decade. The average percentage increase between each decade also increased as the age range got higher. Two insurance companies, Freedom Healthnet and Standard Life did not give quotations for 80 year olds. The biggest price increase came from Standard Life. The difference between the cost of health cover for a 60 year old compared to a 70 year old was 68%

Average Percentage Increases Between:
20-30 year olds: 22%
30-40 year olds: 27%
40-50 year olds: 30%
50-60 year olds: 44%
60-70 year olds: 55%
70-80 year olds: 56%

As you can see from the data above the increases in monthly premiums for each decade get bigger and bigger. To give you a flavour for the price comparisons we have included some specific results below.

FREEDOM HEALTHNET
20 year old: £25.83
30 year old: £30.98
40 year old: £42.38
50 year old: £58.63
60 year old: £87.33
70 year old: no quote
80 year old: no quote

STANDARD LIFE
20 year old: £53.03
30 year old: £59.09
40 year old: £73.86
50 year old: £97.61
60 year old: £137.93
70 year old: £233.00
80 year old: no quote

What do these figures mean for the older people in our society? They are likely to suffer poorer health but have to pay more for their private health insurance. The phrase 'prevention is better than cure' comes to mind and medical health practitioners are encouraging us to pay attention to the fact that some of the health conditions associated with old age can be allayed with more healthy life-style choices.