Aviva Health Insurance, our expert review
Aviva is a household name that needs little introduction, but you may be less familiar with its health insurance. Our Aviva private health insurance review provides an in-depth analysis of its flagship Healthier Solutions product, including how it works and why you might want to consider it for your health cover.
Is Aviva the best private health insurance?
In our 2025 private medical insurance ratings, Aviva Healthier Solutions scored 89/108, giving it a four-star myTribe rating.
Aviva’s Healthier Solutions has some impressive features, not least its unlimited outpatient benefit as standard and strong cancer cover, and there are plenty of options to upgrade or reduce benefits. But if you decide to limit your outpatient benefit, be mindful of how it will affect your cover.
Here’s a summary of the key points of our Aviva Health Insurance Review:
- Unusually, Aviva Healthier Solutions comes with unlimited outpatient benefits as standard, but you can reduce your cover by setting a limit or remove it entirely.
- If you opt for limited outpatient cover be aware that multiple treatments will draw on the same limit and you’ll lose some inpatient and day patient benefits.
- All Healthier Solutions policies include cancer diagnosis, treatment and aftercare cover as a core benefit.
- As well as a guided consultant option, you can choose from four different hospital lists.
- Small claims won’t affect your no claim discount, but claims over £250 will drop you three no claim discount levels.
See how Aviva compares: Our expert ratings of the UK’s best private health insurance providers
About Aviva
Aviva is one of the UK’s oldest and largest insurance companies, with roots dating back over 320 years. Formed through the merger of several long-standing insurers - including Norwich Union and CGU - Aviva is a global financial services provider, serving over 18 million customers in the UK alone, 1.2 million of whom have health insurance.
In addition to health insurance, Aviva offers general insurance, life insurance, pensions and investments.
Aviva offers one health insurance product for individuals and families and two business health insurance products. In this review, we will examine Aviva’s Healthier Solutions product, which is designed to meet the health insurance needs of individuals and families.
A comprehensive starting point
Let’s get straight to something important to grasp. Aviva takes a slightly different approach to other health insurers by offering comprehensive core cover that includes unlimited outpatient benefits and mental health cover straight from the outset. Of course, this will be reflected in the cost of your policy, so you may want to consider downgrading this cover, especially if you are on a tight budget.
On the one hand, it’s good to see a health insurer prioritising more extensive outpatient benefits from the start, rather than presenting it as an add-on to be discovered later in the decision-making process.
On the other hand, it does make it harder to compare Aviva to other insurers as the outpatient and mental health benefits are essentially optional. There’s potential for confusion if customers aren’t paying close attention.
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Aviva's health insurance product, Healthier Solutions, can be classed as a comprehensive policy, covering inpatient, day patient and outpatient cover within its core benefits. It means that diagnostic tests, scans, hospital charges, specialist consultations and treatment will all be covered, (up to the amount specified in Aviva’s fee guidelines). Specialist-referred treatment by a physiotherapist, osteopath or chiropractor is also included. For anyone looking for extensive health cover as standard, this is an impressive start.
Aviva includes some outpatient mental health treatment as part of its core benefits. Policyholders can receive up to £2,000 of outpatient treatment with a psychiatric therapist or specialist when referred by a GP.
Aviva has given considerable thought to its cancer cover. Cancer diagnosis, consultations and treatment are included as standard, with full cover for chemotherapy, radiotherapy and targeted therapy. Aviva health insurance also offers dedicated aftercare, including unlimited cover for post-treatment monitoring and up to five years of ongoing medical support. Preventative treatment for cancer and end-of-life care are also included.
While Aviva’s core private health insurance cover may be all that some people need, you can enhance your level of cover, or reduce it, to suit your requirements and budget. You can boost your policy by selecting five optional add-ons for an extra cost:
Further ways to tailor your Aviva private health insurance policy
When a policy starts with such comprehensive cover as standard, it’s only fair to also offer options for reducing that cover, particularly for those looking to lower their costs. In addition to the reduced hospital list options mentioned earlier, Aviva offers three main ways to scale back your policy:
Reduce your outpatient cover
One of the main ways to lower your Aviva premium is by choosing to cap your outpatient cover at £500 or £1,000 per year, or remove it entirely. The limit won't apply to cancer treatment after diagnosis, pre-admission tests, CT, MRI and PET scans or surgery carried out by a specialist. However, many other outpatient services will all combine to count towards your annual limit. These include:
- Specialist consultations
- Non-surgical outpatient treatment by a specialist
- Diagnostic tests (such as X-rays and blood tests)
- Specialist referred treatment by a physiotherapist, chiropractor or osteopath
- Outpatient mental health treatment
Keep in mind that if your combined claims for these benefits are more than your annual limit, you’ll be responsible for paying the additional costs. Unusually, reducing or removing your Aviva outpatient cover also means losing access to treatment for complications of pregnancy and childbirth, as well as hospital-based dental surgery.
Select a six-week option
Another way to lower costs is by choosing the six-week option. It means you’ll agree to use the NHS for inpatient or day patient treatment if the NHS waiting time is six weeks or less for the procedure you need. You’ll still have full access to outpatient consultations and private treatment, regardless of NHS wait times.
Choose your policy excess
Aviva private health cover allows you to choose an excess of £100, £200, £500, £1,000, £3,000 or £5,000. The higher the excess you agree to pay, the lower your premium will be. For most people the key will be striking the right balance between affordable premiums and what you’re comfortable paying out of your own pocket if you need to make a claim.
Does Aviva health insurance cover pre-existing conditions?
Your ability to cover pre-existing conditions with Aviva Health insurance depends on your underwriting method and how long it has been since you experienced symptoms or received treatment.
With moratorium underwriting, any medical conditions you've had in the five years before your policy starts are usually excluded at first. But conditions that occurred earlier may still be eligible for cover. The way moratorium underwriting works means that if a pre-existing condition remains symptom-free and doesn't require any treatment, medication or advice for a continuous two-year period after the policy begins, Aviva should cover it.
On the other hand, full medical underwriting involves a detailed review of your medical history when you apply. This means Aviva can assess the specific risks associated with your medical history and may potentially offer cover for some pre-existing conditions if they’re low-risk or inactive.
What’s not covered by Aviva health insurance?
Similar to all health insurance policies, Aviva Healthier Solutions has some standard exclusions that will apply to every policyholder. Key exclusions include:
These general exclusions apply in addition to any personal exclusions related to your pre-existing medical conditions. A complete list of what is not covered can be found in Aviva’s Healthier Solutions Terms and conditions document.
How much does Aviva health insurance cost?
The cost of an Aviva private health insurance policy will differ depending on the level of cover you choose, your age and where you live. As with other health insurers, adding extra options or choosing a more extensive hospital list will increase the premium you pay.
For this article, we've requested quotes based on a non-smoker, with no pre-existing medical conditions, living in the East of England. We have opted for the standard product (which includes full outpatient cover) without any additional extras, an excess of £200 and underwritten on a moratorium basis. The examples below show the monthly cost for the guided list option (Expert Select) and the standard hospital list (Key Hospital list):
Example cost of Aviva Healthier Solutions for individuals
- 30 years of age - £42.50 per month (Expert Select) or £52.18 (Key Hospital List)
- 40 years of age - £60.93 per month (Expert Select) or £74.97 (Key Hospital List)
- 50 years of age - £79.56 per month (Expert Select) or £98.03 (Key Hospital List)
- 60 years of age - £111.78 per month (Expert Select) or £140.83 (Key Hospital List)
Our research into the average cost of private health insurance found that Aviva’s premiums were generally higher than the market average across the different age groups we analysed.
Now that we've detailed how Aviva private health insurance works and its options, you might be asking how it compares against other providers. What sets it apart, and where does it fall short? Our experts have picked out six key differences to consider:
Aviva offers a range of underwriting options, whether you’re new to health insurance or switching from another insurer.
Underwriting for people with no existing health insurance
If you don’t have an existing health insurance policy, your two underwriting options are:
Moratorium underwriting
Under moratorium underwriting, any medical condition you’ve experienced symptoms of, received treatment for, taken medication for, or sought medical advice about in the past five years will initially be excluded from your cover. However, once you've been free from treatment, medication, tests or advice related to that condition for two continuous years after your policy started, it should be covered again.
Full medical underwriting
Full medical underwriting means you’ll need to complete a health declaration form about your health. Aviva will assess this information about your past health to decide whether it will exclude any pre-existing medical conditions or any related conditions from your cover, giving you certainty about what is and isn’t included in your policy.
Underwriting for people with other health insurance companies
If you currently have health insurance with another provider, you may have a couple of underwriting options.
Continued moratorium
If you’re transferring from a policy underwritten on a moratorium basis, Aviva will apply its moratorium terms starting from the original moratorium date. However, you’ll need to supply proof of your previous policy’s terms.
Continued medical exclusions
If you were underwritten on a full medical basis and want to transfer your health insurance, Aviva will accept the same personal medical exclusions from your previous insurer. However, based on the answers you give on your application, Aviva may add new exclusions. As part of the underwriting process you must provide your previous health insurance certificate and medical insurance documents.
What discounts are there for Aviva Health insurance?
Some customers may be eligible for discounted premiums when they buy health insurance from Aviva. These discounts include:
Existing customer discount
If you own an Aviva product you will qualify for a loyalty reward of up to 10% off the cost of a new health insurance policy. New customers with continued underwriting from an existing health insurance policy can qualify for a 5% discount, while customers with full medical underwriting or new moratorium underwriting can receive a 10% discount.
My Healthy discount
Aviva offers a discount of up to 15% on your first year’s premium if you meet its health-related criteria. To qualify, you must be smoke and nicotine-free for the past 12 months, have a Body Mass Index (BMI) of 30 or below, and not have been diagnosed with, or treated for, diabetes or pre-diabetes during that time. The maximum discount reduces to 10% at your first renewal and 5% at your second renewal.
Child discount
If you want two or more children under the age of 20 to be included on your policy, you'll only pay for your oldest child.
MyHealthCounts
Taking part in Aviva’s MyHealthCounts by completing health risk assessment questions and meeting health goals could earn you a discount of up to 15% on your renewal premium.
Get Active
Aviva’s “Get Active” scheme offers policyholders discounted health and fitness club memberships at over 3,500 places, as well as discounts on at-home fitness products and online workouts.
Aviva has a Trustpilot score of 4.4 out of 5 from over 48,500 reviews, which suggests customers are more than satisfied with its service. But as with many large insurers you need to dig deeper as the feedback relates to Aviva's complete range of financial products and services, not just health insurance.
Filtering reviews on “health” paints a less flattering picture of Aviva's health insurance service. Recent reviews mention frustrations with being able to talk to someone and issues with claims. The number of negative reviews isn't huge and there may be plenty of happy customers who weren’t compelled to leave a review. Either way it's tricky to be definitive about Aviva's level of service for its health insurance customers.
Example Aviva health insurance reviews from its customers
“Fantastic level of service received from the health insurance department. Every member of staff we dealt with behaved with a high level of compassion and politeness and are a credit to the department and management.”
“Recently joined Aviva healthcare and found contacting them by phone to be frustrating.Most occasions waiting for over 20 minutes to be answered.”
“Aviva health insurance is completely underwhelming. The chatbot is hopeless, trying to get through on the phone is utterly frustrating, the email communications are unclear and there seems to be a huge lack of care in claim processing and the information provided.”
Is it worth having Aviva health insurance?
Private health insurance can be valuable if you want a shorter wait for medical tests, consultations and treatment and more choice over where and when you’re treated.
Aviva could be a smart option if you’re looking for a flexible private medical insurance policy that allows you to tailor your cover by enhancing it or trimming it back. It also includes strong core benefits as a foundation. Of course, whether Aviva private health cover is right for you will depend on your own health priorities and budget.
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How to get more information about Aviva health insurance
You can find detailed information about Avia health insurance, including product literature and policy guides, on its website.
For a broader comparison of features and benefits across all the providers, look at our review of the Best private health insurance in 2025. If you want to see how Aviva compares on pricing read our research on how much private health insurance costs.
As always, you should compare health insurance providers and speak with an insurance broker before you make a decision. You can discuss your healthcare requirements with an expert health insurance broker and get a free comparison quote by completing our form.
Disclaimer: This information is general and what is best for you will depend on your personal circumstances. Please speak with a financial adviser or do your own research before making a decision.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Aviva health insurance any good?
Aviva's Healthier Solutions health insurance was awarded a four-star rating in the 2025 myTribe review of private medical insurance providers. Additionally, the company has over 48,500 reviews with an average score of 4.4/5 on Trustpilot.
How much is Aviva health insurance per month?
The amount you will pay for Aviva health insurance will vary based on your age, where you live, the options you choose, and your lifestyle, such as whether you smoke.
Does Aviva Private Healthcare cover dental?
Aviva’s Healthier Solutions policy doesn’t include routine dental treatment as standard, but you can add dental and optical cover for an additional cost when you set up your policy. The core cover also includes surgery on teeth performed in a hospital as long as you don’t reduce your outpatient cover.