How we price our plans

There are many factors that can influence the price of your premiums. The most common factors are:

• Location: The price of private medical healthcare varies between countries and regions. With AXA global healthcare wherever you go, your cover goes.
• Age: As we get older, high-quality health insurance becomes even more important. That’s because we tend to need more medical care. Health insurers will take age into account when calculating your premium year on year.
• Added extras: You may have the option to include dental care or  outpatient treatment on top of your chosen healthcare plan. This will affect the price you pay. 
• Inflation: Medical inflation means that health insurers need to pay more to cover the rising costs of medical treatments and advancements. This isn’t always possible without adjusting the price of their premiums.

There are two main reasons premiums go up each year: 

The cost of medical treatment and tests:
The medical world doesn’t stand still. Scientists are always developing new tests, treatments and medicines. And as new equipment and procedures become available, doctors tend to use them more. 

This is great news for patients as their conditions can be treated more successfully but, in turn, those advancements increase what we pay out for claims and what you pay in your premiums.   

Age :
Your age is typically taken into account when your premium is calculated. Why? Well, ageing tends to mean that we rely on healthcare services more to keep us fit and well.  

If you’re thinking of shopping around, it’s worth bearing in mind that moving to another provider may result in your pre-existing conditions being excluded from your cover.

If you find that one of our competitors is offering a lower price, it’s worth giving us a call so we can go through this with you. You may find our competitor has lower limits or doesn’t cover the same conditions or benefits. We always price-check to make sure we’re competitive and we don’t cut our cover just to get our prices lower.

Travel insurance and international health insurance are very different. International health insurance is designed to give you peace of mind when you live in another country or travel to different countries often. It protects your general health as well as medical emergencies. So, if you break your leg and that’s covered by your plan, international health insurance won’t just get you stabilised until your home, it’ll cover you until your leg is healed.  

Our global health plans give you access to additional healthcare services too.  With our Virtual Doctor service, you can speak to a doctor any time over the phone or via video chat.¹ Or, if you need support from a psychologist, you can access our Mind Health service. You’ll also be able to double-check a diagnosis or treatment plan with our Second Medical Opinion service. Our healthcare plans also cover you for hospital stays, emergency transport, scans, surgery and cancer treatments. We’ll also get you to another country if you can’t get the treatment you need locally.   

Here’s a little more info about the differences between health insurance and travel insurance. 

Local health insurance is usually designed for people who: 

• live and work in one country with a quality healthcare system 
• don’t travel regularly  
• wouldn’t need to be transported to a different country if they got sick or injured.   

International health insurance covers you for different situations. For example, if you become ill or get injured and need to be treated in a different country, international health insurance will get you there.  

International health insurance can seem expensive, but it does offer a greater range of cover compared to travel or local health insurance plans. You’ll also have access to experts who can help you navigate local healthcare systems.  

We know life is costing more right now though, so get in touch with us to see how we can help you to reduce your premium. We may suggest: 

• changing your outpatient cover or other optional extras, such as dental care 
• looking at the effect of different excess levels 
• choosing to pay yearly – this will give you a 5% discount on your premium 
• removing cover in the USA from your plan 
• changing your level of cover.  

Our plans are designed to be flexible, so our experienced team will help you find the cover that matches your needs. 

When Europe is compared with the rest of world, there’s very little difference in the price of healthcare. That’s because many European countries, including Iceland, Sweden and Germany, provide some of the best medical care in the world.² So if we did cut your cover, it wouldn’t save you much money but would limit your treatment options significantly. You might even find that you’d need to boost your cover with travel or local healthcare insurance. 

Due to the nature of their healthcare system, the only country that makes a big difference to the cost of healthcare is the US. That’s why we give you the option of including the US as part of your cover.