'Cut, compare, or both'
Simon Dicey, Which? Money expert, says...You’ve been a loyal BUPA customer for almost 20 years and have never made a claim, which makes this all the more galling.
We asked BUPA to explain and John Hunter-Brown, (interim) General Manager for Consumer Insurance, told us: ‘When calculating a customer’s premiums, we typically consider factors such as age and where they live. It’s common for premiums to increase with age, as the cost of claims tends to rise as customers get older.’
Treatment in London is more expensive, but a 28% rise for being a year older seems rather steep.
BUPA has offered you a month of free cover, bringing the premium to £6,916. This factors in a no-claims discount.
You could change your list of hospitals and limit the outpatient treatment you receive.
Or you could opt for what’s called a six-week option. This means that instead of claiming on your policy, you use the NHS if it can deliver inpatient or day patient treatment within six weeks of referral. Some insurers let you scale down the cancer cover included, to get lower premiums.
Armed with your quotes, you could take them to BUPA and, based on its response, decide whether to stick or switch.
Keep in mind that adjusting your policy could lead to you losing your month of free cover with BUPA. Conversely, if you switch to a new insurer any medical conditions you already have are unlikely to be covered.
At the time of writing you were in negotiations with BUPA about bringing down the cost of your policy.
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source https://www.which.co.uk/news/article/i-was-quoted-7500-for-health-insurance-but-ive-been-a-customer-for-20-years-aEKes5w6bmso