Are you thinking about taking out private medical insurance for people over 65 years of age? Do you want to know if there is any medical insurance without age limit? Or how much does health insurance cost for retired or near-retirement people? Don’t worry, at Moné Seguros we have prepared this article to try to answer all your questions.
Indeed, finding good health insurance for seniors is not easy , but it certainly is not impossible either. Although all insurers set an age limit to take out a policy, some are more flexible and have adapted their offer to this group that, for this matter, is more vulnerable.
Is there health insurance for people over 65? 70, 80, 85 years…
The answer to this question is yes. Increasingly, insurers are becoming more flexible, increasing the entry age so as not to lose clients.
Of course, as a person gets older, they are not kicked off their health insurance (except in cases of fraud). However, what is usually more complicated is taking out a policy for the first time after a certain age , such as those over 75-80 years of age.
Another issue that we will also talk about throughout this post is how much the price of health insurance for seniors is, that is, how much the premium increases as we reach seniority.
Age limits for purchasing health insurance
As we have commented, two issues must be distinguished. One is to already have health insurance and be getting older, a situation in which the company will not give us problems. And another issue is being elderly, or close to it, and wanting to get health insurance for seniors at that time. In this sense, insurers are more cautious.
Surely you have read on many websites that you are only allowed to take out health policies until you are 60 or 65 years old. Luckily, this is not always the case.
On the other hand, purchasing health insurance for people over 80 years of age is much more complicated, and there is medical insurance for them, but limited to outpatient coverage, such as visits to specialists and medical tests.
Of course, when subscribing to your health insurance you will be required to complete a health questionnaire . Depending on how you feel, the insurance company may exclude or limit some coverage. You have to be aware of all this!
However, it is important to note that there are already companies that offer medical insurance with limited coverage, without the need to carry out a medical questionnaire, which is very favorable for people who, otherwise, would not be able to take out this insurance.
Price of health insurance for people over 65 years of age
So, how much does senior health insurance cost? This is a very tricky issue, since there is a significant jump in the cost of the insurance premium from the age of 60-65 . Each insurance company has a different policy in treating its client when they reach a certain age. In addition, the price will also depend on whether it is an individual or group policy.
As a general rule, when you reach 65, health insurance companies will significantly raise your price. It is a time when the use of the policy is supposed to increase, and insurers do not forgive it. That is why we must ensure that this impact is as minimal as possible.
There are several insurers that, in our opinion, have unethical behavior, forcing their clients to pay sums that sometimes triple the cost when they reach that age.
This puts the insured in a very complicated dilemma, since they are forced to choose between changing companies, potentially having exclusions due to medical problems, or paying much more per year for their insurance.
An alternative that we sometimes suggest to our clients is to add, at that time, a co-payment to the policy, to try to reduce the increase in the monthly cost.
Buying health insurance for seniors tips
On many occasions, people looking to purchase insurance only care about its price. Although it is true that this is a determining factor, other elements are also important, such as the medical condition, the guarantees included, the diagnostic tests covered by the policy or the waiting periods.
We must be careful with all contracted coverage, and also be attentive to customer treatment in policy renewals, especially as we approach retirement age.
At any time we can suffer an illness, and perhaps when that day arrives it will be too late to change insurers.
In this sense, before starting to look for the best medical insurance, we recommend that you follow some fundamental advice:
- If you are over 55 years old and are going to take out health insurance, ask how the premium will change when you turn 60 and 65 . It is possible that a company will no longer interest you depending on the answer they give you, even if their entry offer seems attractive.
- Look for group policies , and ask when the most important economic jumps occur.
- Don’t just look at the price they offer you today : you could enter the networks of a very aggressive commercial campaign, and the following year, or two years later, it may increase your premium by more than 25% (eliminating discounts, penalizing possible accidents, etc.) and cause your sudden departure from the company, with the risk that we have mentioned before.
Which insurers offer private insurance for people over 65?
Now that you know the complications of purchasing health insurance for an older adult, you may be wondering which is the best company in this area. To know which one suits you best, you will have to consider that:
- There are companies that offer a lifetime guarantee to the insured: with this modality, we ensure that the company is not going to expel us from the insurance we have contracted.
- In addition, there are insurers that undertake not to make indiscriminate increases in premiums, that is, they do not relate the price of their insurance to the possible accident rate of an insured.
- Group insurance: certain insurance brokerages offer group policies, which best guarantee sustained premiums, diluting the accident rate among the group of insured. There are group rates that can be around 100-125 euros for complete policies without co-payments, which is very good if we compare what individual policies offer. There are also insured people who are paying €200. And it will depend on the coverage contracted, the company, the size of the group and its accident rate.
- The General Insurance Directorate annually receives multiple claims due to the increase in premiums when renewing the insurance policy.