What truly sets Vitality health insurance apart is the way it incentivises you to lead a healthier life. Its Vitality Programme offers members discounts on a range of services that can improve your wellbeing, from health checks and gym memberships to fitness trackers and running shoes. 

You earn points by engaging in healthier behaviours such as staying active, tracking your health or practising mindfulness. These points can be exchanged for regular Active Rewards and also contribute towards your Vitality status, which influences your renewal premium.

It’s an impressive package of perks for those who already embrace a healthy lifestyle or want extra motivation to make a positive change. Some discounts, like 50% off selected monthly gym memberships, could even offset some of your premiums from the outset, making Vitality a cost-effective option.

Vitality's unique approach to private medical insurance extends to how it handles premium renewals. Unlike other UK health insurers, it uses its own ABC pricing model rather than a traditional no claims discount. The increase in your annual premium is determined by adding together three elements:

A - Your age: Your premium will increase each year as you get older, typically by around 3%.

B- Base inflation: This accounts for medical inflation, which is the change in the cost of providing healthcare, driven by hospital fees, medical technology and drug prices.

C- Claims: Vitality adjusts your renewal based on any claims you’ve made and your Vitality status (linked to how active you are). It’s the part of your renewal price that you can influence. You’ll be placed into a claims band based on the amount you have claimed - the lower the band, the smaller the premium increase. A higher Vitality status can also help reduce your premium.

While most people are familiar with the straightforward nature of a no claims discount, Vitality’s renewal model can seem more complicated, so, despite its name, it’s not quite as easy as ABC.

Vitality has created a health insurance product that encourages you to engage in your wellbeing and favours an active lifestyle. If you lead a more sedentary life or find your good health intentions easily sidelined by other commitments, it may not be the best fit. If this sounds familiar, you're less likely to build up your rewards and may find your premiums increase quicker than expected.

Vitality will pay the majority (75%) of the cost of some weight loss and corrective surgery, something which isn’t usually covered by health insurance. It includes removing port wine birthmarks on the face, ear reshaping and breast reduction, as well as weight loss surgery involving gastric bypass, gastric sleeve and gastric banding. As part of its recent enhancements, Vitality also provides access to discounted weight loss medications, such as Wegovy and Mounjaro, if you have a body mass index (BMI) of over 35 and a weight-related health condition.

It’s impressive that Vitality offers some physiotherapy and talking therapies as standard without the need for extra cover; it’s even better that you can access them directly without a GP referral. For easier and quicker access to these you can simply self-refer for an initial assessment.

We prefer health insurance policies that offer flexibility to separate your outpatient benefits, rather than multiple types of treatment drawing from the same pot. Vitality gives you the option to separate specialist consultations from diagnostic tests by selecting Full Cover for Diagnostics. Just keep in mind that physiotherapy that isn’t through Vitality’s Priority Physio network counts towards any outpatient limit you may have.