Aviva Health Insurance, our expert review

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Our Aviva health insurance review is created by a team of writers and editors with over a decade of experience researching and explaining private health insurance. Every article is written and reviewed by qualified insurance experts, ensuring accuracy and clarity.

• 23 Aviva Healthier Solutions policy documents, product guides and terms and conditions, totalling over 200 pages analysed by our experts
• 22 core benefits and 5 additional options assessed and compared
• We use real Aviva customer service reviews to inform our analysis
• Independent and impartial – we have no commercial relationships with insurers
• Strict editorial guidelines to ensure accurate, fair and balanced content
• Regularly quoted by the national press, including The Times, The Guardian and the Financial Times

Read our private health insurance rating methodology

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:

1. Dental and optical cover

Dental and optical gives you cover for routine dental, accidental dental injury and eye care expenses. The different levels of benefit are:

• Routine dental treatment - up to £250 (£50 excess applies)
• Accidental dental injury - up to £600
• Optical benefit towards glasses and contact lenses - up to £150 (£50 excess applies)

2. Mental health upgrade

All Aviva Healthier Solutions policies come with some mental health outpatient treatment but this may not be sufficient if you want more extensive mental health support. Aviva’s mental health upgrade provides 28 days of inpatient or day patient mental health treatment, and covers specialist fees up to the limit set out in its fee guidelines.

3. Other treatment and therapies

Treatment and therapies cover gives you access to treatment from a physiotherapist, osteopath, chiropractor or acupuncturist if a GP refers you. You can get up to ten sessions for each condition per policy year, but be aware that this is a combined limit across all types of therapy. It also provides cover for a GP to carry out minor surgery up to £100 per procedure.

4. Hospital lists

When it comes to your private medical treatment, Aviva offers a choice between a guided list, where it will help you find the most suitable specialist and hospital, and a traditional hospital list, which allows you to make your own choice from a list of hospitals and specialists. Your hospital option will also influence your premium. The greater the hospital choice, the more you will pay for your health insurance. Your options are:

• Expert Select: This is Aviva’s guided list, and its default option. You’ll need to ask your GP for an open referral and Aviva will handpick a selection of local hospitals, facilities and specialists (usually within 25 miles of your home) that meet its quality standards. If you're not set on being treated at a particular hospital or want to keep the cost down, this simplicity may be a good fit.
• Key hospital list: Aviva’s Key Hospital is its standard hospital list option. It lets you choose from around 200 private UK hospitals and is around 20% more expensive than Expert Select.
• Extended hospital list: To maximise your hospital choice you can upgrade to the Extended hospital list. It will increase your monthly premium by around 18% compared with Aviva’s Key hospital list. In return, you get access to extra hospitals, mainly in London.
• Trust hospital list: If you’re looking for the lowest cost option and are willing to restrict your treatment choice to just private patient units of NHS Trust and partnership hospitals, then you can opt for the Trust Hospital List. It costs slightly less than Expert Select.
• Signature list: The signature hospital list is only available if you live in Scotland or Northern Ireland, and offers a reduced premium by excluding all hospitals in England and Wales.

5. Protected no claim discount

For an extra cost, Aviva allows you to protect your no claim discount (NCD) if you need to make a health insurance claim that would normally reduce your NCD. With this protection your NCD stays at the same level at your next renewal, rather than decreasing and affecting your renewal premium. If you remain claim-free for a year after, you can request to protect your NCD again.

To be eligible for NCD protection you will need to meet the following criteria:

• not have received any consultations, diagnostic tests or treatment in the past 12 months.
• not have any pending consultations, tests or treatment with a GP, specialist or hospital.
• not be aware of any health conditions that may require tests or treatment in the next six months, even if you haven’t seen a medical practitioner about them.

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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.

Aviva climbed from eighth to fifth in our 2026 reviews, with its star rating rising from four stars to 4.5. That jump is largely driven by changes to our methodology which takes a broader assessment that better captures Aviva's strengths in affordability tools, family-friendly features and accessibility.

Overall, Aviva Healthier Solutions scored 79.8% in our private health insurance reviews. The table below summarises how our experts rated Aviva across the six key health insurance categories they assessed:

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Aviva's strongest categories are: Eligibility & Underwriting and Short/Long-Term Affordability, where it ranked ahead of six other leading insurers.

Aviva Healthier Solutions offers the most ways to reduce your premiums, and scored highest in our Discount & Premium Reduction assessment. There's a potential 15% first year discount with its My Healthy Discount, seven excess levels, and a 6-week NHS wait option alongside the option to limit or remove your outpatient benefit. In addition, with its My Health Counts scheme, if you keep active and pass its recently increased number of health assessments, adults may get a discount at renewal.

Given that Aviva accepts new members of any age, and only charges for the eldest child under 20, it also scored highly in our Eligibility & Underwriting category. It sits mid-table in our Hospital & Cancer Treatment category, with solid cancer cover and no financial limits on MRI, CT and PET scans.

Aviva doesn't perform as well on Treatment Pathways, ranking second lowest in this category due to limited self-referral routes and most treatments requiring GP referral. In addition, it ranked seventh for Customer Reviews and Clarity, largely because the low volume of member reviews for its health insurance product makes it hard for people to know what to expect.

Finally, while it's good that Aviva has a per member NCD so children's claims won't impact adults, the impact of eligible claims above £250 hit your discount harder than with any other insurer we reviewed.

What's changed about Aviva health insurance for 2026?

The most significant recent change to Aviva Health Insurance is to its MyHealthCounts programme, where adults can earn up to a 15% discount by tracking their activity and completing health assessments throughout the year. Aviva has added four new assessments to the programme, which it says will help members better understand additional risks, but it also raises the bar for earning the full discount.

6 key differences between Aviva and other UK health insurance providers

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:

1. Limiting your outpatient cover may prove restrictive

Aviva distinguishes itself by including unlimited outpatient cover as standard in its core private health insurance product, but you can reduce your cover by applying a limit or removing it altogether.

If you limit your outpatient cover to £500 or £1,000 there are some important implications to consider. First, multiple treatment types will share the same limit, similar to Bupa, which could mean that you exhaust your outpatient cover relatively quickly. Second, applying a limit means you won’t be covered for any treatment for complications of pregnancy and childbirth or surgical procedures on your teeth.

2. Mental health cover has a “three strikes” rule

Like most insurers (with the exception of Bupa), Aviva may classify recurring mental health conditions as chronic at which point cover can be withdrawn. However, while many providers are vague about this process and merely state they reserve the right to withdraw cover, Aviva is more explicit about when it happens. It states that if you claim for the same mental health condition in three separate policy years, it will then be considered a chronic condition and it will no longer be covered. 

3. Its comes with a range of wellbeing services

All Healthier Solutions policies come with access to Aviva’s wellbeing services, a combination of discounts, rewards and resources to help with your physical and mental health. The Get Active programme can cut the cost of a membership at a variety of UK gyms and health and fitness clubs, while you’ll also get discounts on fitness equipment and health-related apps. Meanwhile, taking part in MyHealthCounts could earn you a discount on your renewal premium, providing an incentive to stay healthy. It may not match the scale of Vitality’s rewards scheme, but for the right customers, it still provides extra value. 

You’ll also have access to the Aviva Digital GP app for virtual GP appointments and a 24/7 Stress Counselling helpline. Please note that these are non-contractual benefits so Aviva can change or remove them at any time.

4. You’ll get extensive cancer cover as standard

Aviva’s health insurance comes with a cancer pledge promising “extensive support at every stage of cancer treatment.” It’s far from just a marketing gimmick. Aviva’s cancer cover is included as a core benefit with every Healthier Solutions policy and is among the most comprehensive in the market. It offers full cover for treatments such as chemotherapy, radiotherapy and targeted therapy, as well as follow-up care and monitoring.

Unlike Aviva, some providers only offer cancer cover as an optional add-on, or require you to have outpatient cover if you want to include cancer diagnosis. Aviva’s extensive cover offers peace of mind for anyone looking to prioritise cancer care within their private health insurance.

5. Aviva’s no claim discount is good and bad

Aviva’s no claim discount operates on a 15-level scale, with a maximum discount of 75%. Most new customers start with a 69% discount on their premium and move up one level for each claim-free year. It's good that small claims of £250 or less in a year won’t affect your NCD, but anything over this will see you drop down three levels. It’s stricter than market-leading NCDs which let you claim up to £2,000 before the same reduction.

On a more positive note, Aviva does offer a protected NCD option. Families will also appreciate that each family member has their own NCD level, so a claim by one will not reduce the discount for others.

6. You can apply at any age

Older people can find their choice of health insurance provider is restricted due to upper age limits for new customers. Aviva is one of the few health insurers that don’t have an age limit when you apply, which is something we welcome, especially as health needs can become more complex with age.

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 - £46.01 per month (Expert Select) or £56.43 (Key Hospital List)
• 40 years of age - £65.86 per month (Expert Select) or £80.99 (Key Hospital List)
• 50 years of age - £85.94 per month (Expert Select) or £105.84 (Key Hospital List)
• 60 years of age - £120.64 per month (Expert Select) or £153.24 (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.

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% (7.5% each for couples) on your first year’s premium if you meet its health-related criteria. However, Aviva says the discount isn't applied uniformly across the whole product, so the actual saving may be lower.

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. This discount means Aviva is often very well priced for families.

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 4.3 out of 5 from 58,711 reviews (20th April 2026), 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 

“Aviva, quickly arranged a private consultation with an orthopaedic surgeon. Aviva were easy to deal with and very helpful. We are so glad that we chose to go with Aviva for our health insurance.”

“You simply cannot get through on the telephone, waiting over an hour or more on numerous occasions over the past week and in the end gave up waiting each time!”

“Aviva health insurance in my opinion is terrible. Two months on I am still awaiting a decision despite being in daily pain and sending numerous clinic and referral letters and allowing a report from my GP for what I believe is a straightforward and not very expensive surgical procedure.”

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 2026. 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.