Are you thinking of taking out private health insurance for people over 65 years of age? Do you want to know if there is any health insurance with no age limit? Or how much does health insurance for retired people or people on the verge of retirement cost? Don’t worry, PIB Group Iberia has prepared this article to try to answer all your questions.
Indeed, finding a good health insurance for seniors is not easy, but certainly not impossible. Although all insurers set an age limit for taking out a policy, some are more flexible and have adapted their offer to this group, which is more vulnerable in this respect.
Is there health insurance for people over 65? 70, 80, 85 years old…
The answer to this question is yes. Increasingly, insurers are becoming more flexible, raising the entry age so as not to lose customers.
Of course, as a person gets older, he or she is not dropped from health insurance (except in cases of fraud). However, what is usually more complicated is to take 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 old age.
Age limits for health insurance
As we have already mentioned, we must distinguish between two issues. One is to already have a health insurance policy and to be getting older, a situation in which the company will not pose any problems. The other issue is being in or close to old age and wanting to take out health insurance for the elderly at that time. In this regard, insurers are more cautious.
I’m sure you’ve read on many websites that health insurance policies are only allowed to be taken out up to the age of 60 or 65. Fortunately, this is not always the case.
There are already several companies that do not object to taking out a senior health insurance policy, at least up to the age of 70 or 75. We are talking, for example, about Adeslas and DKV, among others. Caser sets the maximum age for its private health insurance at 69 (including some groups with very interesting rates).
and Asisa and Mapfre set it at 65 years of age.
On the other hand, taking out health insurance for the over-80s is much more complicated, and there is health insurance for them, but it is limited to outpatient coverage, such as visits to specialists and medical tests.
Of course, when you sign up for your health insurance, you will be required to fill out a health questionnaire. Depending on how you feel, the insurance company may exclude or limit some coverage, so keep an eye on this!
However, it is important to point out that there are already companies that offer health 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 seniors over 65 years of age
So, how much does senior health insurance cost? This is a very tricky question, as there is a significant jump in the cost of the insurance premium after the age of 60-65. Each insurance company has a different policy on how it treats its clients once 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 are going to raise the price significantly. This is a time when the use of the policy is supposed to increase, and insurers do not forgive this. That is why we have to make sure that this impact is as minimal as possible.
There are several insurance companies that, in our opinion, behave unethically, 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 he/she is forced to choose between changing companies, with the possibility of exclusions due to medical problems, or paying much more per year for his/her insurance.
An alternative that we sometimes suggest to our clients is to put, at that moment, a co-payment in the policy, in order to try to reduce the monthly cost increase.
Health insurance for seniors: tips for taking out a health insurance policy
On many occasions, people looking to take out an insurance policy are only concerned about its price. Although it is true that this is a determining factor, so are other elements, such as the medical directory, the guarantees included, the diagnostic tests covered by the policy or the waiting periods.
We must be careful with all contracted coverages, and also be attentive to customer treatment in policy renewals, especially as we approach retirement age.
The essential thing is to find a balance between the price we want to pay and the coverages we need.
in policies as important as those that affect our health, we should look for long-term stability, because what we are not interested in is changing companies every year.
At any moment we can suffer an illness, and perhaps when that day comes it will be too late to change insurance companies.
In this sense, before you start looking for the best health insurance, we recommend you to follow some fundamental tips:
- If you are over 55 and you are going to take out health insurance, ask how your premium will change when you turn 60 and 65. It is possible that some companies may not interest you depending on the answer they give you, even if their initial offer seems attractive.
- Look for group policies, and ask when the biggest economic jumps occur.
- Don’t just look at the price you are offered today: you could be caught in the net 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 claims, etc.) and cause you to suddenly leave the company, with the risk we mentioned earlier.
Which insurance companies offer private insurance for the over 65s?
Now that you know the complications of taking out health insurance for a senior citizen, you may be wondering which is the best company in this area. To find out which one is best for you, you will have to consider that:
- There are companies that offer a lifetime guarantee to the insured: with this modality, we make sure that the company will not expel us from the insurance we have contracted.
- In addition, there are insurers that undertake not to make indiscriminate premium increases, i.e., they do not relate the price of their insurance to the possible loss ratio of an insured.
- Group insurance: certain insurance brokerages offer group policies, which guarantee in the best way sustained premiums, diluting the loss ratio in the group of insured. There are group rates that can be around 100-125 euros in full policies without co-payments, which is very good if we compare it with individual policies. There are also policyholders who are paying 200 €. And it will depend on the coverage contracted, the company, the size of the group and its accident rate.
- Every year, the Directorate General of Insurance receives numerous complaints due to the increase in premiums at the time of renewal of insurance policies.
There are companies that treat their policyholders better than others as they get older, and that is something that you should value, and that we, as your health insurance comparator, know well.
If you want to find out about health insurance policies that are balanced in the medium to long term, and not end up choosing companies that are not committed to treating their policyholders well, we are at your disposal.
Contact PIB Group Iberia now and find out more before taking out a health insurance policy.
