- Why choose Aviva Private Health insurance?
- Customer Reviews and Ratings
- How much is Aviva Private Health insurance?
- What is and isn’t covered?
Aviva Private Health Insurance: Overall Review
In terms of experience, Aviva is certainly impressive. They have been looking after their customers for over 320 years and in 2020 had over 18 million customers in their core markets (UK, Ireland and Canada) alone!
With this experience and popularity, it may come as no surprise that Aviva has won many awards over the years. In fact, they won General Insurer of the Year and General Insurer of the Decade at the British Insurance Awards in 2024, widely recognized as one of the most prestigious events in the insurance world.
When it comes to private health insurance Aviva continues to impress—in 2023 they were highly commended in the Best Customer Service Delivery category at the Health Insurance Protection Awards!
So, what do Aviva’s customers have to say? Well, Aviva overall is rated 'Great' with a Trustpilot rating of 4.0 out of 5 for customer experience.
However, we struggled to find may health insurance specific ratings for Aviva. In fact, the only ratings we came across was a disappointing rating of 1.6 out of 5 on the customer review website Smart Money People and 1.4 out of 5 on Reviewcentre! These are based on small sample sizes of less than 200 customers, however, so it’s important to take this data with a small pinch of salt.
Of course, customer experience is only a small part of what makes for a good insurance package which is why we’ll also be diving into what is and isn’t covered by Aviva’s private health insurance, optional add-ons and the all-important price.
Why choose Aviva Private Health Insurance?
There are many benefits to choosing Aviva’s private health insurance cover. We’ve listed some of the key perks below:
- Multi-award winning provider: Aviva won General Insurer of the Year at the British Insurance Awards in 2024
- Speedy appointments: Aviva’s Digital GP gives you 24-hour access to professionals, and you can get an appointment in as little as 30 minutes
- Family cover: Aviva give you the option to cover your partner and any children you may have. Also, if you have two or more children age 19 or under and add them to your policy you’ll only pay for the eldest
- ‘Baby bonus’: Aviva also offer a ‘baby bonus’ where, if you’ve had a health insurance policy for over 10 months and your premiums are paid up to date, Aviva will give you £100 when you have a baby, or adopt a baby up to a year old
- Flexible cover: Aviva give you the option to tailor your policy to suit your specific needs, with a variety of add-ons available such as mental health treatment and dental and optical services
- 24-hour access to a stress counsellor: you can call Aviva's stress counselling helpline to discuss any worries you or your family have. Note, this service is only available to members aged 16 and over
Customer Reviews and Ratings
| Aviva Customer Ratings | |
|---|---|
| Trustpilot Rating | 4.0 out of 5 |
| Reviews.io Rating | 2.0 out of 5 |
| Smart Money People Rating | 1.6 out of 5^ (private health insurance specific) |
| Review Centre Rating | 1.4 out of 5^ (private health insurance specific) |
^Note: these ratings are based on relatively sample sizes; use as guide only.
Aviva's private health insurance is considered to be one of the best products on the market when taking into account their coverage and benefits. When we take a look at health insurance specific customer feedback, however, we see a slightly different picture. Aviva average only 1.6 out of 5 on customer review site Smart Money People, and an even more disappointing 1.4 out of 5 on Reviewcentre.
It is important to note that these ratings are based on small sample sizes, so we would recommend taking these figures with a pinch of salt rather than at face value. Nevertheless, it is handy to know that some customers appear to have been left less than satisfied with their experience using Aviva and their private health insurance.
We feel it is also important to highlight Aviva as a company (i.e. not health insurance specifically). According to Trustpilot customers have had a 'great' customer experience overall, with a very respectable rating of 4.0 out of 5. This is based on a huge sample size of over 36,000 reviews at the time of writing, so may act as a better reflection of a typical customers experience with Aviva.
Whilst this doesn't take away from the fact that the above customers had a less than perfect experience with their private health insurance, we do feel that overall Aviva appear to have the confidence of their customers. Let's take a closer look at what private health insurance customers specifically have to say about Aviva.
What does Aviva Private Health Insurance do well?
During our research we sifted through hundreds of pieces of feedback left by verified customers and we noticed that above all, Aviva are highly commended on their fantastic customer service. Their advisors have been described as caring, knowledgeable and helped customers at ease — this alone can really make a difference when you're worried and experiencing any kind of health issue.
“I spoke with the Health cover team regarding my husband who had a severe stroke 6 weeks ago and the advisor was extremely helpful and informative and advised my next steps to help with his rehabilitation etc. Today I received a bouquet of flowers and a lovely note from Emily and the Aviva team to wish us both well and brighten our day! Wonderful customer service and very thoughtful.”
“I have had to make several health insurance claims. The customer service has been the best that I have ever experienced. The expertise of their claims experts is astounding. They have gone above and beyond to take concerns about getting care away from me and ensuring that I get maximum benefit from the policy. What she did for me has literally changed my state of mind about treatment and affording going private long term.”
“I can only say how grateful I am to Aviva to have had a recent procedure, operation and follow-up appointments seamlessly agreed and paid for by my Health Insurance Cover.”
What could Aviva Private Health Insurance improve?
Whilst Aviva have been highly praised for their customer service experience, it appears not everyone was left quite so satisfied. One customer was frustrated at the claims process, claiming Aviva went back on their word with regards to paying out on a claim.
Other customers have expressed frustration with accessing their policy documents and information online due to difficulties using Aviva's online services and odd hours of operation. There appears to have also been confusion amongst many customers around what is and isn't covered under their health insurance policy, leading to disputes further down the line.
“Appalling customer service. they approved a claim for a teenage child so she started counselling. After WEEKS Aviva called me saying there was mistake and that the claim may not be eligible as they had made a mistake so they need extra evidence from our GP. So they basically approved counselling then they went back on their word.”
“My only criticism. is that their technology needs work. The app isn’t great and on-line functionality is not what it could be.”
“I have been in a dispute for nearly a year applying for a claim on my critical illness cover policy. This company will do its utmost not to pay out unless your terminally ill with cancer. Happy to take your money for years amounting to thousands of pounds.”
“Aviva Health Insurance: check carefully which hospitals Aviva do and don't cover! The well known hospital I needed to go to was not on their list so they would not cover costs, even though they cover the same procedure with the same doctor at other hospitals. The hospital they would have covered me at had a 3-month waiting list - similar to NHS.”
“. my policy details, online claims process and other quite normal ditgial services are only accessible during bizarre office hours (for example Saturday from 4am to 4pm??). Effectively, outside of the wierd office hours, the website is 100% useless.”
Health insurance can be a difficult field to navigate as it's filled with lots of healthcare related jargon that many of us are unfamiliar with. Some of the comments above left my frustrated customers could be a result of confusion and simple misunderstanding about what types of treatments and circumstances were covered in their policy — in any case, it is so important to ensure you set aside a chunk of time to sit down and properly read through your policy documents prior to signing any agreement.
This is your opportunity to identify any areas you need further clarification on, and any good insurer will have no problem answering your questions. By doing this you could avoid being in a similar situation to some of the customers above which will save you a lot of stress and time.
How much is Aviva Private Health Insurance?
We compiled quotes for Aviva's private health insurance based on the profile of a 35-year-old male non-smoker from a mid-sized town in the UK. The prices shown below related to a no-frills single person plan (i.e. if you were looking to take insurance out for just yourself) with a £200 excess (Aviva do offer higher excesses, though you have to contact them directly to discuss this). Please note, your prices will certainly vary from this; use this information for informational purposes only.
