Sometimes, the medical policy does not meet your expectations and you consider canceling the health insurance to change your insurer. Sometimes, your situation simply changes and you decide to stop being a user of the private medical services offered by your company. In any case, if you want to cancel health insurance, you should do it correctly, to avoid problems. And in this post, we are going to explain how to do it, step by step.
The first thing you should keep in mind is that the vast majority of health policies have an annual validity, and are renewable or extendable when the expiration date of the contract arrives.
The extension of the insurance is automatic if the contrary is not established. That means that, if you want to suspend the coverage, you must notify your company that you do not want to renew the insurance for another year, so that they can cancel you. To do this, you must take the following steps into account:
- If you decide to cancel the health insurance, you have to initiate the procedures yourself.
- There is a cancellation period: You must do it one month before the expiration of the contract.
- You have to notify your insurer that you are going to cancel the health insurance within the term.
- Do not forget to provide the necessary data to cancel the insurance.
Cancel health insurance: you have the initiative
As an insured you have the right to cancel your health insurance to change companies or simply stop being a client of the health insurer. Without going into the reasons that may lead you to this decision, you should know that the protocol for canceling insurance is established in the policy contract.
In addition, the legislation allows the insured to request the cancellation of a policy and regulates how a user can unsubscribe from insurance. Law 50/1980 on Insurance Contracts, whose clauses cannot be contradicted by any policy, regulates how the cancellation of the insurance must be carried out so as not to incur a breach of contract.
The duration of the insurance is also specified, which in the case of health policies is usually twelve months until signing or until the last day of the calendar year. In this blog, we give you more information about the duration of insurance here.
It is a simple procedure, which you can do yourself. In addition, many insurers establish channels to do it in an agile way.
But if you have any questions, you can also contact us and your insurance broker will advise you so that canceling your health insurance is not a problem. And if you want, you can change your health insurance by improving your conditions.
Cancellation period: How long can I cancel insurance?
When it comes to canceling insurance, deadlines are important. Complying with them can save you a lot of problems with the insurer.
The regulations establish that, if you want to cancel the health insurance, you must do so one month before the expiration of the current contract. In other words, if the policy is renewed on January 1, you have to cancel the insurance before December 1, one month before.
Let’s say that you are a client of private health insurance and that, two months before the expiration of the contract, you are notified of the premium to be paid in the next annuity. Well, if we do not want to continue with the policy and change the company, it is best to proceed with the cancellation at that very moment and not once the contract is renewed.
Under normal circumstances, once the insurance has been renewed for another year, it could not be rescinded and you would have to wait until the next expiration date to be able to cancel it.
If we do not respect the cancellation deadlines, the insurance company has the right not to accept the cancellation of the policy. Normally, this is not the case, and everything usually remains in a warning from the company, but legally it could be done, extending the insurance and requiring you to pay the annual policy.
More problematic is that someone decides to unsubscribe at any time and after the deadline. Especially when the premium payment is paid in monthly or quarterly payments. In these cases, the insurer could not accept the contractual withdrawal, which may cause part of the premium paid not to be returned or even pending claims to be claimed.
If you want to avoid problems, cancel your health insurance at least one month before it expires.
Communicate that you want to cancel the health insurance
And how is the health insurance canceled? Well, by telling your company that you do not want to continue, yes, within a month before the expiration date, as we have already seen. It’s that simple, although there are a few things to keep in mind:
Communicate the cancellation of health insurance in writing
Conveniently, you leave a written record of your decision to cancel the health insurance. For this reason, we recommend that you use a channel in which the policy cancellation request is recorded.
You can do it by email or by certified letter of a lifetime. It will always be better than by phone, although now many companies record these calls to improve customer service.
And if the insurer proposes a form to carry out this management, make sure that they send you an acknowledgment of receipt, so that you have proof that your communication has reached them on the date it was sent.
Don’t forget the cancellation date
When asking your insurer to cancel the insurance, it is important to include the date the cancellation request was sent. In e-mail communications, it is not necessary, because the e-mail automatically registers the date in the message data. But if you are one of those who continue to write letters, make sure that you date the letter and that it is sent before the one-month deadline that we have already talked about.
Data of the insured and insurance
In the communication to cancel the health insurance, you must also indicate your insured data (name, surnames, DNI), address, and health insurance data. Above all, the policy number that we want to cancel is fundamental, so that the contract that we want to cancel is quickly identified.
Also, if you write to them by letter, you must not forget the signature, the date, and the place from where the request is made.
Request the cancellation of the direct debit of the insurance
Insurance, both medical insurance and other types of policies, usually have direct debit payments. When we cancel a policy, the insurer may forget the detail of eliminating the direct debit of the already canceled insurance. You would not be the first who, despite doing all the steps to cancel health insurance correctly, discovered that they had sent you the receipt again.
One way to prevent it is by requesting in writing the cancellation of the direct debit payment of the fee. In addition, we recommend that you notify your bank of the cancellation of the policy so that the payment of the already canceled insurance is also blocked from the entity.
Sample letter to cancel health insurance
This sample letter to cancel health insurance may be useful:
In any case, from Turboseguros.com we can advise you on this process and, if you are looking for another policy that better suits your circumstances, from here we will get you cheap health insurance with the medical chart you need.
Can I cancel the health insurance after the deadline?
Only in certain cases is there the possibility of canceling the health insurance in advance and after the deadline. These are the key moments for early cancellation of the policy:
Review of the conditions of the policy
From time to time, the insurer reviews the conditions of your health insurance and updates the price of the policy. This revision in the price or the coverage and health services must be communicated by the company to its insured at least two months before the expiration of the insurance.
In these cases, if you are not convinced by the change in the conditions of the policy, you have the right to request the cancellation of the insurance and cancel it.
Why does health insurance change its price?
There may be various reasons, but normally the price of the insurance is updated because the insured has reached a certain age or because the coverage of the policy that we have contracted has been modified.
Moreover, not only does the increase in the price of the policy enable us to suspend the insurance: if we understand that a change in the coverage or the conditions of assistance to the insured is detrimental to us, we can cancel the health insurance in that same moment
company health insurance
In the group health insurance that companies offer their workers, there is also the possibility of canceling the policy in advance for their employees. If we leave the company or are laid off, the health insurance will no longer cover us, regardless of the expiration date.
What if I want to change my health insurance?
If you are not convinced by your current company and want to change health insurance, you must first cancel the current policy as we have already explained and register new insurance.
In this process there are no shortcuts, the annual coverage you contracted will remain in force until the expiration of the contract. You must request cancellation at least one month before the automatic extension of the insurance is activated. Once the cancellation of the policy is complete, you can look for an alternative to ensure your health and that of your family.
At Turboseguros.com we can help you change health insurance. We advise you on the procedures and offer you a budget adjusted to your needs at a phenomenal price.
