Cancelling your health insurer
Only one deadline truly counts: your letter must have arrived at your insurer by 30 November at the latest. Posted on the 30th is too late.
Generate your termination letter
Pick your insurer: the letter is written with its exact address, taken from the official register of authorised insurers.
- 1Pick your current insurerThe letter is filled in with its exact address, taken from the official register of authorised insurers.
- 2Complete and signCopy the text, fill in the square brackets — name, address, policy number — print and sign.
- 3Send by registered mailThe letter must be received by 30 November. Posted late on the 29th, it arrives too late.
- 4Keep the confirmationKeep the receipt and the insurer’s written confirmation: they prove the date of delivery.
Four things not to get wrong
- The letter must be RECEIVED by 30 November — not posted on the 30th. Posted late on the 29th, it arrives on 1 December, and the year is lost.
- Send it by registered mail. Without proof of delivery, a disputed termination is a lost one.
- Your premiums must be paid up. An insurer may refuse the termination while arrears remain.
- Do not terminate your supplementary cover with this letter: different contract, different deadlines — and supplementary cover, once lost, is not always available again.
The ordinary deadline
Basic cover is cancelled for 31 December, taking effect the following 1 January. The cancellation must reach the insurer by 30 November. It is the date of receipt that counts, not the postmark: registered post a few days earlier remains the only solid proof.
The shortened deadline
On the minimum deductible with the standard model, a cancellation by 31 March, effective 30 June, also exists. Rare in practice, because that very combination is the most expensive on the market.
The three traps
- Cancelling before the new insurer has confirmed acceptance. Basic cover cannot refuse you, but an incomplete file can drag: keep proof of posting.
- Confusing basic cover with supplementary policies. Supplementary policies fall under the VVG, with their own deadlines — often three months before expiry — and the new insurer may refuse you.
- Cancelling while premiums are unpaid. An insurer can block your departure until the arrears are settled.
What never changes
No insurer may refuse you basic cover, whatever your age or state of health. No medical questionnaire is allowed. This holds for basic cover only: supplementary policies select freely.
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