Leaving your employer's health plan: what happens to your cover and pre-existing conditions

When you leave a job, or your company changes its health plan, international group cover usually stops with your membership. What you can carry into your own plan depends on the insurer: a few publish an option for members leaving a group, and every individual plan applies an underwriting basis to your medical history. This guide sets out the options, the timing and the questions to ask before the group cover ends.

What happens to your international group cover when you leave

A company plan covers you because you work there. When the job ends, or the employer cancels or moves its scheme, your membership of that plan ends on the date set in the group's own terms. Find that date in your employee benefit guide or ask HR in writing, because it is the date everything else is planned around.

Two things are easy to miss:

• Your group's underwriting basis does not travel with you. Larger groups can be insured on a medical history disregarded (MHD) basis. Now Health says it may offer that for companies covering 10 or more employees, and IMG says MHD is generally only available to groups of 10 or more. A condition that was covered on the group plan because history was disregarded can be excluded on an individual plan that underwrites you.
• If the company changes insurer or plan, you are on the new group's terms. What happens to your conditions then depends on how the new insurer underwrites the group, not on your old policy.

Continuation options insurers publish for members leaving a group

We only state an insurer's option where its own documents say so. Two do:

Cigna Global

Cigna Global's page for people leaving a company says an individual plan may be arranged to start when your group membership ends, subject to eligibility, underwriting and acceptance; that waiting periods already served under your Cigna group plan may be taken into account, depending on eligibility and the underwriting outcome; and that a Cigna group leaver discount is available. It gives a group leaver support line and the address groupleaver@cignahealthcare.com.

Cigna Global's broker factsheets describe two routes for clients leaving a Cigna group corporate plan. Full medical underwriting, with a medical questionnaire that may lead to exclusions for pre-existing conditions. Or continuation, which needs no further medical underwriting: most pre-existing conditions covered under the group plan continue to be covered, with a premium loading. The factsheet's eligibility rules: Cigna Global Health Benefits and Vanbreda International corporate plan customers only; at least 6 months on the corporate plan before it ended; apply within 30 days of the end of employment; and still an expat, not returning to your country of nationality. Changing the people covered, the modules, deductible or cost share sends the application to full medical underwriting. The factsheets carry a 2015 date, so confirm the current terms with Cigna or with us before you rely on the 30-day window.

See our Cigna Global profile.

Allianz Care

Allianz Care's member FAQ says that if your cover under the company agreement ends, you can apply for one of its individual and family plans; you need to apply within one month of leaving the group scheme; you may be subject to underwriting; and if accepted, cover starts on the first day after you leave the group scheme. See our Allianz Care profile.

For any other insurer, ask the insurer or a broker before your last day whether a group-leaver route exists and on what terms. Do not assume one.

Underwriting choices when you buy your own plan

If there is no continuation route, or it does not fit, your new plan is underwritten. These are the bases you will be offered, explained neutrally. None is better in general; which suits you depends on your history.

• Full medical underwriting (FMU). You declare your history when you apply. The insurer decides up front what is covered, excluded or charged extra, so you know where you stand from day one.
• Moratorium. No full declaration up front. Recent conditions are excluded and can become eligible after a continuous period with no symptoms, treatment or advice. Allianz Care's period is 24 months from the start date. IMG excludes conditions from the five years before joining and may cover them after two continuous clear years.
• Continued personal medical exclusions (CPME), continued or switch terms (CTT). Moving from another insurer, the new insurer carries across the terms you already had, including exclusions, without underwriting you again. Allianz Care's guide says you will not be subject to any new personal underwriting terms; Cigna Global's switch option continues any exclusion the other insurer applied but adds no new ones.
• Medical history disregarded (MHD). A group basis, not one you can buy as an individual.

The longer explanation, with how each basis treats a condition you already have, is in our guide to pre-existing conditions and underwriting. HealthiNomad also has a plain guide to pre-existing conditions on international cover.

Which insurer offers which basis

From each insurer's own documents, checked 17 October 2026. Terms can differ by country and plan, so the policy documents you are given at quote take precedence.

Side by side on 14 terms, including underwriting, in the international health insurance feature matrix. All insurer profiles: insurers.

Timing, gaps and waiting periods

• Apply before the group cover ends. Cigna Global's factsheet window is 30 days from the end of employment and Allianz Care's is one month from leaving the scheme. Start the conversation before your last day, so the new plan can start the day after the old one stops.
• Avoid a gap. A gap leaves you uninsured, and the terms that carry history across, such as continuation, switch or CPME, are built on moving from one policy to the next. Ask before you let the old cover lapse.
• Do not assume waiting periods carry over. Individual plans can have waiting periods for benefits such as maternity and dental. Cigna Global says waiting periods already served under its group plan may be taken into account. Check each insurer's waits on its profile before you assume.
• Keep your documents. Your group certificate, the insurer's letter on any exclusions, and your benefit guide. An insurer offering CPME or switch terms needs to see the terms your previous insurer gave you.

How a broker gets an insurer's indication before a full application

Our process: we get an indication from the insurer first. With your consent, we send the insurer's underwriters a summary of your situation and medical history and ask how they would treat it on each basis they offer: covered, excluded, or loaded. You then choose the insurer and the basis knowing the likely outcome, rather than finding out after a full application. An indication is not an offer. The insurer's final terms come with the full application, and you must answer its questions fully and honestly.

This matters most when you are leaving a group plan that covered a condition, because the choice between a continuation route, CPME and full underwriting can decide whether that condition stays covered.

Checklist before your last day

1. Get the date your group membership ends, in writing.
2. Ask the group's insurer whether it has a group-leaver or continuation option, and its deadline.
3. If your employer is a US employer, check your COBRA notice and the 60-day election window.
4. List your conditions and current treatment, and find any exclusion letters.
5. Ask for an indication from the insurers you are considering, on each basis they offer.
6. Choose the basis: continuation, CPME or switch, moratorium, or full underwriting.
7. Set the new plan to start the day after the group cover ends.
8. Check waiting periods for maternity, dental or other benefits you need soon.

Frequently asked questions

Sources

1. Cigna Global, Leaving a Company, checked 17 October 2026.
2. Cigna Global, Group Leavers: options for clients leaving a Cigna group corporate plan (broker factsheet, © 2015), checked 17 October 2026.
3. Cigna Global, Underwriting: your guide to our underwriting options (broker factsheet, © 2015), checked 17 October 2026.
4. Allianz Care, member FAQ: administration of your policy, checked 17 October 2026.
5. Allianz Care, Individual Benefit Guide, Care plans, valid from 1 November 2025, checked 17 October 2026.
6. IMG (International), Underwriting, checked 17 October 2026.
7. Now Health International, Our underwriting, checked 17 October 2026.
8. APRIL International, MyHEALTH Singapore, checked 17 October 2026.
9. US Department of Labor, FAQs on COBRA continuation health coverage, checked 17 October 2026.

This guide is general information, not personal or medical advice. Insurer terms are taken from each insurer's published documents on the date shown and can change; the policy documents you receive take precedence. For advice on your situation, speak to a regulated broker.