Two-thirds of advisers said they had difficulty finding insurance for clients with multiple or pre-existing medical conditions, research from The Exeter found.
The survey showed 62% of advisers saw this as a key challenge, while 30% said the ability to cover these clients was the most important factor when choosing an insurer.
Pre-existing medical conditions were seen as the biggest challenge for private health insurance in 2025, according to 37% of advisers.
Research found that the issue was not just limited to health insurance, as 29% of advisers expected it to be a main challenge for income protection, and 26% said the same for life insurance.
Other challenges advisers faced in health insurance included explaining the benefits of different policies, with 31% mentioning this, and 35% said overcoming perceptions of cost was a problem.
For income protection, the main difficulties were overcoming perceptions of cost at 36%, clarifying policy exclusions and conditions at 30%, and explaining the benefits of individual policies at 29%.
Advisers also reported similar issues for life insurance, with 38% citing perceptions of cost, 33% clarifying exclusions and conditions, and 28% explaining policy benefits.
Jack Southcott, head of protection propositions at The Exeter, said: “Living with pre-existing or multiple medical conditions can pose many challenges for individuals, and unfortunately, this can also prevent them from buying insurance products.
“In recent years, health and protection providers have taken positive steps to further grow the market by making products more accessible to more people, including those with pre-existing medical conditions.
“As we continue to develop our propositions, there is the potential to further improve accessibility to the products we offer, so that more people can benefit from the peace of mind that insurance provides.”
