Reply to: Health insurance

[London75]

I had BUPA for me and my kids, I saved 50% this year by going with these guys, recommended by another CUK member:

http://www.health-on-line.co.uk/

Axa PPP are the provider and, ironically, they could send me to a BUPA hospital anyways...

They seem to have a lot of very low limits on their add-ons! Like 1000 for therapies (that's probably 1 day), 150 for dental a year!

Hope the main section of the policy is better.

[ratewhore]

I had BUPA for me and my kids, I saved 50% this year by going with these guys, recommended by another CUK member:

http://www.health-on-line.co.uk/

Axa PPP are the provider and, ironically, they could send me to a BUPA hospital anyways...

[EternalOptimist]

What they would be looking for is excluding ' any condition due or arising from the circumcission or the reason why the circimcission was performed in the first place'.

And yes, if the circumcussion was not performed correctly in the first place, they may need for it to be 'redone' later down the line.

Oh well - I knew that 4 years working for BUPA would come in handy some time

Darn right it can go wrong. I had it done when I was little and they took too much off. Probably about four inches I reckon

[brollyman]

And yes, if the circumcussion was not performed correctly in the first place, they may need for it to be 'redone' later down the line.

Don't tell me it can grow back?!!!!!

[zara_backdog]

Watch out for spurious exclusions....

Following the old snapped banjo string, I was circumcised about 7 years ago. I recently changed my medical insurance to Clinicare and was interested to read that they have excluded circumcision on my policy!

I'd be interested to meet anyone who's had that particular operation twice.......

On a serious note - I have found clinicare faultless in their dealing with me. I had keyhole surgery on my knee earlier this year and they were very efficient and actually "went the extra mile" when it came to aftercare.

What they would be looking for is excluding ' any condition due or arising from the circumcission or the reason why the circimcission was performed in the first place'.

And yes, if the circumcussion was not performed correctly in the first place, they may need for it to be 'redone' later down the line.

Oh well - I knew that 4 years working for BUPA would come in handy some time

[brollyman]

Exclusions

Watch out for spurious exclusions....

Following the old snapped banjo string, I was circumcised about 7 years ago. I recently changed my medical insurance to Clinicare and was interested to read that they have excluded circumcision on my policy!

I'd be interested to meet anyone who's had that particular operation twice.......

On a serious note - I have found clinicare faultless in their dealing with me. I had keyhole surgery on my knee earlier this year and they were very efficient and actually "went the extra mile" when it came to aftercare.

[Board Game Geek]

Yes Sandy, I was talking specifically about "Critical Illness Insurance".

[Board Game Geek]

Right let's clear something up.

It's not the GP's fault, in this instance.

now it seems details held with them aren't confidential either

Yes they are. You will find that when you take out a critical illness policy, there will be a tick box that you need to tick to give the insurer permission to ask your GP for your medical record.

If you don't tick this box, the insurer will probaly still give you insurance, based on a best guess of the risks.

However, if you do need to make a claim some years later, you will be sent a claim form, and this will state that the insurer needs to see your medical history in order to complete the claim process. They will send you a form asking for permission to access your full medical record, in order to assess the claim.

If the insurer can get a complete medical summary about me, who else can ? and why dont they get one at the time of the application for insurance, to avoid any 'misunderstandings' ?

A GP will only release details from your medical history to a non-medical source with your explicit consent. This is part of the Information Governance guildlines mandated by the PCT. Any GP who releases details of your medical history to any non-medical source without your consent would face serious consequences.

Insurers often do get a medical history from your GP at the time of the policy creation, as I mentioned earlier, again only with your consent.

However, it's the format in which they receive these results which can be different. Some insurers will only request a "quick patient summary" at the time of policy creation. If you need to make a claim x years later, they may request a "full patient summary" at this point.

Then they start fishing at claim time...as ThomasSoerensen alludes.

Theoretically, the 2 summaries should be the same. However, the "quick patient summary" is an abbreviated version, and the full summary as you can imagine can be a 30+ page affair.

Should you be in a situation where the insurer quibbles over a medical instance in your history, that is nothing to do with the reason you are claiming, and yet they argue the GP made the wrong diagnosis, you will find that most GP's worth their salt WILL vigourously defend in YOUR favour, since in essence the insurance company is accusing the GP of malpractice, and believe me, should it go that far, the BMA can get involved and slap the insurer silly. Usually just the threat gets the insurer to back off.

[SandyDown]

BGG what you are talkign about is life insurance or mortgage protection insurance, not health insurance !!!!!!!!

health insurance/dental is just for paying for medical treatments i.e. if you need an emergency op you don't have to wait on the NHS list.

[ThomasSoerensen]

If the insurer can get a complete medical summary about me, who else can ? and why dont they get one at the time of the application for insurance, to avoid any 'misunderstandings' ?

Because they do not want to avoid misunderstandings.
They want to use it against you.

Simple really.

[EternalOptimist]

If the insurer can get a complete medical summary about me, who else can ? and why dont they get one at the time of the application for insurance, to avoid any 'misunderstandings' ?

[TimberWolf]

Just goes to show GPs are not only useless, but seeing one could be detrimental to ones health. Actually it shows if you aren't ill enough to go straight to hospital, just skip the GP stage and wait for things to either get better or worse. 99.99999% of the time it will be the former. GPs are useless, and now it seems details held with them aren't confidential either and could even be used against you The whole health system is like a giant parasite preying on you gladly paying hosts...

[Board Game Geek]

You're both welcome.

Having taken on my insurer and won, I do have a bee in my bonnet about the way they WILL try and wriggle out of paying critical illness policies.

If I can help others avoid the stress and hassle I suffered, it's worth it.

[TykeMerc]

Excellent advice BGG, thanks.

[thunderlizard]

sterling stuff BGG!

Exactly the kind of thing I could do with knowing. Forewarned is forearmed!

tl