Health Insurance

Shopping for affordable health insurance can certainly be an eye-opener. If you have always had a health insurance benefit where you work and now have to buy your own, you may not be able to afford the level of health insurance coverage you have become used to.

Overall monthly premium cost is, of course, an important factor when determining your health insurance provider but equal weighting should be given to the integrity and quality of the company and also how quickly they can respond to a claim. The main health insurance providers within your region will probably be household names but only through word of mouth will you likely find out which one has the better service.

Tips for finding vaue and the advantages of the internet:

• Do not use a local agent to source your insurance provider or submit claims. This will certainly add a percentage to your premium. Go to the Medical Insurance supplier directly.
• Agents are usually limited to a select few providers whereas the world's suppliers are open to you via the power of the internet.
• The internet has also ensured the insurance providers have to be ultra competitive. There is no hiding on the internet. Your product or service is visible to all as is reports on the quality of your service. This competition leads to lower premium prices and premium comparison sites are commonplace to make your search so much easier.
• Submitting a request via the internet is so much simpler and quicker than the filling out of paper forms and postage delays. You are also able to modify and add changes on the fly.
• Paying the annual instalment online by card may result in a discount. In fact, ofthen the quote is itself discount when purchased online due to the lower overheads incurred by the insurance company.

Choosing the right plan

Be aware however that every policy is different, and only by reading your own policy documents will you be able to find out exactly what you are covered for.

Defining 'Chronic'
Illnesses and conditions etc fall into two main categories: 'acute' and 'chronic'. Short-term illnesses that can be fixed and cured are called 'acute', for example if you fell and broke your arm, this would be classed as acute. If, however, your problem is either incurable or deemed to be a long-term issue, then it will be classed as 'chronic' and subsequently you will not be able to make a claim.

What counts as 'acute' and what counts as 'chronic' is a hotly disputed issue between insurance companies and their customers. Diabetes and asthma are acknowledged as chronic, long-term conditions that cannot be cured.

The issues become more difficult with certain types of cancer. It often happens that the cancer is considered to be treatable at first, and then the diagnosis is changed at a later time to incurable. In this case, you would only be covered as long as the cancer was diagnosed curable. If the prognosis changes you will lose your cover. Insurance companies are allowed to reclassify an illness from acute to chronic at any time.

What about the long-term
If you need long-term treatment then you're out of luck. However insurers have different ideas on what constitutes long-term, you may be covered for 10 months or up to a year, but it probably won't be for any longer than that. Check your policy for details.

Does preventative medicine count?
Health insurance cannot be used to pay for preventative treatment, although that is another matter of contention. For example, a drug called 'Herceptin' can be used to help women who have 'HER2', a virulent form of breast cancer. The drug has helped reduce the risk of the cancer returning by an average of 50%. Many would call this an essential treatment, but some insurers call it preventative. Many of the top medical insurance companies will cover it and many will not..

Pre-existing conditions
A 'pre-existing condition' describes a condition or illness that you suffered from before starting your health insurance policy. You will have to provide details of all these when you fill out your application form. That way the insurer is aware of what they can exclude from your policy. Be sure to be truthful in the application form as the insurer can easily contact your doctor to see your medical history, and they often do - having requested your approval first. They will also sometimes ask people to undergo a medical examination.

What counts as a pre-existing condition is also a potentially sore subject. If you fell off your horse years ago and fractured an ankle, you may find in later life that it starts playing up again and you need an operation to fix the problem. The insurance company may reject a claim, saying that it's a condition that occurred before the policy began.

Some insurance companies write a moratorium provision into their policies, which allows some respite from a potential long list of pre-existing conditions. For example, you may be covered as long as you have not suffered from the condition for two years, with the condition first taking place in the last five years. These time frames are individual to insurance companies, read the small print first to see if your policy includes a moratorium provision.

The condition or illness is excluded
Health insurance is renewable on a yearly basis and at renewal time, you may find that your policy, and your premiums, have changed - often not for the better. If you are undergoing treatment at time of renewal, it's possible that your condition or illness will have become 'excluded' in the renewed policy, and that you will have to cover the cost of the rest of the treatment.

Because medical research is advancing so quickly, and the number of conditions considered treatable is increasing, the goalposts are always shifting as to what is chronic and what is acute.

The insurance companies are usually trying to cover their own backs. More conditions are being classified as acute, so they have to pay out more in claims. At the same time, newly introduced treatments and drugs are often expensive, so that's more expense to the insurer. To cover their losses, the insurers increase the premiums, and introduce some more exclusions. You have to watch out for this as you may renew your policy without realising that some very important details have changed.

So if have Health Insurance, or you are considering signing up to a policy, take this article into account and read the small print so you know exactly what is and isn't covered. And the golden rule:

Before getting treatment, always double check with your insurer first that it is covered.

Our Recommendation:

We have done some research on Health Insurance and we are happy to recommend PruHealth, a leading company in the sector . They have a unique approach to health Insurance, their site is very imformative and they are also offering a £100 Boots voucher for taking out cover! They offer a free and very quick and simple online quotation.

You can visit their website for a FREE quotation - HERE -

For Life Insurance with Critical Illness cover included we recommend Direct Line .

- TOP -