End to pitiless premiums for breast cancer sufferers
Women with breast cancer have faced staggering travel insurance premiums for years, often leaving them unable to take a well-earned break or forcing them to travel without insurance.
Every year, over 44,600 women are diagnosed with the condition in the UK and on average, one in nine women will develop the disease at some point in their lives, say breastcancercare.
But insurance companies often charge massive premiums for sufferers wishing to travel abroad and, according to Macmillan Cancer Support, many women also feel the insurers ask insensitive questions when calculating their premium.
However, a new travel policy from Equity Insurance, called insurepink could mean an end to crippling travel costs for sufferers. It has been developed by Fiona MacRae, 45, a woman with a first-hand experience of living with the cancer and promises to be more understanding than the main insurers.
Mainstream premiums are often high as insurers classify cancer patients as high risk. They consider pre-exisiting medical conditions as evidence that a claim for medical care will be more likely when travelling.
But insurepink promises to reflect the true risks of holiday travel, not the perceived risk of travelling with a severe condition.
Insurepink are also targeting people who do not have the condition but want to support the cause and will be donating £1 to the Pink Ribbon Foundation for every travel policy sold and £10 for every car or home insurance policy sold before October 1st 2008.
Ms MacRae, told the Times she designed the new policy after being quoted a premium of more than than £300 to cover a week’s holiday in France with her family, months after receiving treatment. She said: “Even if you have been out of treatment for five years, you can still get whacked on premiums. They say that cancer is high risk for travel insurance but it is not really, not like life cover. You are just going on holiday.”
“At the moment, insurers have a broad-brush approach. But cancer is an umbrella term for 200 diseases that all react differently. Insurers need to assess risk more specifically, and price accordingly.”
Ms MacRae also believes that the questions mainstream insurers ask are not appropriate for accurately determining a person’s risk. For example, most insurers will ask how many times a person has visited the doctor in the past year to determine how likely they are to need medical attention whilst travelling.
“Of course they have been to the doctor,” she told the Times. “Going to the doctor a lot could mean they are less likely to need care on holiday, because they are actively being looked after.” Insurepink has dropped questions that it believes are unhelpful in determining risk and has introduced new ones based on a patients medication.
The Equity Insurance Group is also gathering more statistical data to develop policies for sufferers of other cancers, such as men with prostate cancer. Neil Utley, the group’s chief executive, told the Times: “We are investigating areas of the market poorly served by fair pricing.”
According to Jonathan French, from the Association of British Insurers, the insurance industry as a whole is trying to improve cover for patients with preexisiting medical conditions. In an interview with the Times he said: “When applying for travel insurance, people are obliged to disclose preexisting conditions, or the policy is invalid. We are trying to make things better... but it is important to note that people can get cover. There are plenty of specialist providers. The difficulty has been people not knowing their options.”
He added that cancer charities, such as Macmillan Cancer Support, often have information about which insurers specialise in cover for cancer patients.
For more information on breast cancer, visit: www.insurepink.co.uk.
Medical insurance can cover breast cancer and other cancers, subject to the usual medical policy exclusions - such as if the condition was pre-existing or subject to a qualifying period. With so much controvosy about the postcode lottery when it comes to breast and other cancer treatments, many individuals are turning to private medical insurance to ensure that they are covered in the unfortunate circumstance of succumbing the disease.
Every year, over 44,600 women are diagnosed with the condition in the UK and on average, one in nine women will develop the disease at some point in their lives, say breastcancercare.
But insurance companies often charge massive premiums for sufferers wishing to travel abroad and, according to Macmillan Cancer Support, many women also feel the insurers ask insensitive questions when calculating their premium.
However, a new travel policy from Equity Insurance, called insurepink could mean an end to crippling travel costs for sufferers. It has been developed by Fiona MacRae, 45, a woman with a first-hand experience of living with the cancer and promises to be more understanding than the main insurers.
Mainstream premiums are often high as insurers classify cancer patients as high risk. They consider pre-exisiting medical conditions as evidence that a claim for medical care will be more likely when travelling.
But insurepink promises to reflect the true risks of holiday travel, not the perceived risk of travelling with a severe condition.
Insurepink are also targeting people who do not have the condition but want to support the cause and will be donating £1 to the Pink Ribbon Foundation for every travel policy sold and £10 for every car or home insurance policy sold before October 1st 2008.
Ms MacRae, told the Times she designed the new policy after being quoted a premium of more than than £300 to cover a week’s holiday in France with her family, months after receiving treatment. She said: “Even if you have been out of treatment for five years, you can still get whacked on premiums. They say that cancer is high risk for travel insurance but it is not really, not like life cover. You are just going on holiday.”
“At the moment, insurers have a broad-brush approach. But cancer is an umbrella term for 200 diseases that all react differently. Insurers need to assess risk more specifically, and price accordingly.”
Ms MacRae also believes that the questions mainstream insurers ask are not appropriate for accurately determining a person’s risk. For example, most insurers will ask how many times a person has visited the doctor in the past year to determine how likely they are to need medical attention whilst travelling.
“Of course they have been to the doctor,” she told the Times. “Going to the doctor a lot could mean they are less likely to need care on holiday, because they are actively being looked after.” Insurepink has dropped questions that it believes are unhelpful in determining risk and has introduced new ones based on a patients medication.
The Equity Insurance Group is also gathering more statistical data to develop policies for sufferers of other cancers, such as men with prostate cancer. Neil Utley, the group’s chief executive, told the Times: “We are investigating areas of the market poorly served by fair pricing.”
According to Jonathan French, from the Association of British Insurers, the insurance industry as a whole is trying to improve cover for patients with preexisiting medical conditions. In an interview with the Times he said: “When applying for travel insurance, people are obliged to disclose preexisting conditions, or the policy is invalid. We are trying to make things better... but it is important to note that people can get cover. There are plenty of specialist providers. The difficulty has been people not knowing their options.”
He added that cancer charities, such as Macmillan Cancer Support, often have information about which insurers specialise in cover for cancer patients.
For more information on breast cancer, visit: www.insurepink.co.uk.
Medical insurance can cover breast cancer and other cancers, subject to the usual medical policy exclusions - such as if the condition was pre-existing or subject to a qualifying period. With so much controvosy about the postcode lottery when it comes to breast and other cancer treatments, many individuals are turning to private medical insurance to ensure that they are covered in the unfortunate circumstance of succumbing the disease.
Labels: health insurance, health insurance policy, private medical insurance
Posted by Health Insurance News at
09:36
