Health insurance

[Giddygaddy]

Hi today I tried to get some insurance for if I die or have a critical illness and I was declined. Can anyone advice me of companies that will insure us with PBC. I am in the UK.

Thanks

[Hidden]

Hello Giddygaddy.

check out the online newsletter from LiverNorth, in their latest Summer issue on the back cover is insurance companies who at the time are willing to cover. I've posted the link for you. Click on Publications and scroll to the latest newsletter.

livernorth.org.uk/pages/fac...

PS Just checked the link does work, page 45 has a list.

[Giddygaddy in reply to Hidden]

Hi peridot

I have just read all of that newsletter and found it extremely informative. Do you subscribe to it?

I believe the insurance is for travel insurance though

[Hidden in reply to Giddygaddy]

Hello Giddygaddy.

I do read LiverNorth newsletters but you don't actually have to subscribe, they put them online when they are published. However you can have one posted to you in booklet form. I have in the past contacted LiverNorth to ask something and got a prompt reply.

Right I see, life insurance is what you require then. Not being impersonal but if you are 50 or over, what I would do is take out one of the over 50's life insurance. I used to have life insurance with Friends Provident (know for a fact they will not insure as I informed them of my diagnose Dec 2010 and they got back to me informing me the Underwriters said when my policy lapsed in Sept 2012 they would not offer me a new policy due to having PBC (though I can answer all the questions on pre-screening for other companies to my advantage yet it still does not help!). Policy lapsed and I had no life insurance as I refused to pay £75 per month plus for same cover my husband too out in 2011 (he only pays £10 per month) plus add to the fact I cannot afford to lose that amount of money.

I waited until April this year when I turned 50 and then took out over 50's and you set your own amount that you can afford. I pay £7.50 per month for mine now. I would rather have some cover as opposed to nothing in the event of my earlier demise.

I do not deem it fair with life insurance and people with certain health conditions that they have to continue to live with for the rest of their life. When I compare that I pay just under £30 a month to be covered for eventualities for my house (buildings) and also contents in with it in insurance and the amount of cover, it does not add up but I often wonder how a lot of things in life add up and how certain things seem back-to-front.

Despite me only paying in £22.50 so far in this over 50's insurance as I've contributed 3 months to it now I receive a £50 supermarket voucher.

[Giddygaddy]

Thanks peridot very much appreciated

[GrittyReads]

Hi Giddygaddy,

I would contact the PBC Foundation (and maybe LiverNorth), but direct, ie phone - or email if they do that and the phones currently are not active - and ask their advice. I know the PBC F, who host this 'Health Unlocked' site, have some info on travel Insurance, so they may be able to help on Life and Medical Insurance too. The PBC F don't make personal recommendations on TI, but they do pass on the advice of other members of the PBC F. You can link to the PBC F's website via the link at the top of the page.

I know that there are TI companies who will cover people with PBC, but quite what cover depends on how well you are, how you answer their questions, and whether you have had any treatment recently. I don't know if there will be a similar sliding scale for Life / Medical Insurance. I would guess so, but as with TI I imagine it is also a case of finding good, experienced, reputable companies. In my experience, some of the poorer TI companies have had medical advisors who are a joke! I'm planning to record all future conversations so that I can complain, as some of their people have made heinous remarks about PBC - and my experience of it. They clearly demonstrate that either they have no real medical knowledge, or that the medical databases the company is using are horrifically out of date. It might be similar with Life etc insurance, so I would try to take wider advice. Maybe find an insurance broker?

I hope you get something sorted, but as I said above, I think it will depend on the extent of your PBC and finding a sound company.

[Giddygaddy in reply to GrittyReads]

Thank you gritty reads. I will contact pbc f when I am back from holiday. I am very well with pbc stage 2 and my consultant appears well informed so keeps a close eye on me with various scans and tests.

Thank you though for the information

[GrittyReads in reply to Giddygaddy]

Thanks, Good to hear you are in competent, caring hands. Have a great holiday.

Gritty

PS Who do you use for TI? Assuming you are going outside the UK, that is. I like to collect good ones - I have had terrible times in the past, although partly because the name/ diagnosis my consultant gave to my form of PBC is not recognised by any databases - including my those of my GPs.

[Giddygaddy in reply to GrittyReads]

I used the post office for TI. And after a phone conversation it was all good

[Hidden in reply to GrittyReads]

Hello GrittyReads.

I once contacted the British Liver Trust with regards to life insurance as mine was due to run out Sept 2012. I used email and I got a response with an attached list of current insurers for life and also travel who they could at the time but did state no guarantees though they seemed confident that they could cover. This is how I got a quote for life insurance but could not afford to pay extortionate amount of premiums monthly.

Liver North are compiling a list of insurers who can cover for certain health conditions and they update on their newsletters each time. I noticed that my son's employers used to be on it but at some point noticed they vanished. My son did say regarding travel insurance and myself now if I needed, where he works it is normal for someone with a health condition to declare and then answer a few questions, they do not do a pre-screen. Apaprently if one is stable and on the same dose of meds for 12mths then you are more liable to be covered but as he stated there are no guarantees if you would get cover as things change.

I noticed that when I did a dummy quote myself recently (as want to travel to Channel Isles at some point, Guernsey and they do not offer NHS), PBC wasn't listed on their health conditions and I had to manually put in it and then got the pre-screen. Noticed how the amount for travel bumped up considerably.