In the UK around 7 million people spend around £3 billion a year on medical insurance. One in seven policies are demanded out by individuals with the balance being put in place by their employers. The problem is that Medical insurance is complex and few policyholders take the time to really study the details of their cover. As a result, many misunderstand what will be covered. If you expect medical insurance policy to pay every health claim, you’re mistaken.
Medical insurance is designed to supply protection for curable, short-term health problems and reserve policyholders to jump the NHS queues to see consultants, be diagnosed, receive surgery or be treated. That sounds fine, but before you buy you need to appreciate the treatments and situations that fall outside the scope of the cover.
But first a word of warning. This article does not relate to any specific policy and the terms and considerations issued by individual insurers do vary. So please secure you also check your policy documents. After reading this article, you’ll know what to look out for!
Sorry – it’s a chronic term
If a term can be cured and is not a long-term problem, your insurance policy company will classify it as acute and should see the cost. If your problem is incurable or it’s a trouble that, despite appropriate handling, will be with you for a long time, then your insurance company will classify it as chronic – and no, you won’t be covered.
But deciding whether a term is acute or chronic is fraught with problems. It’s rarely a black and white decision and this can lead to a major area of conflict between policyholder and insurer.
It’s clear that asthma and diabetes are chronic circumstances as you’re almost certain to suffer from them for the rest of your life. So those categories of illness are not covered.
Problems arise when Doctors initially consider a patients’ condition to be curable, but the term later deteriorates and the medical team changes its’ mind, it’s now become incurable. This can sometimes happen, especially in the treatment of certain types of cancer.
