Advances in modern medicine mean unexpected health events, such as injuries or medical diagnoses, may not be the major medical event they were a few decades ago. But they can still be a scary experience, and prompt you to take stock of a few things.
One of them might be your insurance.
Here are a few things to think about if you’ve ever experienced an unexpected health event.
When it happens
If you had insurance cover in place when you experienced your health event, you hopefully got in touch with your insurer or adviser to talk about how your insurance could respond.
Treatment for acute conditions is usually covered by the public system, but your condition may also be covered by your trauma policy. Trauma cover generally pays out for serious illness or injuries, that meet the severity of the policy definition, as well as health conditions such as cancer.
If you had a long period off work for recovery, your income protection might also have paid out.
Sometimes it’s not immediately obvious what you might be able to claim for, especially in a stressful situation. If you’re unsure, get in touch with the team at LifeDirect and our friendly advisers will be able to help.
Finding new cover
But what if you didn’t have anything in place, or need to take out new cover?
People sometimes worry about whether a major health event, such as a heart attack, will make it impossible for them to get things like life insurance or health cover in future.
The good news is that it won’t always.
Insurers will usually want to know things like when your health event happened, the treatment you’ve had, the medications you’re taking, any lasting symptoms as a result, any diagnosis you’ve received, and how your health has fared since.
Sometimes in these circumstances, insurance may be offered with non-standard terms, which can mean that the premium you pay is higher. How much higher is likely to depend on how long since the health event, and how serious it was.
In other cases, depending on the type of cover you’re applying for and your personal health situation, the insurer might apply some sort of temporary standdown period or offer you a policy with an exclusion for claims relating to your condition.
Claiming more than once
There can be limits to the number of times you can claim for the same health event or illness, depending on the type of insurance policy you have, so a future event of the same claim type may not be covered in the same way. It might be a good idea to talk to us or your insurer about what you might expect in future scenarios.
Some policies allow you to claim more than once for the same event, but you’ll need to check your policy wording to determine whether this applies to you.
Ready to talk?
If it’s time to take out new insurance, or check whether what you have is still appropriate for your needs, get in touch with our team. We’re on hand to help you understand what’s available and how any existing health conditions might affect your cover.
Disclaimer: Please note that the content provided in this article is intended as an overview and as general information only. While care is taken to ensure accuracy and reliability, the information provided is subject to continuous change and may not reflect current developments or address your situation. Before making any decisions based on the information provided in this article, please use your discretion and seek independent guidance.
