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Health insurance : Hot topics

In "Hot topics", Ian Youngman, Private Healthcare UK's health insurance writer, examines some of the key issues that affect health insurance coverage and premiums.

How risky or safe is your insurance? The risk you take with an insurance policy depends on two things: The type of policy you have and the relative strength or weakness of the insurance company.
Saving money by cancelling or reducing cover on your international health insurance The urge to reduce medical cover can seem overwhelming, but resist it. Cutting out chronic disease cover could save you 10 or 20% on your premium, but nothing is simple as everyone disagrees on what conditions should be covered. You are unlikely to get cover for Alzheimer's, arthritis, heart disease, diabetes or asthma. Some do cover organ transplants and the ongoing maintenance for chronic...
The myth of monthly payments You may have seen recent articles that suggest you should pay premiums monthly rather than annually to protect yourself from the outside chance that your insurer could go bust. But as most policies are annual, not monthly, all you are doing with a monthly premium is paying the annual cover in instalments. If the insurer went bust, you would still be pursued by the liquidator or administrator for...
Will my insurer go bust? The recession in the UK and US is causing problems for many banks and some insurance groups. A key problem is that suspicion of problems leaves a crisis of confidence and this in turn can sink even the biggest names. Intermediaries are bound by FSA rules not to use companies they have suspicions about.
Long-term Care policies: An investment, peace of mind or waste of money? With a credit crunch, banks in crisis, politicians in trouble, and jobs on the line; to an average fifty-plus couple, long-term care planning must seem the least of their worries. In recent years, the long- term care insurance and investment market in the UK has, unlike in the US, almost disappeared.
Travel health insurance and the Equalities Bill The Government's new Equalities Bill aims to put an end to age discrimination in England, Wales and Scotland. It will consolidate previous discrimination law into a single piece of legislation. Under the new law, insurers will be barred from rejecting older people who apply for travel insurance, or charging extortionate premiums.
European medical treatment on the NHS You have probably seen comments from politicians and health officials in the UK in national papers about this. Many of those comments were made before the information was issued. Few actually read the details before foaming at the mouth that the UK was not going to pay for foreigners coming here or for UK residents going overseas. Having studied the documents, rather than the reports or press...
Cancer sufferers deserve better from the travel insurance industry Sometimes you have to feel sorry for the insurance trade body the ABI as they seek publicly to defend the indefensible. The insurance trade has been under attack, mostly from inside, that it is ageist on travel policies. So the ABI looked for a tame newspaper that would publish “the truth” without asking any nasty awkward questions like us journalists are supposed to do. If we don't ask...
Banks love affair with insurance is over An expert is by definition someone who knows more and more about less and less. Management consultants employ bright young people – usually with no business experience - to advise mere mortals of what to do with their businesses. They charge huge fees for the privilege. The world's business press and business leaders bow before their wisdom. They are the modern equivalent of soothsayers or...
Travel insurers claim that they are not ageist Sometimes you have to feel sorry for the insurance trade body the ABI as they seek publicly to defend the indefensible. The insurance trade has been under attack, mostly from inside, that it is ageist on travel policies. So the ABI looked for a tame newspaper that would publish “the truth” without asking any nasty awkward questions like us journalists are supposed to do. If we don't ask...

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