Critical illness insurance and Methotrexate

Mkonedesign

Hi. I'm in the process of trying to take out a new critical illness and life insurance policy, but I've been told that the I will have to pay double the usual premium, not because of the psoriatic arthritis I have, but because of the Methotrexate I take to combat it. Has anyone else encountered this or is anyone able to offer advice? Thanks

[Deleted User]

Hi Mkonedesign,

Lovely to meet you. I have no critical illness insurance so cannot help here - I'm sure others will be along to help shortly (weekends tend to be quieter than week days).

I have found this
rheumatoid arthritis should be detailed to the insurer; including the time of last symptoms, medications that are used and how regularly you suffer with flare-ups. Your policy will be accepted with anything from ordinary rates through to special terms (increased premium) depending upon the medication that you take and any other significant medical disclosures that you make.

Rheumatoid arthritis Life Insurance applications that detail mild symptoms, low strength medication and demonstrate that the condition is well controlled, can result in standard terms in certain circumstances. Stronger medications such as anti TNFs (e.g. imflixmab), or anti-disease modifying drugs (e.g. methotrexate), will probably result in the policy being accepted with a small premium loading.

They say critical illness will be treated in a similar way.
The site I visited was
http://www.specialrisksbureau.co.uk/health-conditions/rheumatoid-arthritis

I know nothing about this site and chose them because they were specialist insurers for RA etc. And first on the search list - no recommendation at all.

Take care
Yvonne x

wazz42

Hi Mkonedesign,

Welcome to the forum from me too, lovely to meet you.

Can I just say be very careful re critical illness. I had a torrid time when I tried to claim. They went through my medical notes with a fine tooth comb. Told me I had had +ve results for rheumatoid factor recorded on 3 occasions, once when I was 11! I hadn't been told about them so couldn't mention them. Then I got a letter from a Harley Street specialist telling me I was imagining everything, and wasn't I'll at all. I was being retired from work on ill health grounds at the time. Finally they said I hadn't declared I'd had a polyp removed when I was in hospital for another issue. I hadn't, I'd had a sample taken for testing which was clear (I did note this). When they came to do a colonoscopy it had gone! (I didn't record that)

I tried hard but Arthur was being out of control, I was overwhelmed, lost my job, still had a mortgage, hence critical illness cover.

I contacted the ombudsman, he found in their favour, I tried to appeal but couldn't face 2 battles so gave in. The day they heard that my bank account was credited with all my premiums and I was told it was as if I had never held a policy and my details would be purged.

In honesty I don't know personally anyone else who has had either good or bad experiences, but be prepared

Wazz

Slosh

I have a policy but although I am applying for early retirement on health grounds I have a horrible feeling I won't be able to claim on it. Once I get all my paperwork throughfor this I will try and apply but if (as I suspect) I am unsuccesful I will just cancel it. I took mine out before all this started so at least that won't be a problem.

frogmorton

Gosh what a story Wazz :shock:

Mkonedesign it sounds very unfair, but maybe it would be wise to take some advice on the subject from the insurer to ensure you don't end up in the same position as Wazz was??

Fine tooth comb 'before' the need to claim I mean. Is there an independent financial advisor who could help you?

Best of luck and I for one would be very interested to hear how you get on

Toni x