Sheryl

How exactly did you answer these? If only on the phone I suggest you request a hard copy of the responses as they may differ from what you verbally told the broker (who is mainly interested in closing the sale) or have insufficient detail.

Diving/going under water without ear plugs applies pressure to the outer ear canal. Not likely to be an issue for soft, fresh wax but older, harder wax won't need too much of a push to become impacted enough to block hearing. Seen it happen.

No, he would not know. There is no central database linking all hospitals & clinics together. At least not that hospitals & clinics can access. However, providers are supposed to report sales monthly & yearly to the Thai FDA and possible (but not certain) that such reports include name of patient. The Thai FDA may (not certain) have this in a database format that enables them to check for duplicate scripts to the same patient. Unlikely that a one time duplication, even if noted, would raise an alarm but just to be absolutely safe, you could push your appointment backby 2-3 months. a bit. Say 2 months.

Diiodohydroxyquinoline 250 mg, furazolidone 50 mg, neomycin sulfate 50 mg, phthalylsulfathiazole 250 mg, light kaolin 250 mg Shotgun anti-infectives (some of which are bound to have been unnecessary no matter what was wrong; for many people all will have been unnecessary) plus an antidiarrheal. Not an advisable thing to take.

i have never -- ever -- heard of stents being placed solely for prevention in people without any existing blockage. Suspect your friend misunderstood or mis-remembered what he heard. As for the "declared this to his insurance company and his premiums tripled" - if this was an existing policy the insurer did not need to have it declared as they would have paid for it so already know. In which case a Thai insurer could indeed raise premiums (but not three fold - maximum is 25% plus whatever age/inflation based increases would have happened anyway), but a western-based one could not. If it was a newly applied for policy premiums could not have increased as he would not yet have had any.

Actually what is referred to the underwriting team is what the people on the phone (brokers, with a financial bias, and no medical training) wrote down based on this phone call. Not an advisable way to proceed. You don't even know exactly what info was supplied to the insurer. Even if not inaccurate per se it will usually not have been exhaustive.

Easy to get a larger or smaller cuff as needed. (For most machines bought in Asia and most farang arms, what you'll need is a larger cuff). for that matter - many of the BPs taken in hospitals use a too small cuff. I always have to tell the nurse to use a larger cuff. Even when they have one right there, they don't switch to it unless asked. (As for the machines you stick your arm into -- ignore those completely, rarely re they regularly serviced/calibrated).

Not a bit low. systolic is in fact ideal, and diastolic barely low (and diastolic home readings tend to be a tad underestimated). Agree he can't be much overweight if at all. Unless unusually short or the 80kg was a typo.

At this point in time, with absolutely no reason to draw conclusions pro or con, yes.

Actually swimming (with head under water - no ear plugs) is one of the common causes of ear wax impaction. Pushes wax deeper in.

Actually both heart attacks and strokes can be the natural result of aging. And neither is considered a self-inflicted injury. That terminology has a very narrow and specific meaning. Heart attacks and strokes can also occur due to cardiovascular disease, for which dyslipedemias and hypertension are risk factors. Not immediate direct causes, but risk factors. Unless you failed to declare a known pre-existing condition, a health insurer under a full underwriting policy is obligated to cover it. And indeed, these things are usually paid for. Ditto cancers and many other things that, by their nature, take years to develop. I have age-related spinal problems. These will have been brewing for a long time, probably decades, but the first I knew of it was when it became painful, about 1-2 years after taking out my current health insurance. One does not, after all, have spinal MRIs , or even spinal Xrays, without a reason and until then I'd had no reason. But for sure, the problem that then showed, took many, many years to develop. A non-issue insurance wise. I'd not been previously diagnosed with it so not a pre-existing condition. Insurance paid in full. "Cholesterol" per se is not meaningful. What exactly do you refer to? Cholesterol ratio? LDL? or what?

Why? Because -- luckily for you - you do not have hypertension. Luck of the draw.

Also sold as Valsartan GPO which is likely to cost less.

If that fails any ENT can quickly remove the wax.

Pre existing means already known (or could reasonably been known) at the time the policy was issued. Insurance companies usually do pay out for heart attacks and strokes, and when they don't it is usually because of a clearcut condition known present before policy took effect.

Not usually. A known genetic condition suffered by the insurance applicant of course would be a consideration.

Plenty of people get impacted ear wax without having done anything to cause it. In fact this is the first thing to exclude in cases of hearing loss. Very, very common. Seems to occur mainly in older men, perhaps because they tend to be bald and thus not need to shampoo their hair, a process that incidentally helps clean the ears.

May be affecting his hearing. And if it is not yet, it may do so if he does nto stay on top of it. @sidjameson where in Thailand are you? Have you already tried home treatment with hydrogen peroxide or drops like these :

A policy document would indicate exclusions, yes. But need to consider if a policy was issued under full medical underwriting or on a moratorium basis. Thai insurers tends towards the latter.

Actually the first approach for something like this would be a urinalysis, possibly a urine culture, and a manual physical exam of the lower abdomen. If the results of these suggested need for a scan, a simple ultrasound would often suffice. Jumping straight to CT -- if that is what happened -- is questionable indeed.

An off-topic post with anti-Vax conspiracy nonsense removed.

Do not confuse correllation with acusation. Studies have shown mixed (indeed, even opposite) correlations between lisinopril and related drugs, and cognition. None of these studiew were designed to determine causation.

Practices by most Thai companies differ dramatically from those in the West. Thai insurers usually do not do complete medically underwriting but rather rely on post-claim (or pre-authorization) investgations to root out things related to pre-existing conditions. These are conducted with, shall I say, excessive zeal, and by people with no medical background whatsoever. Many of the conclusions drawn thereeby are beyond absurd.

Do not allow a broker (or anyone else) to fill in your health questionnaire for you based on a phone call. Too much is at stake. Refuse this, insist on completing it yourself, and keep a photocopy. Among other things this allows you to add additional relevant medical information. Which you should definitely do if you are on any regular medications or had a surgery or hospital admission in past 5-10 years, or cancer at any time in the past. Broker has an incentive to get you the policy...and is not a medically trained person.

Do not confuse the practices of Thai companies with those of international companies. Totally different regulatory environments. And very different levels of medical knowledge and initial underwriting practices.