Health Insurance Refused Because I Take Statins.

[Jumbo1968]

I recently applied for Health Insurance, aged 72 with a company whose name is what you use for chopping firewood, I don’t want to mention their name. I have been taking 20mg statins for 2 years, my cholesterol was around 6 now around 4 after taking the statins.

Their reply was, I don’t have heart disease. I thought they would refuse me because I had Prostate Cancer but was discharged in 2017.

The company will not pay benefits for investigations and treatment related to

- Hyperlipidaemia & associated conditions . By this we mean ischaemic heart disease stroke and cardiac

arrhythmias.

 

I don’t have heart disease. I thought they would refuse me because I had Prostate Cancer but was discharged in 2017 after radiotherapy, do they refuse insurance to everyone on statins then ?

[scubascuba3]

They are just excluding heart attacks, strokes etc, i.e. connected with your pre-existing condition

[OneMoreFarang]

In general insurance refuse you or accept you under certain circumstances.

As far as I know they never tell you why. Obviously, you can speculate why, but that's it. A speculation. 

[Jumbo1968]

2 minutes ago, OneMoreFarang said:

In general insurance refuse you or accept you under certain circumstances.

As far as I know they never tell you why. Obviously, you can speculate why, but that's it. A speculation. 

They said it was because I was on medication for heart disease.

[bkk6060]

They can do whatever they want.

Stay healthy and ty to avoid a heart attack.

[Jumbo1968]

I was looking at Health Insurance I don’t have any basically self insure after the incident with Ed Sweeney where he had a brain problem, the hospital bill including repatriation flight to the U.K. was £100000, he was covered by his insurance company.

[Upnotover]

2 minutes ago, Jumbo1968 said:

I don’t have any basically self insure after the incident with Ed Sweeney

What does that mean in English?

[Jumbo1968]

Just now, Upnotover said:

What does that mean in English?

I fund it myself, not difficult to comprehend really.

[OneMoreFarang]

3 hours ago, Jumbo1968 said:

They said it was because I was on medication for heart disease.

They said? 

Did anybody from the health insurance, not the agent, talk to you? Normally they only write. So did you have that in writing?

The agent, the person who sells the health insurance, might have said this to you. But that doesn't mean anybody official told him so and it doesn't mean he has that in writing.

 

I was recently refused for any health coverage. I am sure my medical condition, including diabetes, didn't help. But they just told me they won't cover me, and not why. And diabetes was not the only medical condition on my list, so it could have been various reasons.

 

[Sheryl]

The issue is not that you take statins per se but the reason you take them i.e. you have a history of dyslipidemia.

 

Insurance application forms ask about all medications taken as a way of picking up underlying pre-existing conditions people might otherwise forget to mention. 

 

The exclusions applied are standard for people with such a history except for arguably  the arrythmia part. 

 

While you say you do not have heart disease, do you actually know for a fact that you don't have coronary artery disease? It can be completely asymptomatic until blockage reaches a critical point.

 

Have you had a coronary calcium CT?  Exercise stress test? 

 

If you want to try a different company I'd suggest Cigna Global but only if above tests indicate no CAD present. (In which case you should supply those results with your application.) 

 

[Sheryl]

2 hours ago, OneMoreFarang said:

 

I was recently refused for any health coverage. I am sure my medical condition, including diabetes, didn't help. But they just told me they won't cover me, and not why. And diabetes was not the only medical condition on my list, so it could have been various reasons.

 

 

Diabetes is a deal breaker for most insurers because it elevates your risk of so many other things. 

[john donson]

statins, mhhh, I would be carefull... ldl might show great numbers, but might lose your mind in the end... the older you get, the higher your values are anyway...cannot expect an old dude to have values of a 20 year old stud, 

 

but to each their own

[Satcommlee]

Try allianze (international) they may offer coverage with a loaded premium

[Henryford]

They only insure healthy people.

[Jumbo1968]

8 hours ago, Sheryl said:

The issue is not that you take statins per se but the reason you take them i.e. you have a history of dyslipidemia.

 

Insurance application forms ask about all medications taken as a way of picking up underlying pre-existing conditions people might otherwise forget to mention. 

 

The exclusions applied are standard for people with such a history except for arguably  the arrythmia part. 

 

While you say you do not have heart disease, do you actually know for a fact that you don't have coronary artery disease? It can be completely asymptomatic until blockage reaches a critical point.

 

Have you had a coronary calcium CT?  Exercise stress test? 

 

If you want to try a different company I'd suggest Cigna Global but only if above tests indicate no CAD present. (In which case you should supply those results with your application.) 

 

After  a few emails to and fro from the company not an agent they replied, tbh too many get out clauses what would I actually be insured for ?

 

So sorry.  

However, incase customer taking statins only (no others illness) we will exclude below.

 FYI.

The company will not pay benefits for investigations and treatment related to

- Hyperlipidaemia & associated conditions . By this we mean ischaemic heart disease stroke and cardiac arrhythmias.

[The Fugitive]

12 hours ago, OneMoreFarang said:

They said? 

Did anybody from the health insurance, not the agent, talk to you? Normally they only write. So did you have that in writing?

The agent, the person who sells the health insurance, might have said this to you. But that doesn't mean anybody official told him so and it doesn't mean he has that in writing.

 

I was recently refused for any health coverage. I am sure my medical condition, including diabetes, didn't help. But they just told me they won't cover me, and not why. And diabetes was not the only medical condition on my list, so it could have been various reasons.

Thank you for your information. Absolutely correct to ensure the answer comes from the correct source and you get it in writing. Up to you but I'd keep on trying. Cigna Global telephone and email me regularly asking whether I wish to proceed? I've told them yes, providing they confirm that neither my history of treatment for hypertension (normal with no medication since 1986) and collapse due to low blood glucose in 2018 (full blood count test normal) result in exclusions.

[HappyExpat57]

I dated an insurance agent for a year and got to see how the sausage is made.

 

Purely legalized extortion. Her main job was to find any technicality for denying payments. Nothing but a bunch of heartless leeches.

[rwill]

They are not denying you coverage.  They are putting exclusions on your coverage.

 

The problem I have with that is they exclude all that stuff but charge you the same amount as someone with no exclusions.

[OneMoreFarang]

7 minutes ago, HappyExpat57 said:

I dated an insurance agent for a year and got to see how the sausage is made.

 

Purely legalized extortion. Her main job was to find any technicality for denying payments. Nothing but a bunch of heartless leeches.

On the other hand, many companies ask for a record of everything, and many people provide only few information about their medical records.

Like, when I told my doctor a couple of years that my heart hurts, it wasn't so important.

The problem is obviously, that insurance company find out, because you give them the right to check all your medical records.

And then, later, the excuse "I didn't think that is important" doesn't help.

 

The last time I tried to apply for a health insurance I gave them lots of (bad) news about my medical condition. After many years, lots of little things come together. They rejected me. Did I like that? No. But I would hate it even more, if I would pay, maybe for years, and then one day when the expensive treatment happened, the insurance tells me they do not cover that because of preexisting conditions.

 

My advice: Give them all the information which is on record, anywhere in any hospital or clinic. If you do that you might have to pay more, or they might reject you. But you won't pay money for nothing when at the end they don't pay when it matters. 

 

[Jumbo1968]

9 minutes ago, rwill said:

They are not denying you coverage.  They are putting exclusions on your coverage.

 

The problem I have with that is they exclude all that stuff but charge you the same amount as someone with no exclusions.

The exclusions are the things I wanted cover for heart attack, stroke etc, I told them I had Prostate Cancer but was given the all clear 7 years ago, that never came up in the ‘conversation’ nor did they ask for any more information about it which I thought was strange.

[Jumbo1968]

I ask them if they would pay out if a person needed treatment for,

Hyperlipidaemia & associated conditions . By this we mean ischaemic heart disease stroke and cardiac arrhythmias.who was not on statins would they pay out, no they would not, what’s the point of having insurance then ?

[The Fugitive]

9 minutes ago, OneMoreFarang said:

On the other hand, many companies ask for a record of everything, and many people provide only few information about their medical records.

Like, when I told my doctor a couple of years that my heart hurts, it wasn't so important.

The problem is obviously, that insurance company find out, because you give them the right to check all your medical records.

And then, later, the excuse "I didn't think that is important" doesn't help.

 

The last time I tried to apply for a health insurance I gave them lots of (bad) news about my medical condition. After many years, lots of little things come together. They rejected me. Did I like that? No. But I would hate it even more, if I would pay, maybe for years, and then one day when the expensive treatment happened, the insurance tells me they do not cover that because of preexisting conditions.

 

My advice: Give them all the information which is on record, anywhere in any hospital or clinic. If you do that you might have to pay more, or they might reject you. But you won't pay money for nothing when at the end they don't pay when it matters

Absolutely! Limits (above/below which treatment is recommended) change. You may have blood pressure readings upon your medical records that, at the time, were 'on the high side' but didn't warrant treatment. Today, an insurance company may deem those readings to be indicators of hypertension and a pre-existing condition which you failed to disclose.

[The Fugitive]

35 minutes ago, HappyExpat57 said:

I dated an insurance agent for a year and got to see how the sausage is made.

 

Purely legalized extortion. Her main job was to find any technicality for denying payments. Nothing but a bunch of heartless leeches.

From what I've heard she would have been paid a bonus for successfully denying claims.

[Robert Paulson]

They did u a favor

[The Fugitive]

21 minutes ago, Jumbo1968 said:

The exclusions are the things I wanted cover for heart attack, stroke etc, I told them I had Prostate Cancer but was given the all clear 7 years ago, that never came up in the ‘conversation’ nor did they ask for any more information about it which I thought was strange.

The insurance salesperson isn't going to tell you what you're not covered for. Once they do that they've lost a customer and their commission. It's absolutely not right but that's the way it is. The onus is on us as customers to disclose everything, provide our medical records (from home country and Thailand and wherever else) and then ensure that they state any exclusions in writing before we pay our first premiums. 

[Jumbo1968]

3 minutes ago, The Fugitive said:

The insurance salesperson isn't going to tell you what you're not covered for. Once they do that they've lost a customer and their commission. It's absolutely not right but that's the way it is. The onus is on us as customers to disclose everything, provide our medical records (from home country and Thailand and wherever else) and then ensure that they state any exclusions in writing before we pay our first premiums. 

 

3 minutes ago, The Fugitive said:

The insurance salesperson isn't going to tell you what you're not covered for. Once they do that they've lost a customer and their commission. It's absolutely not right but that's the way it is. The onus is on us as customers to disclose everything, provide our medical records (from home country and Thailand and wherever else) and then ensure that they state any exclusions in writing before we pay our first premiums. 

Plenty of companies/agents advertise on the net free quote but they always insist on your phone number then you get inundated with phone calls obviously easier to sell over the phone rather than sending the details by email. 

[The Fugitive]

1 minute ago, Jumbo1968 said:

 

Plenty of companies/agents advertise on the net free quote but they always insist on your phone number then you get inundated with phone calls obviously easier to sell over the phone rather than sending the details by email.

Absolutely. I emailed Cigna Global requesting they attach a sample of their Health Questionnaire. Their answer was that the questionnaire is completed over the 'phone and only takes a few minutes!

[Kalasin Jo]

1 hour ago, HappyExpat57 said:

I dated an insurance agent for a year and got to see how the sausage is made.

 

Purely legalized extortion. Her main job was to find any technicality for denying payments. Nothing but a bunch of heartless leeches.

About right. When I practiced as a defence civil litigation lawyer, acting for the insurers of those being sued, a part of my practice involved detailed study of policy terms and conditions to advise on whether any of said T&C's especially exclusion clauses allowed them to decline cover.

[CanadaSam]

46 minutes ago, Jumbo1968 said:

they always insist on your phone number then you get inundated with phone calls

 

Learnt that the hard way, even when you block their numbers, they have hundreds more numbers from various countries, and your phone rings around the clock.

 

I never give my actual phone number anymore online to any company!

[brewsterbudgen]

My policy document states clearly the medication I take for mild hypertension and cholesterol.  I've assumed that a related problem (heart attack, stroke) would mean I'm covered.  Maybe I have too much faith!