Hi All, looking for some advice. I was diagnosed in early December after optic neuritis in July and two MRIs which showed multiple lesions, the second with both newer and enhancing lesions with contrast. I had steroids for the optic neuritis as I had all but lost the vision in my right eye (it came back quickly) and then another round on steroids in January due to issues with my feet (my consultant thought that this and the lesions on the MRI warranted treatment).
My husband thinks we should make a claim on our critical illness cover but looking at the conditions of it it seems that there is no way they would pay, they said I would need to have had 6 months of consistent symptoms but that these could not include neuropathy (which I have), abnormal sensations (which I have), weakness or numbness of a limb (which I have) and they list goes on to cover almost all things that RRMS may entail (optic neuritis, bladder issues, abnormal MRI scans, encephalopathy, myelopathy) … I’m really confused as to what the policy actually covers?
Has anyone had any experience of this type of policy wording?
Sorry if this seems trivial, I’m feeling so down about things. I am lucky that things are relatively minor but there always seems to be something, the steroids made me feel horrendous and now my treatment (Mavenclad) is likely to be delayed (albeit understandably) because of the COVID-19 situation). I’m also now experiencing from what I can read seems to be the MS hug on a regular basis but my GP is sending me for heart tests (I’m 34 and have no heart issues).
Hi there, I have had MS for 22 years and had only recently bought my first property and had critical illness cover. I claimed under that but think I had the disease for a couple of years before doing so. After a battle, they did pay up but there weren’t half the restrictions and clauses that there are now.
Sadly, I can also relate to your comments about the MS hug - it is very uncomfortable and troublesome - let alone painful.
Thank you for your reply. To be honest we were only looking at the policy because we had to inform our insurers about the diagnosis to keep out policy updated and the girl on the phone mentioned we could claim whenever we wanted - she almost encouraged us to do so! I just don’t see the point in any policy with all these clauses. We will continue to pay the policy regardless incase anything else happens in the future.
Just re-read the exclusions you mentioned - they are ridiculous because they are MS symptoms!!! Do you know an independent financial adviser - they were who helped with mine.
I have life insurance via Aviva, but no critical illness cover, they refused point blank, I did ask for critical illness cover leaving out the MS, but their answer was no.
I guess underwriters think of MS as still a bit of an unknown area, after all, theres no cure, no 100% known reason why we get it, and also if you are taking DMD drugs they can sometimes have serious side effects which could in theory bring on other illnesses that might be covered on a critical illness policy, so where do the insurance company draw the line ?
Basically its easier just not to offer critical illness cover to anyone with MS.
Both my sister and 1st cousin have MS, neither can get critical illness cover.
HOWEVER :
I would of thought that If you took out a policy that included critical illness cover and you then developed MS afterwards, surely you should be covered ?
I’ve had the policy for a few years, so long before diagnosis as that was only very recently. I had actually forgotten all about it as it was taken out as part of my husbands work benefits package when he started his current job. As Micha says, the clauses are ridiculous as they essentially describe MS. Yet another example of what a misunderstood condition MS is!
Yes but your case would be justified on the bases that you took out the policy before these symptoms were present.
It’s impossible to foresee an illness before it occurs.
Obviously those clauses would of been written into the policy schedule when the insurance company first offered you the policy, as they cannot add clauses after you take out the policy.
So therefor as you are saying that you didnt have the MS or any of the said written clauses (symptoms) you would of “ticked” NO to any of the clauses/symptoms on the insurance application, because you didnt, at that time have these issues, and I’m assuming that your GP/hospital medical history can prove this.
Hence, you should be covered !!
Obviously, if you did have, even a single one of the symptoms mentioned in the clauses, and this is documented somewhere before you took out the insurance, then you can bet your last penny that the insurance company will find this and refuse a claim., and that applies to any life insurance policy, with or without critical illness cover.