Very need to the forum and hoping to get a bit of advice. My wife was informed by the doctor yesterday that he may have MS. She went for an MRI last week as she has been having nerve problems with her hands past year or so. Doctor called back yesterday asking her to come back in for another MRI ASAP as they had seen bright spots on both her spine and lower brain. Keeping all fingers crossed, however it would explain other symptoms she has been having.
The advice I am looking for is regarding insurance. Should I be securing critical cover (which we don’t currently have) or long term illness cover straight away? Or best to wait until full diagnosis?
I am very mindful that lots of people on this forum have MS or are caring for someone with MS so I hope my query is not insensitive; I don’t mean to be - just been hit for six with the news and trying to get my head together on next steps.
Thanks for the response Carole. I had thought this would be the case.
We are awaiting a firm diagnosis post the next MRI but given the Doctors feedback and reading up on symptoms it looks very likely. To be honest we are still in shock, general health is very good so it’s going to take a while to sink in and plan how we adapt.
again, thanks for the response. It is really appreciated
Hi Alex please don’t panic. Things may continue as they are for a long time particularly if your wife is diagnosed with RRMS and put onto a dmd. Even if she has PPMS life isn’t necessarily doom and gloom. I’m 69, have been diagnosed PPMS for over 3 years with very little progression in that time. I can still walk over a mile without any support, play the sax and generally enjoy life.
Sorry, Alex, you are unlikely to get individual critical illness cover for your wife, and it doesn’t matter whether you wait for formal dx or not. The fact that she has had the symptoms she has had, had the medical consultations she has had and the notes that go with them, had the scans she has had, already mean that is unlikely to happen. Remember that your wife will need to disclose all that in the application form. Full disclosure means she probably will not be offered cover. Deliberate failure fully to disclose would automatically invalidate any policy that as offered…
Life assurance is a different matter and that’s the good news: life assurance is usually straightforward to obtain with an MS dx.
The best I can suggest on critial illness cover is for your wife to have a job that includes blanket critical illness cover as an employee benefit. Many employers provide what is, in essence, critical illness cover through their pension scheme provisions and their policies for terminating employment on the grounds of incapability due to sickness - ill-health retirement, in other words. That sort of cover is worth its weight in gold when individual cover is hard to come by.
I am sorry you have so much on your plate right now.