I've only just realised that I haven't managed to write a new blog post since June. Proof that life (meaning work) has been too busy lately. I've missed out on having a 'sumner lull' this year.
I didn't manage to take much of my annual leave in the first half of this year, so I am suddenly in a flurry of holidays. Not that I have loads of money for these things, but I manage to use my 6 week annual leave entitlement (seriously, I couldn't go back to the measly 2 week entitlement in Canada) by budget travelling in tents and youth hostels.
However, there is one big unspoken cost in travelling when you have chronic health problems - travel insurance. Disability charity, Scope have recently taken up this issue and are doing some awareness raising on this one. There's a great blog post about this here - https://blog.scope.org.uk/2017/08/07/i-wish-i-could-just-ring-up-an-insurance-company-and-get-a-quote-like-everybody-else/?_ga=2.160630781.1149269537.1502970678-1861989479.1502970678
When I heard about this on BBC Radio 4 a few weeks ago, it was really timely as I had spent much of July was spent trying to sort out travel insurance for myself. I opt to have an annual travel insurance plan each year, in part because it means only fapping about with this once a year, but it also gives me the flexibility to 'drop everything and go', which is needed when you live abroad. Although I don't travel in expensive ways, I do a lot of travelling in the UK to obscure locations like Shetland and the Hebrides which involve flights and ferries that could be weather delayed, and getting stuck in a storm could get very costly if I'm stuck for days. In my view, it's worth it.
The problem though, is the medical component of these plans for going abroad. Regardless of some people taking a the chance, it's risk not worth taking - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-39978665 The standard travel insurance offered by banks, credit cards, etc will not insure pre-existing conditions, so those of us with health problems need to go elsewhere. I'm not willing to risk travelling without declaring my health issues as statistically, it's most likely those conditions would be the reason I would end up needing to see a doctor. When I only really had asthma to deal with, it wasn't so bad. I'm a nonsmoker who has had asthma since childhood who has never been admitted to hospital for it, and what worries insurance providers is smokers with COPD trying to write that off as 'a touch of asthma'.
The Crohn's, however, has made this much more complicated. Since being diagnosed, I've managed to get insurance through a company that specialises in insuring people with pre-existing medical conditions. For 3 years, this worked fine. It wasn't cheap (£210/year in 2016), and went up ridiculously each year (as all insurance does) but they covered everything, including travel to Canada (which keeps being lumped in with the USA for insurance purposes) which is what I needed.
In July this year, I rang them for a renewal quote. I spent half an hour on the phone with the friendly customer service rep, answering a ridiculous number of personal questions about my health. 'I was diagnosed in 2013'; 'no I've not been admitted to hospital for IBD in the last 2 years'; 'no, I've not had abdominal surgery in the last 2 years for IBD'; 'yes, I'm under the care of a hospital clinic for IBD', etc. This year, the questionnaire had the question 'Are you, or have you ever been prescribed a biological treatment for your condition?'. Um, yes, that's why I've never been admitted to hospital or had surgery for Crohn's.
'Uh, the quote is £546.23 for the year' says the friendly customer service rep.
How the hell did that more than double from last year?! 'Um, you answered that you have been prescribed a biological agent'. So based on that, I will now be charged more to insure my holidays than my holiday costs because I take Humira to control the condition.
Fuck that. I politely declined to renew with that company.
Crohn's and Colitis UK publish a really helpful list of insurers who will insure people with IBD. https://www.crohnsandcolitis.org.uk/about-inflammatory-bowel-disease/publications/insurance-ibd
I spent the next few weeks going through their list for quotes, and managed to get a new plan with better terms for £158.82.
So the lesson here is to shop around, but it is a bloody hassle.
I didn't manage to take much of my annual leave in the first half of this year, so I am suddenly in a flurry of holidays. Not that I have loads of money for these things, but I manage to use my 6 week annual leave entitlement (seriously, I couldn't go back to the measly 2 week entitlement in Canada) by budget travelling in tents and youth hostels.
However, there is one big unspoken cost in travelling when you have chronic health problems - travel insurance. Disability charity, Scope have recently taken up this issue and are doing some awareness raising on this one. There's a great blog post about this here - https://blog.scope.org.uk/2017/08/07/i-wish-i-could-just-ring-up-an-insurance-company-and-get-a-quote-like-everybody-else/?_ga=2.160630781.1149269537.1502970678-1861989479.1502970678
When I heard about this on BBC Radio 4 a few weeks ago, it was really timely as I had spent much of July was spent trying to sort out travel insurance for myself. I opt to have an annual travel insurance plan each year, in part because it means only fapping about with this once a year, but it also gives me the flexibility to 'drop everything and go', which is needed when you live abroad. Although I don't travel in expensive ways, I do a lot of travelling in the UK to obscure locations like Shetland and the Hebrides which involve flights and ferries that could be weather delayed, and getting stuck in a storm could get very costly if I'm stuck for days. In my view, it's worth it.
The problem though, is the medical component of these plans for going abroad. Regardless of some people taking a the chance, it's risk not worth taking - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-39978665 The standard travel insurance offered by banks, credit cards, etc will not insure pre-existing conditions, so those of us with health problems need to go elsewhere. I'm not willing to risk travelling without declaring my health issues as statistically, it's most likely those conditions would be the reason I would end up needing to see a doctor. When I only really had asthma to deal with, it wasn't so bad. I'm a nonsmoker who has had asthma since childhood who has never been admitted to hospital for it, and what worries insurance providers is smokers with COPD trying to write that off as 'a touch of asthma'.
The Crohn's, however, has made this much more complicated. Since being diagnosed, I've managed to get insurance through a company that specialises in insuring people with pre-existing medical conditions. For 3 years, this worked fine. It wasn't cheap (£210/year in 2016), and went up ridiculously each year (as all insurance does) but they covered everything, including travel to Canada (which keeps being lumped in with the USA for insurance purposes) which is what I needed.
In July this year, I rang them for a renewal quote. I spent half an hour on the phone with the friendly customer service rep, answering a ridiculous number of personal questions about my health. 'I was diagnosed in 2013'; 'no I've not been admitted to hospital for IBD in the last 2 years'; 'no, I've not had abdominal surgery in the last 2 years for IBD'; 'yes, I'm under the care of a hospital clinic for IBD', etc. This year, the questionnaire had the question 'Are you, or have you ever been prescribed a biological treatment for your condition?'. Um, yes, that's why I've never been admitted to hospital or had surgery for Crohn's.
'Uh, the quote is £546.23 for the year' says the friendly customer service rep.
How the hell did that more than double from last year?! 'Um, you answered that you have been prescribed a biological agent'. So based on that, I will now be charged more to insure my holidays than my holiday costs because I take Humira to control the condition.
Fuck that. I politely declined to renew with that company.
Crohn's and Colitis UK publish a really helpful list of insurers who will insure people with IBD. https://www.crohnsandcolitis.org.uk/about-inflammatory-bowel-disease/publications/insurance-ibd
I spent the next few weeks going through their list for quotes, and managed to get a new plan with better terms for £158.82.
So the lesson here is to shop around, but it is a bloody hassle.
