As dentists threaten mass walkouts over new contracts being imposed on them by the government, insurers rub their hands in glee. The walkout could see thousands more people being denied the services of an NHS dentist.

The British Dental Association is opposed to the new draft contract as it imposes delays in payments and creates more administration and red tape for dentist’s surgeries.

This latest row comes just three years after the last big contract dispute with dentists which saw hundreds of dentists leave the NHS. This latest row may prove to be the last straw for many more, and their clients could be left without NHS dental care.

For those that know and can afford it, the solution is to elect for private dental care funded by insurance. Whilst dentists may grumble about payments from the NHS, they appear to have few complaints about the money they receive from insurance companies!

And dentists happily line up to serve private patients.

Medical insurance companies are feeling the pinch. Not just because of the credit crunch but also because increasing numbers of policyholders are claiming help for cancer drugs that could prolong their lives.

The cost of cancer drugs has soared in recent years as medical advances have developed more and more sophisticated treatments. And costs are due to explode in coming years. There are forty or so new drugs ready to be licensed plus other developments - and they won’t be cheap.

And this has hit the pockets of the insurance companies – so much so that many now limit the cost of cancer care, including treatments designed to ease, not cure, symptoms. Only three medical insurers now offer full cancer cover – Pruhealth, Exeter Friendly Society and Bupa. How long they will hold this position, or their premiums, waits to be seen.

Traditionally, private health insurance has accepted claims to treat acute conditions – those are the illnesses that can be cured - but they don’t cover conditions that are managed medically because they medicine doesn’t have a cure for them. For example, diabetes and asthma. Those are called chronic conditions.

The problem is that in the medical world, not everything is so black and white. Take the rise in biological therapies for cancer such as Avastin and Herceptin. These drugs are designed to slow the spread of cancer, they don’t actually cure it. The question is whether this is acute or chronic treatment and that’s the grey area.

From the insurers’ perspective, they know that heart disease and cancer are the two illnesses people fear most and are the main reasons they buy medical insurance. So they don’t want to be seen to restrict cover. On the other hand the Financial Services Authority is keen to ensure that policyholders are fully aware precisely what is and what isn’t covered - grey areas are most unwelcome.

If you follow the logic it seems inevitable to us that the three insurers currently providing full cancer cover, will bow to the inevitable and join the others restricting cover by cost.

It’s a sign of the times.

If you undergo a DNA test to find out your likelihood of contracting inheritable disease such as breast cancer could a life insurance company demand to see the results? Well currently, a voluntary agreement prevents insurers from even asking whether the person has had a test and they can’t instruct anyone to take a test.

But as we all know, things can change and the agreement is only voluntary. Indeed the agreement is due to expire in 2014 and we are sure that the current arrangements will change.

We don’t believe that people in the UK will stand for demands for wholesale DNA testing and the politicians will probably support that view. But the issue is heightened by the increasing availability of DNA testing. There are even DIY testing kits, albeit at the princely sum of £700 (well outside the budget of an insurance company!) but at one time a basic flat screen TV’s were £2,500!

So what’s the chance that if you decided to take a test now for your own peace of mind, that the insurers couldn’t demand to see the results after the 2014 expiry date? Well, if the results are on your health records at your GP’s then as things are now, nothing. In fact as far as we are aware, when you give your GP your approval to provide information to a life insurance company, the GP is at liberty to disclose everything in the file.

So if the DNA results are in your health file then your insurer could get hold of them.

Will you avoid this problem if you have a DIY DNA test? Well, yes but as with many of these new developments the problem comes with interpreting the results. To get it 100% right you really need a medically trained person – and if you ask your GP, it’s on your records again!

It’s a difficult one. But if you have a strong reason for testing because for example, your family has a history of breast cancer, you’ll just have to go ahead and hope that the politicians sort the law out before 2014.

Recently Norwich Union has written to all its clients on its Hospital Cash Insurance Plan telling them that they are lowering the upper age limit from 71 to 65. This has lead to a storm of protest. But consider the facts.

The Hospital Cash Insurance Plan provides cover of up to £50 per day if the policyholder is hospitalised due to an accident and £25 if hospitalisation is due to illness. In this plan all policyholders are charged the same premium irrespective of their age. The problem has been that someone in the 65 to 71 age group is six and a half times more likely to be hospitalised than someone who is 35. That inevitably means that as everyone in the scheme pays the same premium, the younger members must be subsidising the older ones.

Norwich Union says that if they had not made the decision to reduce the upper age limit, then premiums across the whole scheme would have increased. As it is, with this change, premiums remain at their current level.

Some commentators have claimed that this is age discrimination. But is it? Surely it is a commercial decision which benefits the majority of people in the scheme who are under 65. Without the age change, they would be faced with paying more.

This highlights the issues involved in the Governments Equalities Bill which is currently being pushed through. As its name implies, this Bill is trying to outlaw discrimination but the insurance industry is trying to resist the Bill. It would seem that one of the results of the Bill would be that under the proposed law, insurers would be banned from using age as a basis for pricing insurance. As the Association of British Insurers point out, age is a relevant risk factor that insurance underwriters should be able to take into account when pricing a policy.

If this Bill goes ahead, I wonder how it will affect the pricing of life insurance policies? If anyone out there knows, please let me know.

If you’re anything like me, probably not. In fact I may at one time have known what an EHIC card was, but the details have long been forgotten.
They’re the cards given to us by the UK government which entitle us to free medical care within Europe. It seems that over half or us were totally unaware that they had expiry dates – or at least we’d forgotten the fact.

The result of this is that many of us travelling abroad are at risk of healthcare costs should we become ill or have an accident.

It’s important to realise that the EHIC is not meant to be an alternative to travel insurance. It will not cover any private medical healthcare or the cost of repatriation to the UK. What it will provide is access to the same state-provided healthcare as a resident of the country you are visiting
For these reasons and others, it is important to have both an EHIC and a valid private travel insurance policy. Some insurers now insist you hold an EHIC and many will waive the excess if you have one.

Applying for an EHIC card is simple and free and it’s valid for up to five years. You can apply on-line to the NHS or collect an application pack at the post office. For phone enquiries call 0845 606 2030.

The government is keen that everyone should have an up to date EHIC. Check yours now.

Author: Richard Norfolk

If you see your doctor for a report on your condition, be it general or specific to particular symptoms, you would not unreasonably expect an accurate report. If you were paying for the report, this should put extra pressure on your GP to supply one which would be precise and correct, not vague and open to interpretation.

When applying for life insurance it would appear that around 40% of us have a medical condition which we feel obliged to declare on the application form. This information is then followed up by the insurance company and, provided that it is acceptable to the applicant, they will then contact the GP and ask for a medical report on the individual. This report has to be paid for so the insurance company is quite justified in expecting it to be precise and accurate; unfortunately there are times when it is not.

It is a fact that doctors are often under pressure, with a workload that fails to leave adequate time for attention to details which are apparently rather less than urgent. The result is that there are times when GPs will take the easy way out (presumably to save time) and instead of supplying a report, they will pass on to the insurance company a copy of the patient’s record from the practice computer.

In these circumstances they are not only supplying the wrong sort of information, but they could also be breaking the law by breaching patient confidentiality in supplying information about a patient which the patient had not agreed could be disclosed.

As far as the insurance company are concerned, they have paid for information relating to a specific condition or conditions about which they need full and accurate information, to enable them to assess the risk for life insurance. They are not qualified to take the whole of a patient’s records and from them deduce the risk relating to specific conditions. That is a task requiring a doctor’s skills.

Neither the Association of British Insurers nor the British Medical Association is satisfied with the current procedure. There is concern that the agreement by which insurers are allowed access to some medical information could be damaged if they are allowed open access to the whole of a patient’s medical records.

As a result of this concern an agreement has been made between both parties, whereby the fee paid by the insurance company to doctors will increase by 6% per annum over a five year period. In exchange for this commitment GPs have agreed, through the BMA, to provide the insurance companies with reports of a good quality, which will give them the information which they need. At the same time patient confidentiality will be preserved, as the only information which will be provided will be that which the patient has asked to be divulged.

Thus the cost to an insurer of a GPs report will rise over a five year period from £74.70 to £100. A supplementary report will increase from £19.10 to £25.50 and a medical examination from £82.20 to £110 over the same period.

The BMA have for their part made the point to GPs that life assurance is for the patients benefit and should not be treated lightly; they have asked for accuracy in the preparation of these reports which do after all have a cost benefit for the GPs.

This is a relatively small price for insurers for to pay for accurate information, which should in itself save costs for them by providing dependable facts.

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Author: Catriona Singfield

In the UK, as with the rest of Europe, we are now living longer than at any time in the past – and the figure is rising. The average lifespan for a British man is now 76.2 years, with a woman living even longer at 80.7 years. This is excellent news, but sadly there is a downside – we may be living longer, but we’re not as healthy as our fellow Europeans.

According to an EU survey on the subject, conducted over a sample of 60,000 people, longevity is not the only index of old age we should be paying attention to. The survey made a study of age of death, sickness and overall health. Healthy life years, the amount of time we can expect to enjoy an active, able old age, are just not matching up to lifespan.

Out of a average life of 76.2 years, a British man can expect to enjoy only 61.5 years in good physical condition. In the European league table of health, we are fifth from the bottom.

However, it is important not to jump to conclusions too early because as yet, no-one is sure exactly why the study has come up with these findings. There are wide variations across Europe, with cardiovascular disease being far more of a risk the further north you live. According to action group Help the Aged, we are putting ourselves at risk because we do not take one simple factor as seriously as we should - the cold. Failure to wrap up can lead to thickening of the blood, perhaps even a fatal clot. Surely an incentive to keep warm!

The healthiest Europeans are the Italians, with an average of 70.9 healthy life years over a total lifespan of 76.8 years. It’s well known that in Italy, the national diet includes a lot of vegetables and fish, with few saturated fats, which may be one reason why the Italians are living more healthily for longer. Again according to Help the Aged, these differences could be caused by several factors: better diet, the quality of the Health Service, the weather, and prevalence of smoking.

Indeed, in a recent league table comparing healthy life years and lifespan, Italy is number one. Next come Spain, Germany, Poland, the Netherlands, and the UK, followed by France, Hungary, Portugal and Finland.

The figures are interesting. For example, a Finnish woman can expect to live for 81.8 years, but only 56.5 years will be free from ill health, defined in the study as a disabling condition.

Taken together, all these factors point to one conclusion: the average man or woman would be well advised to look for good critical illness cover, not only life insurance. Consider this sobering fact: the average age of retirement now comes after the average age at which ill health sets in – by between three and a half and eight and a half years. The recent rise in official retirement age is matched by many people’s expectations of being not just available, but able to work into their 70s.

So what is critical illness cover? Briefly, this is insurance that pays out if you are diagnosed with a serious condition, for example cancer, a stroke, or heart disease. Be sure to check the policy carefully, as not all policies cover the same conditions. Consider that such an illness can affect your entire lifestyle. You may need to change or even give up your work, or alter your house or car. If you have good critical illness cover in place, at least you can be sure that your needs can be met financially.

If you have a family, you may like to consider what the effect would be were you not there for them. No-one likes to think of the worst happening, but it is only sensible to take a careful look at your life insurance options.

Fortunately, it’s easy to find out good information on these types of insurance, for both cost and cover. Go online and find an Internet insurance broker, who will be able to search for you to find the most competitive quote.

Once you have your plans in place, there’s only one more thing to do – beat those tables and enjoy your old age!

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Author: Dot Piper

There’s a new critical illness policy on the market which attempts to go some way with regard to sorting out the perplexity regarding exactly what is, and is not, covered when it comes to claiming on the policy.

Traditional critical illness policies tend to cover up to 35 listed medical conditions. Policyholders could become seriously ill with a condition that doesn’t fall into the scope of the policy and find that their illness is not covered, whilst others may be diagnosed with a listed illness with a lower “grading” which is relatively easily treated, for which they get a full payout.
Because of this inequality, the Financial Services Authority is uneasy with regard to insurers failing to fully understand that cover is restricted to certain specific illnesses.

This new product is marketed by the Prudential, under the name of the Flexible Protection Plan, and is unusual in that it claims to cover an amazing 140 medical conditions. However, cover is based on the severity of the condition which could possibly cause some uncertainty regarding the grading of these illnesses.

This is how the plan works:

Listed in the policy are practically all serious illnesses and the payout when one these is diagnosed will be graded according to the severity of the condition. The Prudential says that by tying payments to the degree of seriousness of the illness means that more payments can be offered to people with debilitating illnesses, who may otherwise get nothing at all. An example of this is that should you lose the sight of one eye; the Prudential policy will pay 25% of the sum assured. Normally, critical illness policies would only pay out when total blindness occurs. In all, 140 severe conditions are covered.

A spokesman for one of the specialist financial advisers welcomed the range of the policy, but voiced some concern regarding the implementation of these severity-based payments, saying that it would be open to argument as to what level of severity some illnesses would be graded as. It was felt that it would not be advisable to enter into this type of policy unless you had a very clear understanding of exactly how it would work. We quote “It will be up to the consumer to decide whether a guarantee of getting a smaller payment is better than possibly getting nothing.”

The cost of this new policy is approximately twice as much as conventional critical illness cover.

If your main concern regarding insurance cover should you become critically ill would be the financial outcome, it might be better to consider life insurance. Particularly, if you have a family to support, you may need something that is going to guarantee their lifestyle in the worst case scenario and with the addition of some income protection cover, which would meet outgoings in the event of you becoming unable to work due to illness. This type of cover, unlike the critical illness policy, protects you against common conditions, which result in you being unable to carry out your work.

The best course of action would be to contact a broker and check out the alternatives. The internet’s a good place to start and there are some good internet discount’s available, along with plenty of advice. A good broker will be able to compare the products available and come up with the right insurance product for you.

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Author: Dot Piper

There’s a new critical illness policy on the market which attempts to go some way with regard to sorting out the perplexity regarding exactly what is, and is not, covered when it comes to claiming on the policy.

Traditional critical illness policies tend to cover up to 35 listed medical conditions. Policyholders could become seriously ill with a condition that doesn’t fall into the scope of the policy and find that their illness is not covered, whilst others may be diagnosed with a listed illness with a lower “grading” which is relatively easily treated, for which they get a full payout.
Because of this inequality, the Financial Services Authority is uneasy with regard to insurers failing to fully understand that cover is restricted to certain specific illnesses.

This new product is marketed by the Prudential, under the name of the Flexible Protection Plan, and is unusual in that it claims to cover an amazing 140 medical conditions. However, cover is based on the severity of the condition which could possibly cause some uncertainty regarding the grading of these illnesses.

This is how the plan works:

Listed in the policy are practically all serious illnesses and the payout when one these is diagnosed will be graded according to the severity of the condition. The Prudential says that by tying payments to the degree of seriousness of the illness means that more payments can be offered to people with debilitating illnesses, who may otherwise get nothing at all. An example of this is that should you lose the sight of one eye; the Prudential policy will pay 25% of the sum assured. Normally, critical illness policies would only pay out when total blindness occurs. In all, 140 severe conditions are covered.

A spokesman for one of the specialist financial advisers welcomed the range of the policy, but voiced some concern regarding the implementation of these severity-based payments, saying that it would be open to argument as to what level of severity some illnesses would be graded as. It was felt that it would not be advisable to enter into this type of policy unless you had a very clear understanding of exactly how it would work. We quote “It will be up to the consumer to decide whether a guarantee of getting a smaller payment is better than possibly getting nothing.”

The cost of this new policy is approximately twice as much as conventional critical illness cover.

If your main concern regarding insurance cover should you become critically ill would be the financial outcome, it might be better to consider life insurance. Particularly, if you have a family to support, you may need something that is going to guarantee their lifestyle in the worst case scenario and with the addition of some income protection cover, which would meet outgoings in the event of you becoming unable to work due to illness. This type of cover, unlike the critical illness policy, protects you against common conditions, which result in you being unable to carry out your work.

The best course of action would be to contact a broker and check out the alternatives. The internet’s a good place to start and there are some good internet discount’s available, along with plenty of advice. A good broker will be able to compare the products available and come up with the right insurance product for you.

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Author: Dot Piper

Private medical insurance policies are becoming increasingly used tools. NHS waiting lists just don’t fit in with many people’s busy lifestyles and a convenient appointment and treatment may be top on your priority list, should you or your family fall ill.

As with all insurance products, private medical policies vary in their terms and are specific about what they do and don’t cover. For instance, one of the most well-known insurers, Bupa, will only cover you for “experimental” medical treatment where that procedure is part of a valid medical trial or study. Another well known insurer, Norwich Union Healthcare is only happy to cover treatment that is classed as standard practice in the UK.

It could be that your private care doctor feels that the best treatment for you would be one of the newer ones, as opposed to an older, standard, procedure. Obviously you’d probably be happy to accept the doctor’s recommendations. You could then be in the situation where your insurance company would not cover the cost of this treatment.

Where these problems have occurred, patients have submitted complaints to the Financial Ombudsman Service, otherwise known as the FOS. As a result of this, the FOS has, in some cases, ruled against the insurers and it has been possible to include some of the newer treatments in practice. Laser treatment has replaced larynx surgery in some cases, and key-hole, rather than open-wound, bladder treatment can now also be covered.

Although used in the USA for five years as standard practice, there was a new form of varicose vein surgery which insurers in the UK were declining to pay out on, until the FOS decision was made to accept the treatment.

It appears that the FOS can only overturn the decision of the insurer regarding experimental treatments where such treatments are not specifically excluded in the policy. If the policy is specific about exclusion of these treatments, the ombudsman will not be able to help.

The FOS says “If the policyholder has been advised by his or her treating physician that, in their particular circumstances, they should have a newer treatment instead of an established procedure, our general view would be that it could be unfair for the firm to turn down the claim entirely.” However, they also point out that, by ruling against the insurers, it doesn’t follow that they endorse specific treatments.

The response of the insurers to these rulings seems to be that they may well be re-considering their position in regard to experimental treatments and how they deal with them. Norwich Union have stated that a review of their policies is in the pipeline in view of the rulings of the FOS. Bupa are concerned that their clients may be claiming for treatments not yet tested in the UK.

WPA, another medical insurance provider, have stated that if a doctor has recommended a specific course of experimental treatment, for which there are grounds to prove why that treatment is better than any other, then they will cover this.

It appears that things are falling into place and necessary changes are taking place regarding the experimental treatment scenario. If you’re about to take out this valuable insurance, it’s as well to keep all these issues in mind. By logging on to the internet and finding a broker who will compare what’s on offer from the many policies available in the medical insurance market, you’ll be able to find the right policy for you and your family. At the right price too.

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Author: Bridget Carter

One of the more popular options for investors these days is to purchase larger properties that can be let out as multi-occupancy units. These properties can be lucrative, particularly in university towns, where they are especially suitable for students.

And a new rule introduced on 6th January could make it easier to invest in these properties. The new rule will mean that landlords have to get a building licence if they want to rent one out to at least three unrelated people who all chose to live there, and if the building is on at least three floors.

The reason the rule will help you? Because it will help to convince finance companies that these properties can be divided up to rent out and thus become a viable option for a mortgage.

The Licence for Multiple Occupation was brought into force as part of an attempt to up the housing standards in the United Kingdom. The cost of the licences is understood to be almost £100 for each occupant and the licence lasts five years. Before this, however, you need to get a property inspection conducted to check the situation of the property. For example, things such as the fire regulations and the facilities and room size etc. You, as the landlord, might also be asked questions about your plans for the premises. Dodge these rules and you may have to fork out fines worth up to £20,000.

Other rules came in at the same time as this one – and if you are considering investing for a buy-to-let situation, you might need to know them.

The Housing Health and Safety Rating System means your tenants can call in the inspectors if they feel that repairs are not being conducted. As a consequence, you as the landlord are liable for a £5000 fine if you do not carry out the work that is needed to keep the building up to scratch.

You might also want to think about the Tenancy Deposit Scheme – a rule that swings into force in October that will deal with the handling of a deposit on a property.

What it basically means is this. A tenant’s deposit on a house gets kept with an official Tenancy Deposit Scheme, administered by a person who is seen to be neutral. There can no longer be a situation where you can fail to hand over a deposit, as some landlords have done in the past, for petty reasons. When the tenant moves out, the scheme administrator gets told and the deposit is given back to either the tenant, or if they feel it is just to do so, the landlord. In a situation where there is a dispute, the matter might wind up in court.

But the important part of this is that when the deposit gets returned, it gets returned with interested added and just what that interest rate will be is something yet to be decided on by the government.

You think these new rules sound expensive? Maybe they are, but what is expected is that rents will go up to counteract all the new charges. And the up side is maybe this will play favour with the banks. More rent, and more paper work to prove that you are able to rent out your property to various people…it really might just play in your favour.

Landlords will find more information about this at: www.propertylicensing.gov.uk

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Author: Dot Piper

How does 100% off the cost of next year’s health insurance premium sound?
This is on offer through the Prudential Insurance Company’s Pruehealth. They offer their Comprehensive Plan and here are the details, based on a 40 year old non smoker in good health: The monthly payment for a male would be £62.85 and for a female £66.43, there is an excess of £100. The premium is reduced if you gain “vitality” points and this is how it works:

At the end of the first year there is a discount of 25% and you earn further points and therefore further discounts, by improving your health. Measures such as reducing your blood pressure, taking fitness assessments and regularly visiting the gym are encouraged. Cheap gym membership is on offer. There is a website offering encouragement and handy tips about diet and exercise.

When checked with other medical insurance policies, the Pruehealth policy mentioned above came out more expensive than those of General Medical, Health-on-line and Axa PPP. General Medical, for example, offers their Foundation Plus First Choice policy. The premium again based on a 40 year old non-smoker, male or female, is £48.05. The excess is £100.

As the cost of insurance rises with age, inevitably the insurers are going to have to recoup their costs. Some work their premiums out based on age bands and the cost of insurance can jump sharply as you move up from 40 to 49, 50 to 59 and so on. Rather than sudden increases in the premium, many companies increase by a smaller amount, but apply this yearly.

At a time when private medical insurance seems to be roaring away and the very people that need it most are starting to cancel their policies, it’s clear that something needs to be done. Medical inflation accounts for an 8% rise in premiums per year, as new drugs and diagnostic equipment cost soar.

Consumers can feel reassured by some of the latest changes on offer in a bid to address the problem. One idea is suggested by Penny O’Nions, of the specialist broker Onions Group. They have a plan which covers inpatient care only. Any private outpatient care would have to come out of your own pocket and whilst most serious illnesses such as cancer would involve hospitalisation, increasingly these are treated in outpatient facilities and therefore wouldn’t be covered.

An excess on your policy (the part you pay yourself in the event of a claim) can gain large savings in your premium. By paying an excess of £100 you could save around 10% and if you’re prepared for an even bigger excess, say £2000, you could halve the amount you pay. This effectively puts a ceiling on the costs of illness.

No claims discounts usually apply to these types of policies and you should be able to transfer these if you decide to “jump ship”.

As you can see, there’s a vast range of options. Many people stick to the same old policies, feeling it’s just not worth the effort of transferring but in fact it couldn’t be easier. Just go to your favourite search engine, search for insurance brokers and find one which offers health insurance. They’ll take your circumstances into account and find the best deal for you. There’ll be the additional bonus of an on-line discount.

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The latest figures from the insurance companies continue to show large numbers of rejected claims. Whilst the figures do vary between insurers,
On average they work out at around 1 in 5 claims are rejected. (see below).

Critical illness insurance pays out a tax free lump sum if the policyholder is diagnosed with one of a long list of qualifying illnesses and conditions included stipulated on the policy.

The biggest reason for claim rejection is that the insurer has identified that the policyholder failed to fully disclose their medical condition when they originally applied for the insurance. This always results in conflict between the insurer and the policyholder so our best advice is always disclose everything, no matter how small or insignificant you think it may be.

If you do make a claim, your insurer will always search through your past medical records to satisfy itself that you had disclosed everything at the time you made your application. Then if they find that you did omit medical information, they have a valid contractual reason for refusing your claim.

In some people’s eyes this makes critical illness insurance the least reliable form of insurance – but we disagree. We say if you’ve disclosed everything about your medical history, no matter hoe small, then there should be no problem.

Having said that the rejection figures from the insurance companies do vary, so it may be that some are more stringent than others.

Rejection rates published by UK insurers

Insurance Company Percentage of Critical Illness Insurance claims rejected

The other factor that affects the rejection rate is that more recently issued policies tend to have higher claims and higher rates of rejection. So if an insurer has not been in the market for a long time, or it has had a major sales campaign on critical illness insurance during the last few years, then it’s rejection rates will be higher.

Our advice is buy the critical illness policy that suits you best and on your application form, fully disclose everything about your health. Don’t miss anything out. Then you’ll be OK

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Have you ever totted up how much you spend on insurance? Home and Contents insurance, life insurance, critical illness insurance, medical insurance, income protection insurance, travel insurance, mobile phone insurance and car insurance but to name a few.

Try adding up your premiums now – we think you’ll be shocked at how much you spend.

You’ll be even more surprised to learn there’s also a likelihood that you’ve duplicated some of the cover you’re paying for. Cut the duplication out and you’ll save precious money.

Many people have insurance cover for theft, legal expenses, loss of income, even death without even realising it. This arises because lots of people don’t fully appreciate what’s covered by the policies they have, especially if the policies had been arranged for them by brokers and financial advisers.

In a recent survey, The Financial Services Authority (FSA) found that optional extras such as legal expense cover and breakdown recovery, were often added to car insurance policies without checking whether the policyholder already had cover elsewhere. It is also quite common to find that people with Income Protection policies have duplicated their cover via their payment protection policies taken out to cover monthly mortgage, loan and credit card payments. The issue here is that if they claim on their Income Protection policy, their payout will be reduced because part of their claim is already covered by their other payment protection policies – so that’s a waste of money.

The Financial Ombudsman confirms our view saying, “People often contact us when they find themselves over-insured. They often do not realise until they make a claim that they have been paying for a policy that provides very little, if any, benefit”.

There is also plenty of evidence that some people simply don’t understand what they are actually insured for. Take the situation of Amanda Lariviere from West Yorkshire. The mother of two is recovering from ovarian cancer and had an allergic reaction to chemotherapy which was still keeping her off work. She decided to visit her building society to enquire if she could raise some cash by re-mortgaging to pay an unwelcome tax bill. The Society’s adviser wisely asked her to bring in all her life insurance policies so that they could be used in her re-mortgage application. So imagine her surprise when the adviser told her that the policies with Scottish Provident and Norwich Union which had been costing her £80 per month, were not life insurance policies at all – they were in fact critical illness policies with a combined insured value of £100,000. She has now received a payout from both policies, enough to pay off some of her mortgage and her tax bill!

Some typical insurance cover to check out.

Life Insurance
Some employers provide life cover within their pension schemes. Called death-in-service benefit, it typically pays out a lump sum worth 3-4 their annual salary if the employee dies whilst employed by the company.

Critical Illness Insurance
Critical Illness cover is often sold as an optional extra on a life insurance policy. Furthermore, some employers provide critical illness cover as part of their employment package. Check out exactly what you’ve got.

Income Protection and Payment Protection Insurance
Permanent Medical Insurance (PMI) is also known by some as Income Protection Insurance. It pays out the insured monthly sum if the policyholder is off work because of illness due to a wide range of specified medical conditions - and some policies will also pay out during redundancy. The policy continues to pay out indefinitely or at least until the policy comes to the end of its term.

The point is that PMI policies eliminate the need for Payment Protection insurance – the sorts of policy frequently sold alongside credit cards, loans and mortgages to maintain monthly payments. Indeed, you cannot make claims against more than one insurance policy for the same event – only one policy will agree to pay out! (The others will reduce their payouts by the value of money you are receiving from the other policies)

Legal Expense Insurance
Cover for legal expenses concerning disputes relating to your home, will normally be included in your home and contents insurance policy. Many car insurance policies provide legal expense cover as standard or as an optional extra. Some trade unions also include automatic access to legal advice as part of their service to all their members. Check this out before you pay for more cover!

Mobile Phone Insurance
Most mobile phone policies have a hefty excess. You might be better off changing to a pay-as-you-go plan.

ID Theft Insurance
According to the consumer magazine “Which”, you’re only legally responsible for the first £50 if your identity is stolen. Is the premium worth protecting just £50?

Other Insurance cover
Most credit cards automatically insure your purchases for a specified number of days following their purchase. Take Barclaycard for example. If you use Barclaycard to buy something between £50 and £2,000, you are insured against accidental damage and theft for the next 60 days.

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If you run a small business you know that if a member of your team was taken seriously ill or died, your business would be hard hit. Sales or production could fall, key skills could be lost and the general pace of the business could fall.

Insurance is available to offset those financial risks, risks that are potentially most serious in a small business. After all in smaller businesses other employees can’t be moved across to fill the gap - there’s simply noone spare so the problem remains until the person either returns to work or has to be replaced.

If the person is off sick with a serious illness such as cancer or a heart attack you simply don’t know when, or if, they’ll return to work and management is caught in a cleft stick. Do they take on a temporary employee or a permanent employee, or are you forced to simply wait until matters resolve themselves? And how much will all this cost the business in terms of both extra costs and lost sales and profit?

Traditionally, it’s Keyman Insurance that’s covers these very real risks but nine out of ten small businesses still don’t carry this insurance. It’s either because they haven’t thought about it or they’ve found it to be too costly.

A spokesperson for the Federation of Small Businesses said, “In an ideal world, small firms would be insured against everything, but reality demands the businesses prioritise threats and occasionally take risks”.

But there is a cheaper potential solution. It’s called Group Critical Illness Insurance and it’s about half the price of standard Keyman Insurance.

With Group Critical Illness Insurance, the company decides which employees to insure and how much to insure them for, pays the premiums and receives all lump sum payouts. Claims can be made as soon as any of the insured people are diagnosed with a scheduled critical illness and the policy will list a long list of chronic illnesses that are covered. As you would expect heart attacks, strokes and cancer are the biggest three biggest reasons for claims but the full list is much longer. For example, kidney failure, meningitis, CJ Disease and even blindness.

The important point to realise is that for the company to make a claim, the insured employee must survive at least 28 days after they are diagnosed with the critical illness. (Some insurance companies have now reduced this to 14 days so please check before you buy.) So if the employee died before the end of the survival period, the claim would be invalid. In that context, it is not as comprehensive as full Keyman Insurance – but at around half the price of Keyman Insurance there has to be a little compromise!

Simon Burgess, the Managing Director of British Insurance says: “Group Critical Illness Insurance is a real alternative to full Keyman Insurance and at around half the cost, it’s great value for money. If business managers find Keyman Insurance too expensive there’s little excuse for not filling most of the gap with Group Critical Illness Insurance. Don’t pay the price for apathy”.

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Shambolic is how many have described the recent overhaul of the NHS dental service. Seven in every ten dentists have either quit the NHS or have signed their new NHS contract “under dispute”. This means that they’ve given notice to the NHS that in three months time they have the right to refuse NHS patients and switch to private practice.

The rumpus is about the new contract which many dentists claim has been rushed and forced upon them without proper consultation. The new contract was designed to streamline the service by replacing some 400 different dental charges with just three charges. From now on patients will be charged £15.50 for a check-up, £42.40 for filling irrespective of the number of fillings and £189.00 for more complicated work such as bridges and crowns. Each charge pays for a complete course of treatment, no matter how long it takes and no matter how many teeth have to be treated.

But dentists claim that these price bands will frighten many patients off and make them delay treatment leading to an explosion of tooth decay. Dr Anthony Halperin from the Patients’ Association says, “I’m concerned that many patients will wait until they need multiple treatments to try to get value for money. If that does happen, it is likely we will see a significant rise in tooth decay”.

The exodus of dentists from the NHS means that up to 16 million patients could be left without state dental care. What’s more, if you have to switch to private care, there’s no certainty that you’ll find a dentist who will accept you onto his list. There are signs that dentists are going to be very choosey about who they treat. It seems possible that many dentists will only accept those who are either well off or who have dental insurance.

So how do you set about getting insured? Well without doubt, the Internet is going to be the place to find the best deals. Many dentists will leave details of one or two schemes in their waiting rooms but they aren’t insurance experts.

Specialised dental insurance brokers will essentially offer you two key options: dental insurance and dental capitalisation schemes. There is a third option - cash plans – but they tend to cover a wide range of medical treatment with dental treatment being but one small part of the cover.

Dental Insurance
The problem for the customer is the range and complexity of the policies on offer. Almost every policy is different with its own pros and cons. The broker’s job is to understand your needs and come up with options within your budget.

A typical example helps to set the picture. With Western Provident the policyholder pays the first 25% of each treatment but can claim up to £250 per year towards routine treatment including check-ups, fillings and visits to the hygienist. Emergency dental treatment is covered up to £1,000 per year but the maximum cover for accidental dental injury is £250 per treatment. The cost? If you’re aged between18 and 49 the premium is £12.48. Older and up to 69 it’s £15.90 per month.

Capitalisation Schemes
A capitalisation scheme is the most expensive option and the option favoured by many dentists. It’s also the most expensive option! Before you take the policy, your dentist makes an assessment of your dental health and places you in one of five or so, treatment groups. The group you’re in then controls the cost of your scheme. The better your dental condition, the less you pay.

For example, a dental care scheme from Denplan costs between £9 and £30 per month.

Cash Plans
The final alternative is a composite health cash plan. These insure you for a wide range of health treatments including dentistry but also such things as eye treatment, hospital treatment, physiotherapy, chiropody even allergy testing. Each type of treatment has a maximum claim value for each kind of health treatment but they tend to be a bit on the mean side. In our view, you’re much better off with a dental insurance policy or a capitalisation scheme.

You pay your money and take your choice!

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Technocrati Tags[dental] [insurance]

With thousands of frontline medical jobs being axed due to the deepening crisis in the National Health Service, patient care standards are again under pressure.

Little wonder therefore, that hospital consultants are going private for their medical care! In a recent survey by BUPA, 41% of NHS consultants have protected their medical care by going private. More than 90% of all consultants also hold consultant positions within the NHS.

The British Medical Association (BMA) argues weakly that the consultants’ commitment to private medical cover doesn’t demonstrate a lack of commitment to the NHS. The Deputy Chairman of the BMA’s Consultants’ Committee said, “Consultants may also like the anonymity of private care. One of the problems of being treated in the NHS is that consultants might find themselves in a bed next to one of their patients”. What a joke! Surely, being in a bed next to one of their patients would underline their confidence and commitment to the NHS. Their absence only serves to emphasize their lack of confidence!

Private medical cover does not provide care in the event of an accident, that’s still the role of the Accident and Emergency Unit at your local hospital. The overwhelming advantage is providing prompt care in a hospital of your choice for planned surgery and medical situations that arise at short notice. Take the case of Dr Sarah Burnett for instance.

Dr Burnett is a consultant radiologist with 15 years service in the NHS. She took out private medical insurance because she was less than impressed with the level of care she saw first hand. “NHS treatment is not a pleasant experience in any way – from the standard of the food, to ward cleanliness and the chance of catching MRSA”, she comments.

Last year Dr Burnet was diagnosed with breast cancer during an annual private medical screening. She required urgent and specialised surgery. Within hours she had seen the consultant surgeon and the operation was arranged. A few days later she was recovering.

“I was lucky enough to have exceptionally prompt treatment because I choose to pay for insurance. Under the NHS I would not have been screened until 50 for breast cancer and would not have been able to catch my cancer at such an early stage. The type of surgery I had is only rarely available on the NHS, depending on the experience of your local surgeon”, said Burnet.

If you, like Dr Burnet and almost half of the UK’s NHS consultants, want to go private, it’s wise to take out private health insurance. Choosing the right insurance cover is complicated as you need to decide the standard of hospitals you would want to use, the level of cover and various other options. For this reason, you need professional advice from a specialised medical insurance broker. One that knows exactly what’s on the market and can access it. Where better to get this advise than the Internet?

Just search for “medical insurance” and you’ll find all the sites you need. You’re best to steer clear of the insurance company’s own sites as they can only sell you their own products and you really need independent advice. And make sure you chose a site that puts you directly in touch with an adviser.

You really need to be able to talk over your requirements and chat about the best alternatives. All this can be done over the phone. And buying through a broker won’t cost you a penny more than going direct to the insurer of your choice. Indeed sometimes a broker can even be cheaper!

Than goodness for the Internet!

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If you make a claim on a critical illness insurance policy your insurer will routinely make exhaustive enquiries about the history of your health. Whilst you’ll have provided them with lots of similar information when you first applied for the insurance, they’ll now insist that all the information is rechecked. And if you said you were not a smoker, they will also want this verified by your doctor.

The reason is clear. The insurer is faced with a big claim, typically well over £100,00, and they want to know that you told the full truth about your health when you applied. This means that now you’ve claimed, they’ll crawl through your medical records in great detail checking that you told them everything when you applied. Even the smallest and apparently insignificant detail will be subject to intense scrutiny. And this can be upsetting for you.

The insurers defend this process saying that they need to be sure that back when they accepted the business, the applicant told the full truth. They want to be sure that the applicant didn’t cheat by omitting some detail in order to dupe the insurer into issuing a policy when they otherwise wouldn’t have, or to qualify for a lower premium. Either way, omitting information would be cheating and grounds for refusing the claim.

The insurers are particularly suspicious if the claim arrives during the policy’s first five years. Any claim arising in this period is classified as an “early claim” and they’re particularly on the look out for any policyholders who took out the critical illness cover already suspecting that that they may be ill.

The problem is that this intense scrutiny attracts a very bad press. If you’ve just made a claim, you’re inevitably very sick and the last thing you want is lots of questions and high handed hassle from your insurer. There’s clearly a conflict here and the insurers need to work much harder at softening the presentation of the enquiry process and they must liase much more closely with their claimants. They must present a much softer centre.

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Millions of patients face re-registering for NHS treatment with a new dentist as 4,000 dentists threaten to quit the NHS over new NHS service contracts.

Since 1997 almost 10,000 dentists have left the NHS and the exodus of a further 4,000 expected this April, will throw the service into total turmoil. The cause is a controversial new contract being implemented by the NHS in April.

Over recent years over 400 charges have been introduced for NHS treatments and at the time, this broke the camels back for many dentists – they simply went 100% private. The new row is about the removal of six monthly check ups and not allowing people whose teeth are in good condition to make a return visit within 3 years. Somewhere mixed in with his are disagreements about surgery opening hours and changes to the way NHS dentists are paid.

The result is that wherever places on NHS dental lists become available, the queues stretch around the bloc! Many will be refused HHS treatment by their existing dentist. Clearly, many patients will be profoundly frightened to find themselves without dental care. If they can’t find an NHS place, their only alternative on the NHS will be to attend an NHS Community Dental Practice and join the daily queue - that is if they know where the nearest one is and they can get there!

The alternatives are go private and pay as you go, or get some form of dental insurance. Some dentists have even introduced what amounts to their own insurance scheme – a practice in Felixstowe has introduced a scheme where all adult patients have to pay a service charge of £11 per month. This then entitles them to free check-ups and discounted charges for treatment. In practice this is around the same cost as many dental insurance policies.

If you decide that going private backed with insurance, you’ll find the “most welcome” signs on many dentists’ doors. But there are lots of policies available with a wide range of benefits from cover for just emergency treatment, to cover for a full dental service. Your best bet is to use your search engine to look for dental insurance sites. You’ll find lots of insurance company sites, but the best solution is to go for specialist online brokers who can search the whole dental insurance market and present a range of alternatives for you.

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Technocrati Tags[dental] [insurance]

In April this year the Government is forcing dentists to accept a new pay scale and changes to their working arrangements.

Now dentists are not known as a belligerent profession, but there’s widespread disbelief amongst them at the Governments heavy-handed action. And they’re resolved not to be bullied. As a result thousands of dentists are refusing to accept the new terms and are planning to quit the NHS at the end of March.

For clients the result will be mayhem. Many asking to be treated on the NHS will simply be turned away. Those dentists who do accept the new NHS contract will have treatment waiting lists a mile long.

So, if you need emergency treatment for a broken tooth or an abscess, you’ll be forced to search out a community dental service operated by the NHS itself. For most this means a long journey to find one with hospital style waiting on arrival. Dental treatment will simply take you the whole day!

For many that leaves private dentistry as the only alternative. That means you’ll get an appointment when you want one rather than waiting for ages on the NHS. But it can be expensive. The only good news is that there are ways to keep costs manageable.

You basically have three main options: dental insurance, capitalisation schemes or cash plans. Let’s explain.

Dental Insurance
In response to the market place, there are now a growing number of insurers offering dental insurance. The following are typical examples:

Western Provident has been offering dental insurance for many years. Its Providential scheme provides a basic level of cover with fixed monthly premiums for those aged between 18 and 49 of £12.48. Premiums rise with age up to £15.90 per month for those aged 50 to 69. Policyholders have to pay the first 25% of all costs but are able to claim up to £250 per year towards routine treatment including check-ups, visits to the hygienist and fillings. You can also claim up to £1,000 per year for emergency treatment including accidental dental injury but the payout is limited to £250 per treatment.

Universal Provident offer basic insurance from £6 per month. This covers up to £1,000 per year on routine work but will not pay for check-ups. Dental emergencies are covered up to £5,000 per year and accidental damage up to £1,000.

Lots of policies also limit the number of treatments they will pay for each year. A policy from Boot’s limits claims to two check-ups, four fillings and one crown a year up to £500. Their policies cost from £9 per month.

Capitalisation Schemes
These are more expensive. Before taking up the policy, your dentist makes an assessment of your dental condition and places you in one of five treatment categories. This will determine how much you pay. The poorer your dental condition, the more you pay.

For example, Denplan’s dental care policy costs between £9 and £30 per month with, we are told, an average fee of £16.

Cash Plans
The third alternative is a composite health cash plan which includes dentistry. Health cash plans pay towards a wide range of health treatments; for example, dentistry, opticians, hospital treatment, physiotherapy, chiropody and allergy testing. The policy spells out exactly the maximum value that can be reclaimed each year for each type of health treatment and most cash plans offer three or four grades of benefit level. The more you pay, the more you can claim back. Some cash plans allow you to reclaim 100% of the cost up to the annual maximum per health category, some will only pay a percentage. For examples of cash plans visit www.hsa.co.uk and www.securehealth.co.uk and click on cash plans. Within these policies, the maximum cover for dentistry tends to be in the range of £70 to £200 per year.

Searching for a Dental Plan
As with all sorts of insurance, you’ll find it cheapest on the Internet. Search for “dental insurance” but make sure you’re using the UK variant of your search engine – otherwise you’ll come up with thousands of American web sites!

The best sites to visit are either those, which enable you to compare plans or where you can make it easier for yourself by using a specialist dental insurance broker. With these brokers, you submit your details and they’ll tell you the options and best dental policies available for you. If you do want to apply direct to an insurance company, you can still do it on the Internet - but there’s no guarantee that you’ll stumble on exactly the best policy for you amongst the many hundreds available. We recommend the broker route.

Technocrati Tags[dental] [insurance]

More Dental Insurance Faq’s

Further reading How does Dental Insurance Work ?
Futher reading What is covered by Dental Insurance ?