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MediCover Travel Insurance

Travel Insurance for Those Who Have Suffered from Illness or Accident


MediCover Travel Insurance offers:

Who and what is MediCover?
MediCover is a travel insurance policy that has been specially created by Inter Group Insurance Services Limited (one of the UK's leading travel insurance specialists) to provide travel insurance for travellers who have suffered from medical conditions (even terminal cancers) or accidents.

Why do I need MediCover?
Many travel policies now exclude a number of or all medical conditions from coverage. This means that should you suffer an unfortunate recurrence of your medical condition whilst travelling you may be denied cover from your travel policy when you need it most. With medical costs running into many thousands of pounds throughout the world you could be faced with the most appalling debts that could take a lifetime to repay.

How much will MediCover cost me?
MediCover travel insurance has been designed in consultation with leading medical experts and through the use of unique risk assessment software and medical case management techniques MediCover is able to provide you with an instant quotation which is specific to your circumstances. To obtain a quotation simply visit their website: http://www.medi-cover.co.uk or call 0870 735 3600.
MediCover premiums often work out more expensive than some of the cheaper standard policies on the market. However, our policies are properly rated to ensure that you have the correct cover for when you may need it most. Remember, many policies totally exclude cover for all medical conditions.

Editor's note: I called this company to gain more knowledge of their policies and was very impressed with the manner in which they dealt with my enquiry. The lady on the end of the phone was both polite and extremely helpful. Patients with cancer can travel (even if they are terminally ill) as long as their life expectancy is longer than their travel plans. There is also only a £35 excess.

If you are planning to travel this summer please call them and let me know your comments. We are always trying to ascertain useful policies for our members as we know that a lot of you have had problems gaining reasonable insurance when taking much needed breaks.


Ovacome Day in the north-east

Sunday April 8th dawned clear and sunny and stayed that way. After the all-day torrential downpour on Saturday 7th, this was a big relief for the North East Fone Friends as we headed for the venue for our Fun Run/Jog/Walk in the park.

The idea for the event had been formulated over coffee the previous autumn. Mowbray Park, a Victorian park in the centre of Sunderland, had been recently refurbished and re-opened in 2000 and we discovered that the park authority was keen to encourage charity events.

We had not much experience between us of organising such an event but brain-storming over coffee produced ideas for the posters and registration forms and we decided to save money and produce them ourselves.

We also decided to target fit women and so got our posters into local fitness centres and gyms. Sunderland and Gateshead local authorities put them in their leisure centres and libraries for us, we put them in the hospitals and also had help from some Weightwatchers meetings and the local Rosemary Conley organisation too.

Insurance, police notification and the St. John Ambulance were all organised and we borrowed some weather-resistant banners from the organisers of the Great North Run. We got a mention in several local papers and an article too, plus a radio interview.

On the day, there was not much evidence that the poster campaign had worked with the general public, but we hope that the word 'Ovacome' has registered with those who read it on our posters and we already have ideas for a better approach next year.

It was a good team effort as we all had areas of responsibility. Katy and Derek worked out the route and marked it on the day, with a detour round the flooded area. Heather and Kathleen manned the registration desk and Jack and Ian guarded them and the money. The park authority even provided a walkie-talkie for emergency use. Pat and Bill brought the special Ovacome start/finish banners he'd made and the borrowed ones too. Barbara organised the Ovacome information boards and I manned the start/finish line with the freebies. Katy had managed to get free bottles of water and these proved very popular as the temperature rose. Everyone who could blew up the large green Ovacome balloons and we tied them to the bandstand and railings. Derek persuaded everyone to do an energetic warm-up and then, at 11am, everyone set off at whatever pace they had chosen. Eileen, Joan and Margaret were determined to complete the circuit as £467 in sponsorship money depended on their success and I'm pleased to report that they did it without mishap.

A large team from 'Lazi Leisure' arrived later and Derek organised another warm-up for them. They did well as most of the team had been at work until the early hours of Sunday morning. We were grateful for their presentation of a giant cheque for £200.

At the finishing line I was having difficulties as people kept passing and saying' We'll just go round again' as they were enjoying the walk so much. Each circuit was just over a mile in length but it did include a steep climb up the hill from where there are excellent views of the sea. Eventually everyone did finish for the last time, so we packed up and went home. The whole event went very well, about 60 people took part, but we're sure it will be more next year. We all enjoyed being involved and it has strengthened our friendships and our support system. To our astonishment, the final total will be over £1,100: enough to keep the N.E. Ovacome phone line funded for another year and cover the cost of our event insurance for the year - with some left over. We could ask no more of our fun time in the park and I would like to take this opportunity of thanking all those local members who supported us even though they could not take part on the day, all the relatives and friends who turned out and/or paid up to support us, Ruth and Frances in the Ovacome office for their help, the organisations who gave support in various ways and the very helpful park officials.
Margaret Borthwick

Editor's note: Margaret ,you are an inspiration - very well done for this event and for the astounding total amount raised. Others should take example from you - congratulations to all in the NE.

 

Can You Help?
Support Groups

Do you attend a support group in your area that you find beneficial? If so please let us know. We are currently trying to increase and update our support group list and would appreciate your help in completing this.

Please contact Frances or Ruth in the office on 07071 781861.
Many thanks in advance.
Debbie


The genie in the insurance bottle?

The creation of an underclass of people unable to obtain insurance. That's the dark picture painted by those who say that, when it comes to advances in gene technology, insurance companies are not to be trusted. But are these fears justified? Bob Cheesewright, Technical Manager with Swiss Life (UK) and himself a graduate in biochemistry, thinks not and points to the need to stick to the age-old principles of insurance.

The recent completion of the human gene mapping project is the first step in a scientific investigation which is likely to change the face of medicine, a revolution as fundamental as the introduction of antibiotics or safe surgery.

Our genes control the way our bodies are built and have a huge influence on our behaviour. But they are not the only factors. Our history and our environment also influence the way in which our genes are expressed.

How do the genes work? Some genes work alone, specifying such things as eye colour; here, changing that gene will have a specific effect on our bodies. Defects in such single genes cause some diseases like Huntingdon's.

The majority of genes act in co-ordinated genetic systems: many genes work together and influence a particular characteristic. Some genes seem to be involved in several systems. In these multi-factorial systems a mutation in a single gene can still disrupt the process, but generally the effect is much more diffuse. For example, several genes govern height and the effect can vary widely between short and tall! Variations in a gene can create a predisposition to a particular outcome, such as a susceptibility to disease.

There is a class called homeotropic genes, which govern the development from the embryo through to the adult. Understanding and manipulating these genes holds the prospect of growing replacement tissues.

It is possible to envisage that, in time, there will be gene therapies to address conditions such as Alzheimer's disease or cancer, or even to lessen the effect of a heart attack.

Some commentators have seen danger in this knowledge. They point out that genetic testing would be more precise than family history as a guide to whether somebody will suffer ill health or premature death. They fear that some people would be reluctant to pay insurance premiums that subsidise those who could be shown in advance to be more likely to make a claim. They suggest that insurers, anxious to attract people whose genes indicate that they are least likely to claim with low premiums, will insist that people should undergo genetic tests before they will issue a policy.

Are these fears misplaced or do the public have good cause to be concerned?

The principles of insurance go back hundreds of years. They require that the fortunate many subsidise the unfortunate few when luck runs out. In the private sector there is no compulsion to buy insurance and you select the level of your cover. This means that, in order to be fair to all policy-holders, the insurance companies must charge a premium proportionate to the risk of claim, and that is the role of the underwriter.

Very different considerations apply to National Insurance. Here everybody has to pay a broadly similar contribution, and we all get more or less the same benefits. When the insurance pool is the entire country, we all share the risk.

With private insurance we need to guard against the possibility that somebody will be particularly keen to buy insurance, and lots of it, if they know that they are more likely to claim than are their neighbours.

As the knowledge of genetics improves, the NHS is likely to require people to have genetic tests in order to improve the treatment it offers. Your doctor will select drugs which work best for you. Intensive screening for the people who are more likely to develop cancer is another example.

In this situation, the principles of insurance start to break down. People are no longer uncertain: 'luck' can be predicted. If one group of people have been told that there is a risk that they will develop cancer, they will be particularly keen to buy insurance against that possibility. Their colleagues who have been told not to worry will have no intention of buying such policies, and the fortunate many will no longer be subsidising the unfortunate few. Clearly, you cannot run an insurance business on this basis. Over the years, insurance law has come across this kind of problem. If people know that there is a higher than average chance that they will claim, they are expected to declare it.

So, how does the insurance industry make sure that we have fair play? The ABI has drawn up a code of conduct, and it is quite straightforward:

 That seems like fair play to me!

Note: Since this article was written, the Government has asked the Human genetics Advisory Commission to advise on what it feels would be fair treatment. It needs to balance the social benefits of a 'fair' insurance market and the new medical developments. It is in everyone's interest that people get the best treatment. We hope that, as a result, conditions which currently represent an enhanced risk will come to be fully treatable and therefore of no concern to insurers. Which, of course, means that the insurance market can continue to operate.

 


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