- A Quick Guide to…Insurance
Some forms of insurance are not subject to the same criteria of discrimination as other services. When buying insurance, it is important to read the fine print, and ask questions.
Travel insurance
When travelling with diabetes, travel insurance can be complex and vary between providers.
You must declare a pre-existing condition to the insurer. If you do not, you will not be covered for it.
Generally, if you have had diabetes for more than 12 months, without complications, you will still be able to obtain travel insurance for a pre-existing condition.
This does vary between providers with considerations dependent on age, complications, other health factors, and hypoglycaemic issues. Shop around. Read terms and conditions.
If an insurer does not cover diabetes as a part of their standard cover, they may offer an increased premium to cover diabetes, or they may offer insurance which excludes any coverage of diabetes and diabetes related treatments.
You may be required to undertake a medical assessment before purchasing cover.
If a claim is denied:
- Contact the insurer to request as much information as possible about why your claim was refused.
- Lodge a complaint with the insurer, and review their response.
- If it still seems unfair, lodge a dispute with the Australian Financial Complaints Authority https://www.afca.org.au/make-a-complaint/. You can do this within two years of getting the insurer's reasons.
Coverage may also be affected by other circumstances, such as recently seen in pandemics. These circumstances may override discrimination law in the interests of individual and community health and safety. These changes would affect the application for travel insurance rather than claiming payments.
Life insurance, income protection insurance
Unfortunately, there is no obligation for a company to provide universal Life Insurance and Income Protection– it is the exemption to discrimination laws.
The likelihood of being able to get life insurance depends on a few factors: age of diagnosis, complications, type of diabetes and management.
It is also deemed as one of the 'high risk' conditions to insurers, meaning increased premiums are almost a given, regardless of these factors. Premiums can further increase in the cases of lifestyle factors such as smoking, weight, and age. If the person is over 60, there are extra difficulties.
So, there are some companies that will provide life insurance to people living with diabetes, others that won't. It is still very much a case-by-case basis, so it would be worth contacting insurers that you have confidence in and enquiring.
Private Health Insurance
Under the current private health insurance system, your insurer is able to allocate your coverage into one of four tiers – Gold, Silver, Bronze and Basic. Each of these tiers has minimum coverage requirements. You are able to decrease the level of premium you pay by increasing the excess payments, though this will suit some people better than others. As with all insurance, shop around and read the terms and conditions. Know what is covered before you need to claim for it.
If you are an existing policy-holder and changing your insurance, you will have served waiting periods for pre-existing conditions that are covered under your current insurance. Check with your Insurer that they will be recognising these waiting periods under your new coverage.
If you have a complaint about your Insurer, take it up with them in the first instance.
If it is not resolved, you can contact the Commonwealth Ombudsman to seek their assistance. To contact the Ombudsman, visit http://www.ombudsman.gov.au/How-we-can-help/private-health-insurance and follow the links to Make a Complaint.
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Live Your Life Community Team
Natasha and Erin
membership@diabetesqld.org.au------------------------------