The price of a stroke (& CKD diagnosis)

The last couple of mornings have been spent trying to sort out the holiday insurance for our trip to France.

Of late we've bought an annual policy. Our renewal notice came with a price of £116, a little higher than last year but that's inflation for you. However, I thought I ought to advise them of the change in our medical conditions before we accepted. In the last twelve months I was diagnosed with Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) & the Fox had his stroke.

I thought I'd start with a few alternative companies to get an idea of prices. One company asked for £760! Even a single trip insurance policy would cost £640! That's nearly the cost of another holiday! I was expecting the price to go up, but not by that much.

I tried a few others. Eventually I got back to our insurer of last year. They wouldn't even consider insuring me, let alone the Fox any more. Instead they gave me the number of a company specialising in insurance for people with medical problems Still higher than we were prepared to pay. I tried another disability insurance specialist. At last a company that would do an annual policy for £341, a single trip for £150.

I persevered and eventually found a company that will cover us for a single trip for £105, though we will have to pay the first £250 if we have to make a claim due to a pre-existing condition. That's okay by us. As far as we can see, we're far more likely to have to make a claim because we've been robbed or been involved in a car accident.

What gets to me is that the price should have gone up so much. To my mind we're far less likely to have a stroke, heart attack, break bones etc now we're on appropriate medication than we were before.

What is more, so many conditions we are only aware of because we've accepted offers for scanning etc from the NHS. It is only because I was having an early menopause so the doctor thought it would be wise for me to have a bone density scan, that I even know I have osteoporosis. I've never broken a bone in my entire life, despite the fact these days I've often landed flat on my face on concrete. Bruised yes, bone broken no.

It just seems like one giant rip off. Yet, if something did happen, & we needed extra accommodation as one of us was in hospital, or another flight home etc, it would be reassuring if we were insured.

It also gets to me that increasingly package holiday providers insist on you having insurance & knowing the details of that policy. Surely the decision about insurance should be voluntary, not one proscribed by a holiday provider. If we're prepared to face the consequence of going without insurance surely that should be up to us.

And the questions they ask! What relevance is my height? You're expected to know which pills are for which complaint even though one complaint goes hand in hand with another. So, for example, high blood pressure is almost inevitable with, and worsens the effect of CKD, so the extra pills I take to lower that pressure, are they for hypertension or CKD?  As for the cancer. I had that over 11 years ago. It was surgically removed. I've needed no further treatment & there's no sign of any recurrence, so why does that matter? And so it goes on.

Thank goodness it's sorted now for this trip. I'm hoping if we go abroad later in the year, with the diagnosis of CKD & the stroke being over a year ago, prices may come down by then. I wouldn't count on it though.