HEALTH INSURANCE

HomeContact Us

 Today is

Google
 
Web Infossist.com

 
 
 Related Links
 

Finding Your Own Health Insurance Coverage

Pre-Existing Conditions in Florida Health Insurance

10 Simple Guidelines for Finding Health Insurance in California

Medical Insurance Cost Is Not a Supply and Demand Issue

A Guide To Family Health Insurance

Dental Insurance Introduction

Dental plans and Dental insurance

Dental Insurance vs. Discounted Dental Plans

Advantages of Offering a Dental Benefits Plan to Employees

The Other Side of Medicare

State's Responsibility When Providing Medicaid

Presumptive Disability

Medicare Savings Programs: What You Were Waiting For

A Mortal Disease

Benefit Period

Dental Discount Insurance Plans

Elimination Period

How Much Life Insurance Do You Need? (2nd part)

Renewability and Its Types

Dental Insurance for Students

A Gift to Your Health

Clues to Shop Individual Plans

COBRA: Do not Lose Your Health Insurance

Nursing Facilities and Long-Term Care

Look for Riders that do not Take You for a Ride

How Much Life Insurance Do You Need? (1st part)

Workers Deserve It

Disability Insurance and Its Riders

Typical Dental Insurance Plan

Eligibility for Medicaid

House and Life Insurance

About Residual Disability Insurance

A Healthier Life

Types of Dental Insurance Plans

Total Disability: Know about It and its Types

Life Insurance and the Effect of Time, part II

How Important Is Disability Insurance?

Life Insurance and the Passing of Time, part I

Tips to Make an Accurate Choice on Disability Insurance

The Importance of Dental Insurance

Disability Insurance: Concept and Types

Benefits of Life Insurance

7 Tips for Buying Individual Health Insurance

What to Consider When Choosing a San Jose Dental Insurance Company

How to Find an Anaheim Dental Insurance Company

Choosing a Syracuse Health Insurance Plan

Choosing a San Francisco Dental Insurance Plan

How to Request a Troy Health Insurance Quote

Life Insurance - how well are you covered for skin cancer?

Life Insurance - doctors reports improved

Critical Illness Insurance. How critical can you get?

Understanding Basic Health Insurance Coverage

 

 

Life Insurance - doctors reports improved

by Michael Challiner

 

 
 Resources
 

Aetna

BlueCross

BlueShield

Cigna

Kaiser Permanente

PacifiCare

UnitedHealthcare

 
 More Resources
 

AARP Health Care

Affordable Health Plans

ASSURANT Health

Banner Health

eHealthInsurance

Health Benefits Direct

Health Insurance Center

Health Insurance Finders

Insurance Neighborhood

 

 

Insurance companies are not in the business of taking on risks without first obtaining as much background knowledge as possible. This applies whether they are insuring your house, your car, your possessions or your life. There is however a difference in the operation of such policies. Whilst there is nothing surprising in those seeking competitive prices being prepared to change insurers as necessary for cover for the material items in their lives, a change of insurer for life cover is much less likely.

This factor makes it more important for insurance companies to obtain the most accurate information available relating to the medical history of the prospective customer. Information available however makes it clear that the specific information needed is not always what has been provided.

What insurance companies need (and in fact what they pay for) is specific information relating to their potential customer's past illness which will have, or is likely to have a bearing on their life expectancy. This is after all what life insurance is all about.

What has been supplied by GPs has not always met this core requirement, and in some cases the insurance company has simply been supplied with a copy of the patient's records. To a GP these records should read like an open book; their training enables them to take a broad view and provide the most accurate summary available relating to the length of life which the patient should be able to expect.

Whilst insurers may have experience of life insurance cases, they are not trained to be able to assess the effects of an illness on an individual, which is why they pay doctors to provide such information. It must be remembered that the future of their company depends very much on them getting reliable facts, which can be used to assess the risks and enable them to do their calculations correctly.

An additional factor is that, in supplying patient's notes to insurers, GPs are going against the rules on patient confidentiality. They are permitted to respond to insurers requests for information as this will be done with the full knowledge of the patient. The patient will not however expect the insurer to be supplied with extraneous information which has no bearing on the life insurance question.

Now the good news is that the BMA (British Medical Association) and the ABI (Association of British Insurers) have concluded discussions which have resulted in agreement being reached on a way forward which should be satisfactory for all concerned.

On behalf of GPs, the BMA have agreed that reports to insurance companies which are prepared for life insurance applications shall be of the high quality patient specific type required. In return the ABI have agreed that the charges for these reports shall increase by 6% per annum over the first five years of the agreement.

Compounded, this means that in five years the amount per report which is paid by the insurance company will rise by around 34%. This will give hard pressed GPs the incentive necessary to make time for the preparation of accurate medical reports. This point has been made by the BMA in advice to GPs regarding the new agreement. They have pointed out that improvement in the accuracy of life insurance information on which quotations are based is an important consideration, impinging as it does on the quality of life for those patients.

It is good to see an apparently satisfactory outcome to a problem which has been a thorn in the flesh for both the BMA and the ABI for some time.
 

About the Author

Get great articles on life insurance from Life Insurance Library.

Related News

House Democrats Move Health Bill With Controversial, Complicated Strategy
House Democrats have started the clock to a landmark vote on sweeping changes to America's health care system. The Washington Post reports that the House may try to pass the Senate health reform bill without voting on it by declaring it passed if the House passes an accompanying reconciliation bill that "fixes" the Senate bill. House Speaker Nancy "Pelosi (D-Calif...

Health Ad Campaigns Emerge In Last Days Of Debate
As Congress approaches a possible finale to its year-long health debate, advertisements that attempt to influence the results have flooded airwaves, Time reports. "Across the country, groups on all sides of the health care reform debate have been targeting swing members of Congress with costly ad campaigns...

Catholic Bishops Oppose Health Bill, While Other Catholic Groups Offer Support
McClatchy: "The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops said Monday it opposes the Democratic health care plan heading for a vote in the U.S. House of Representatives because of its language on abortion. The group noted that it liked the House health care bill because it would continue the strict ban on federal financing of abortion...

Governors Riled By Lack Of Input In Health Bill; States Request More Federal Funding For Budget, Medicaid Shortfalls
Politico: "Vermont Gov. Jim Douglas kicked off a National Governors Association summit on health care Monday with an ominous word about the date" and the need to beware the ides of March. "The governors feel like they've gotten the Brutus treatment, too." Earlier in the process, the White House "made overtures to governors ...

Blogs Comment On Abortion Coverage In Health Reform, The Catholic Health Association's Endorsement Of Health Reform, Other Topics
The following summarizes selected women's health-related blog entries. ~ "Healthcare Reform Bill Abortion Debate is Nonsensical," Robert Schlesinger, U.S...

Obama Makes Overhaul Pitch In Ohio
With a possible deciding vote on health care overhaul legislation nearing, President Obama traveled Monday to Ohio to make a last-minute plea for political "courage" to pass the legislation, The Washington Post reports...

Former GOP Leader Armey Predicts Health Bill Will Pass
A Republican leader is expressing some sentiment that the bill cannot be stopped, The Associated Press reports. "Republican Sen. Jim DeMint of South Carolina, among the bill's sharpest opponents, said he was 'less confident' than before that it could be stopped. 'They'd have to be remarkable people not to fall under the kind of pressure they'll be under,' DeMint said of rank-and-file Democrats...

California Jury Rules Insurer Should Pay For Out-Of-State Operation; Mass. Probe Shows Insurers' Payments Can Vary Widely
The Los Angeles Times: "A Los Angeles jury concluded Monday that Anthem Blue Cross should cover the cost of an out-of-state liver transplant that a California man paid for after the insurer balked. In addition, the jury ordered Blue Cross to pay plaintiff Ephram Nehme's legal expenses, which could dwarf the $206,000 cost of the transplant...

Today's Opinions And Editorials
The Health Care Letdown The New York Times What's more, the core of the Senate's legislation closely resembles the very bill the Republicans offered in 1993 as an alternative to the Clinton plan. This makes clear that bipartisan reform was achievable, and indicts Congress for its failure to realize that goal with broad public support (William Pewen, 3/15)...

Correction To Daily Report, Mar. 15
Economists, Dems Differ On Who's To Blame For Insurers' Rate Hikes In the March 15 Morning Edition, "Economists, Dems Differ On Who's To Blame For Insurers' Rate Hikes," KHN omitted a word in a summary of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel coverage...
 

 

HomeContact Us

Copyright 2007 Infossist.com. All rights reserved.