"It takes away the guilt of looking after yourself"
Like many women, Susan leads a very busy life. A few months before her 50th birthday, she started to feel abnormally tired. While she didn’t think there was anything wrong, she thought she’d go early for her general health check-up, just to make sure.After some blood tests, the doctor suggested a bowel check. Having had a major health scare just five years prior, she didn’t think for a moment that there could be anything wrong, “I’d had my batch of bad luck; surely nothing bad would happen again so soon”.
The specialist performing the colonoscopy told her then and there that she had bowel cancer, and thanks to health insurance, she was booked into surgery within a week. she also went on to have chemotherapy.
Because Susan had added the trauma option to her health insurance policy, she was paid out a lump sum on the diagnosis of her condition. While her health insurance paid for her care in a private hospital, going through treatment meant that she had to stop working, and the things Susan would usually do needed to be done by others, eg getting a cleaner in to help with housework.
“Having the insurance has helped hugely. I’ve just had to take the attitude that I can’t do it all and it’s ok, that’s what the insurance is for, it’s to be used for the things that are being affected. It just took the pressure off. I’m actually doing ok and people don’t believe me!”
She is also able to go to Pilates twice a week with a trainer, because she couldn’t be part of a normal class. “I’m actually having some ‘me time’ and it’s making me feel good about myself”. This has assisted greatly in maintaining her positive attitude and sense of wellbeing.
“You get insurance for lots of reasons. It helps you through a difficult time, and there is always a risk that you won’t need to claim on it, but that’s a good thing too”.
“It’s really interesting because I talk to a lot of women who don’t have this cover. I say ‘what if something happened to you?’ Even women who are at home, who would help look after the kids? It would impact them hugely”.
This case study is based on a real claims situation. Names & some details have been changed to protect privacy.
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