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Fair deals for diabetics

This is Money
5 August 2001

DIABETICS are being treated as second-class citizens by the insurance industry, says a charity that represents them.

They are being forced to pay up to four times more than non-sufferers for life cover.

Insurers insist that diabetics fill in complicated forms, take humiliating medical examinations - then charge them sky-high premiums.

But cover at a reasonable price is available for those willing to shop around or who use specialist financial advisers.

Jo Martin, a spokeswoman for Diabetes UK, the charity that funds research and speaks for Britain's 1.5m diabetics who have been diagnosed with the condition, says: 'Sufferers are being put at the bottom of the pile as second-class citizens when seeking life insurance and critical illness cover. It seems that insurers can't be bothered with them, so they quote outrageous premiums.

'Diabetics are all being told in effect that they are going to die early. But those who follow the health guidelines to control their condition tend to be in better shape than non-diabetics.'

A leading example of a diabetic in supreme physical condition is Sir Steve Redgrave, winner of five Olympic gold medals for rowing. Like most fellow-sufferers, he keeps a close eye on what he eats.

Most diabetics are on special diets or drugs to control their blood glucose levels, but 500,000 need insulin injections. Untreated, sufferers risk blindness, strokes, heart attacks and other serious conditions.

Diabetic Adrian Webb, 36, a marketing consultant from Balham, south London, says: 'The people in financial services who write these questionnaires about diabetes simply do not seem to have a clue about the condition.

'Questions such as 'When did you last check your urine?' are complete nonsense. 'This method of testing your glucose levels went out with the Ark.'

Adrian advises diabetics to treat long-winded and out-of-date questions with contempt because the insurer does not really want their business anyway.

He also urges fellow-diabetics who are seeking insurance cover: 'Don't use your bank - it will almost certainly be the dearest. Instead, shop around some of the direct providers and see what they can offer.'

City specialist financial adviser Heath Lambert Consulting has teamed up with a handful of life offices who will ask customers for only one medical examination and will pool the findings among them.

Brian Morgan, an adviser at Heath Lambert, says: 'There is a growing sense of elitism among insurance companies. They want to cherry-pick the best customers, and as a result they treat other groups such as diabetics unfairly.

'There has been much research into diabetes over the past few years, and it shows that the condition is far from being as black and white as the insurers would have us believe. By shopping around, diabetics can end up paying premiums that are no higher than those paid by non-diabetics.'

Turned down for no reason

SHE filled in a special questionnaire and arranged for a doctor's report - but still diabetic Pip A'Ness, was refused critical illness cover.

And when she enquired about simple life cover, the insurance company reluctantly agreed to sell her a policy - at three times the premium paid by non-diabetics.

But Pip, a 29-year-old charity worker from Bristol insists: 'I feel healthier than I've ever done.'

Pip, who has an eight-month-old son, Luke, has had the condition for three years.

She says: 'Since my diabetes was diagnosed, I've taken special care over my fitness and what I eat. I can't see any reason why I should be refused cover out of hand - and nor can my doctor.

'Many years ago, sufferers did not know how to deal with diabetes and were not as good at controlling the condition as they are today. But now it need not stop anyone who takes proper care of themselves from leading a perfectly active life. It is high time the insurance industry started to realise this.'

After Pip and her husband, 49-year-old Simon Talbot-Ponsonby, contacted Diabetes UK, it helped them find a much cheaper life policy for her with Family Assurance Friendly Society's Family Diabetes Plan.