Home / Critical illness cover / - Benign Brain Tumour
Background information
Approximately 8,500 people in the UK suffer a Brain Haemorrhage each year, with 3 or 4 out of 10 patients being left with long-term problems.
Each year in the UK there are 500 new cases of primary brain tumour (where a tumour starts in the brain, rather than spreads to the brain from another location).
1 million people are treated in hospital for head injuries each year.
9 out of every 20 victims with severe head injury will not return to work.
In total, an estimated 3 million people in the UK are currently suffering from brain-related disorders.
(BASIC, 2002)
Definition
A non-malignant tumour in the brain resulting in permanent deficit to the neurological system. Tumours or lesions in the pituitary gland are not covered. Cover usually includes non-malignant tumours in the meninges that result in permanent deficit to the neurological system.
What does this mean?
Unlike cancer, which is a malignant tumour, benign tumours are localised and grow by expansion only. They therefore do not invade and destroy the surrounding tissue and do not spread to other parts of the body. Once surgically removed they tend not to recur. However, a benign brain tumour can still be very dangerous because it can put pressure on the brain and lead to possible damage, haemorrhages and ulceration. Deficit to the neurological system means muscle weakness or sensory loss. Surgery to cure the condition may not always be possible.
30 July 2008 17:23:34
Over 30,000 patients were left starving on NHS hospital wards last year, according to latest research.
This is despite pledges from ministers to make proper nutrition a priority in all NHS hospitals.
Reports have suggested that some patients were given insufficient volumes of food, while others were given trays of food just out of their reach with no help to eat.
Figures show that cases of poor nutrition increased by 88 per cent between 2005 and 2007. More people are being encouraged to take out UK life insurance to cover themselves.
"People go to hospital expecting to get better, yet in 2007, 29,000 people suffered unnecessarily and completely avoidable harm from poor nutritional care," said Conservative health spokesman, Stephen O'Brien.
This comes after research from Age Concern revealed that 60 per cent of older patients are now at risk of becoming malnourished.
24 April 2008 17:59:56
A new drug for type 2 diabetes patients which does not cause weight gain is now available in the UK.
According to Diabetes UK, there are currently over 2.3 million people with the disease in Britain - a factor which may affect their life insurance policies.
An increase in weight is a common side effect of drugs used to treat type 2 diabetes, but a new drug named Vildagliptin has been shown to have a neutral effect on body size in clinical trials when it is combined with another diabetes drug called metformin.
"Around 80 per cent of people diagnosed with type 2 diabetes are overweight and it is a real concern that the treatments they need to take to control their blood sugar can lead to added weight gain or other harmful side effects" said Dr Eugene Hughes, a GP on the Isle of Wight.
"As an effective treatment without weight gain when used in combination with metformin in clinical trials, Vildagliptin offered a potential solution to this very real problem," she added.
Meanwhile, a recent study published in The Lancet found that a single daily injection of insulin glargine for patients with type 2 diabetes is just as effective at helping control blood sugar as an injection that must be administered up to three times a day called insulin lispro.
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30 August 2007 16:54:14
The Association of British Insurers (ABI) has proposed the abolition of an exemption that allows life insurance providers to discriminate against claimants on the grounds of sexual orientation.
In response to a government consultation on Discrimination Law, the ABI has argued that civil partnerships and marriage should be viewed on an equal footing in regard to claims for life insurance, critical illness cover or income protection insurance.
Nick Starling, ABI director of general insurance and health, explained that there should be parity across insurance policies.
"The insurance industry is united against discrimination and in support of treating people fairly," he said. "Insurers base their treatment of all customers on a fair and objective analysis of the risks they represent. It is sensible to differentiate, for instance, in the case of age or gender.
"But we do not seek exemptions where there is no case for one; there is no need for the law to provide for different treatment between Civil Partnerships and marriages."
The ABI proposal has been backed by gay rights group Stonewall, with Alan Wardle, director of public affairs, saying: "We trust the government will repeal it at the earliest opportunity. Insurance premiums should be based on someone's behaviour rather than their sexual orientation."
