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Insurance company thinks I'm going to drop dead in about two years....

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  • Insurance company thinks I'm going to drop dead in about two years....

    Background: I have a heart defect that I've had since birth. My pediatrician apparently discovered it pretty early, as I had regular cardiologist visits throughout my childhood starting about as early as I can remember. My cardiologists have basically said that it's apparently a somewhat common defect (as far as defects go) and nothing really worrisome, just something to check on periodically. My parents were told to treat me as a normal child.

    Last year, Hubby decided we should get a life insurance policy on me for the kids' sake (he already had one). After the health interview and everything, we discovered the company had put me in the highest pay bracket, essentially at higher risk than cancer patients according to their pay breakdown. Confused, we called to ask why, and they explained that according to their in-house doctors and literature, people with my particular defect have a life expectancy of about 35 years.

    For the record, I am 33 this year.

    Turns out that there's apparently some swelling caught by the echocardiogram (an ultrasound of my heart for those who don't know) that I had done about five years ago. No one I spoke to at the time of the echo mentioned anything potentially worrying, so I thought nothing of it at the time. The life insurance company said we could try to get our pay rate reconsidered if I had another visit that showed the swelling had cleared up at all.

    So I scheduled another cardiologist visit. Unfortunately for the purposes of my life insurance policy, the swelling is still there. Fortunately for me, however, the cardiologist wasn't especially worried about it. She projected that I might--read MIGHT--have to get the valve with the defect replaced in about 15-20 years, but that's it. It's apparently very common for people with this defect to eventually need the valve replaced when they're about 50.

    15-20 years. My life insurance policy is only a 10-year policy. The cardiologist is completely confused as to why the insurance company is giving me a life expectancy of only 35 years. But the life insurance company won't change their opinion or lower our payment. It's frustrating.

    TL;DR: My life insurance company is freaking out over a heart condition that my cardiologist is not worried about at all. I rant about it.
    "Enough expository banter. It's time we fight like men. And ladies. And ladies who dress like men. For Gilgamesh...IT'S MORPHING TIME!"
    - Gilgamesh, Final Fantasy V

  • #2
    Consider checking in with another insurance agency for a more reasonable quote, perhaps.
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    • #3
      My mother had something along those lines - a heart murmur since childhood. When she was in university, they required a complete physical for incoming students, and she wasn't allowed to get into the sports she wanted. She dropped dead a couple years ago - at age 83.
      Any fool can piss on the floor. It takes a talented SC to shit on the ceiling.

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      • #4
        Quoth EricKei View Post
        Consider checking in with another insurance agency for a more reasonable quote, perhaps.
        That's the general plan. Hubby's currently looking into what his new job offers, and we're hoping whatever we pick has doctors more willing to listen to the fact that the cardiologists (whose specialty it is to study heart stuff) aren't rating me as more at-risk than cancer patients.
        "Enough expository banter. It's time we fight like men. And ladies. And ladies who dress like men. For Gilgamesh...IT'S MORPHING TIME!"
        - Gilgamesh, Final Fantasy V

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        • #5
          Why? Simple: They're tight-fisted bastards who believe their whole purpose is to cling to every penny they're given, rather than ever have to pay out any of it.

          Sorry, I have a jaded view of insurance companies since dealing with All State.
          When you start at zero, everything's progress.

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          • #6
            WTF would a cardiologist know about cardiology? They (meaning the insurance company) read this thing on the interwebz so obviously they're way smarter than that guy who went to school for umpteen million years to know all about hearts.

            Quoth MoonCat View Post
            Why? Simple: They're tight-fisted bastards who believe their whole purpose is to cling to every penny they're given, rather than ever have to pay out any of it.
            That's pretty much my view of any insurance company, not just medical. And that's all I'll say on that.
            I am no longer of capable of the emotion you humans call “compassion”. Though I can feign it in exchange for an hourly wage. (Gravekeeper)

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            • #7
              I have an online comrade who has high total cholesterol but her HDL is so high that her doctor is happy and not worried at all. But I wonder if her insurance company is going to charge her more or something. The doctor is the one looking at her labs and treating her so the doctor gets to make the call on how healthy she is.

              It also reminds me of people who happen to see me take my huge NSAID dose and comment that I shouldn't be. My doctor, who knows my history, told me to take that dose.
              "Is it hot in here to you? It's very warm, isn't it?"--Nero, probably

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              • #8
                I was lucky when I was a little kid and Mom took out the insurance policy before all the crazy restrictions started. I have poly-cystic kidney disease which makes me high risk. My brother is listed as a 40 year old smoker for his policy and he's only in his 20's and not a smoker but he also has the same disease so they have to charge more.

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                • #9
                  Quoth jedimaster91 View Post
                  WTF would a cardiologist know about cardiology? They (meaning the insurance company) read this thing on the interwebz so obviously they're way smarter than that guy who went to school for umpteen million years to know all about hearts.
                  I know, tell me about that. And they just keep dodging the question when we ask them why their medical resources put me at such high risk (for what is apparently the most common heart defect) when the cardiologists (and I've seen a few in my years, since my family's known about this since I was about five or so) talk about maybe valve replacement in about fifteen to twenty years.

                  Yeah, like I said, there's a reason we're looking for a different company if we can.

                  And I don't necessarily have the greatest opinion of insurance companies myself (though I do give health insurance a pass, at least for the providers we've had through my husband's job since they've covered us fairly well), but I can still hope that we'll find one that will at least exercise a willingness to listen to the freaking heart specialists.

                  Quoth wolfie View Post
                  My mother had something along those lines - a heart murmur since childhood. When she was in university, they required a complete physical for incoming students, and she wasn't allowed to get into the sports she wanted. She dropped dead a couple years ago - at age 83.
                  I sincerely it doesn't come to this for me, but I can definitely sympathize. Thankfully the only time I played sports was in high school, and they didn't require full disclosure on health conditions outside of anything contagious or that would require special concessions such as disabilities.
                  Last edited by Kogarashi; 10-10-2015, 06:19 AM.
                  "Enough expository banter. It's time we fight like men. And ladies. And ladies who dress like men. For Gilgamesh...IT'S MORPHING TIME!"
                  - Gilgamesh, Final Fantasy V

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                  • #10
                    depending on what the defect is, as well, someone who has survived infancy may well ave a significantly longer life expectancy anyway. ( because life expectancies- when given as a total lifespan, rather than number of years left- are based on someone just born- IOW, that 35 year figure may well include significant infant mortality. To give an example, in the middle ages, the average life expectancy for a newly-born aristocrat was 30 years. but, if the kid lived to 21- the age at which an aristocrat's kid would usually be knighted in those days- the chances were that they would live until 64.

                    In short, that insurance company doesn't even know how to read life expectancy results.

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                    • #11
                      Quoth sstabeler View Post
                      In short, that insurance company doesn't even know how to read life expectancy results.
                      They don't want to read it right, it's cheaper that way!
                      No trees were killed in the posting of this message.

                      However, a large number of electrons were terribly inconvenienced.

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                      • #12
                        Quoth BeeMused View Post
                        They don't want to read it right, it's cheaper that way!
                        Or it's just easier to stick with the same outdated information packets rather than keep track of new information as people who were actually diagnosed with this defect at a young age continue to live. Or something like that. I do know that the recommendations for what medications to take for certain procedures (such as dental checkups) have changed in the past twenty years.

                        For those who are curious, the defect in question is a bicuspid aortic valve. Basically, the valve in my aorta has two flaps where they're supposed to have three, because two fused together at birth. According to pretty much all the information I've been able to find (and all the different cardiologists I've spoken to over the years), it's the most common heart defect and generally only causes problems later in life. For me, the most notable thing about it is that I have a heart murmur because of it (which is how the doctors found out about it when I was a kid in the first place; the pediatrician heard the murmur and referred my family to a cardiologist who confirmed the defect).
                        "Enough expository banter. It's time we fight like men. And ladies. And ladies who dress like men. For Gilgamesh...IT'S MORPHING TIME!"
                        - Gilgamesh, Final Fantasy V

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