My life insurance wont cover me for multiple sclerosis as my mother has it but I thought it wasnt hereditary?

Question

So why will they not cover me?

Answer 1

Insurance companies are always trying to get away with paying out.  I don't know if Ms is hereditary or not but I am sure you could ask your doctor if you are worried about it.  If you live in the UK you could phone National Health direct on 0845 4647 and speak to someone there, they are very helpful.  I would try another insurance company if it is not hereditary.

Answer 2

what the h**l?

which country are you in?

Answer 3

Ask them - apparently what you thought isn't true.

Answer 4

Something sounds a little strange here.  

Are you saying that you currently have a policy that doesn't pay if you die from MS or are you looking at a company that won't issue a policy because your mom had MS?  

If you have bought the policy then they can exclude any cause of death that they want as long as they put it in the policy.  You are essentially agreeing to it if they put it in the policy.  Read over your policy and see if they can exclude death from MS.  

If you can't get coverage because of this, then I think you need to go to another company.  You need to find an agent that represents multiple companies and knows the underwriting guidelines of those companies really well.  I would think there will be many companies that will sell you a life insurance policy even if your mom has MS.

Answer 5

You need to take a good look over your plan with a friendly lawyer,if your close to any like one in the family type of thing give them a ring.If not you and your doctor have to take off the gloves and fight.My doctors have had to a few time for me it pays to be pushy when it comes to your insurance.

    The real cause of multiple sclerosis has not been determined yet. It is an autoimmune disease affecting the central nervous system, causing the destruction of the supportive structures of the CNS and subsequent deterioration of the function of the brain. There are many speculations about the real causes of the disease but no real connection has been found between factors that may cause it and the disease itself. For now we cannot say that the disease itself is hereditary, but the studies among many families have shown that the prevalence for the disease can be hereditary. The research has also shown that most affected are Caucasian women between 15 and 35 years of age. That doesn’t mean that it cannot affect other races. Also, although black Africans have almost no MS, African Americans have incidence of MS that is very close to Caucasians. It is still thought that causes of multiple sclerosis are in the environment, so people living in the continental, European climate are more likely to get the disease then those living in other areas of the world, no matter what heir origin is. I can't tell you much about your chances for getting multiple sclerosis but the according to the research the possibility might be up to 20 %. If youre experiencing any symptoms of MS or have any other question about it be sure to consult your physician. So basically they dont know if it is or not.

Answer 6

We are constantly learning more about MS. MS is an autoimmune disease. The genetics part is that a parent may pass on the predisposition for an autoimmune disease to their child. Doesn't mean it will be passed on. Doesn't mean that if it is passed on that anything (like a virus) will ever trigger the autoimmune response.

That being said, if you have a family member with MS you have a higher chance of developing it than someone without MS in the family. But again, doesn't mean you will. One relative having it, you have about 1-3% chance. I have two relatives (mom and maternal aunt) so I had about 10% chance.

My insurance company was going to cover me, but they took over 3 mo. from the time they said they'd cover me until the they got me the paperwork, and in the mean time I was diagnosed with MS and they wouldn't take me.

Even though I am healthy with no detectable problems (I feel guilty when I got to neurologist), I can't get any coverage.  I finally signed up for accidental death coverage, since I'm more likely to die that way than from this disease.

While most places flat out say no (even though MS won't kill you), some places say they'll review you again in 3 years.  So I'll try back then <fingers-crossed>.