Pre-existing conditions
Insurance policies provide cover against an unexpected event happening after the start of the policy. In health insurance this means cover for the cost of private medical treatment for unforeseen medical conditions arising after your policy starts.
Your policy is not intended to cover conditions or symptoms which you already have before your policy starts - these are called 'pre-existing conditions or symptoms'. Conditions which are related to pre-existing conditions or symptoms are also not usually covered. A related condition is one that is caused by, or could be the cause of, another condition.
Exeter Friendly Society prides itself on its fair and individual underwriting policy and endeavours to tailor the exclusions on related conditions according to the assessment of the individual risk. A good example of this is for hypertension where, unlike other insurers, we do not automatically exclude hypertension, strokes and Ischaemic Heart Disease, as these examples show:
Example 1
John is in his fifties and suffers from mild hypertension. This is controlled by one regular tablet that he takes on a daily basis to maintain the condition. John is a fit person who plays golf twice a week and also attends a gym. He is a non smoker who drinks occasionally.
John applies for a policy with Exeter Friendly Society via the full medical declaration. Having provided information on his application, the underwriting team are able to see that John has mild hypertension that is being well controlled. An exclusion is placed on the policy that only excludes any investigations and treatment of the hypertension itself by a GP or specialist but the policy will cover related conditions such as strokes and heart attacks.
Example 2
Janet is in her sixties and suffers from hypertension, taking two regular medications. She also suffers from angina, again requiring medication. She doesn't participate in any regular exercise and smokes 20 cigarettes a day.
Janet applies for a policy with Exeter Friendly Society via the full medical declaration. Having provided information on her application, the underwriting team are able to see that Janet has hypertension and angina and she doesn't do regular exercise and smokes on a daily basis. An exclusion is placed on the policy that excludes hypertension (as with John), but also excludes investigations and/or treatment of angina and strokes from cover.
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