Hi All
Have been meaning to rise this as an issue for some time but now house insurance is up for renewal will share my experiences.
For those of us who still receive our TKIs as a 3 monthly batch that would for imatinib cost over £5K to replace plus any VAT if you are dispensed as an outpatient at an NHS run hospital pharmacy.
I ask the question where do you store these life saving drugs and what would you do if they were stolen or destroyed by fire or you lost them whilst on holiday away from home.Would the NHS replace them or if your targeted biological therapy supplied by a private health insurer would they fork out up to another £5k to replace them? You might assume that all would be covered on your household contents policy but beware because depending on insurer you could be in for a big surprise.
Some 9 years ago when trying to reinsure at a lower price I signed up with Saga Home Insurance and begged the question as long as I declare it as a single valuable item such as equivalent to a diamond ring then I presume that I would be covered-the reply came back we have never heard of this and anyway you could ask for another lot from the NHS was the response from some badly informed underwriter.So quick cancellation in the cooling off period and shopped around again.Basically most insurers could not deal with the query or did not want to.
I ended up with top of the range insurer Hiscox who advised that it might be an idea to store the drugs in a safe but would offer cover and they had received similar requests;in addition if taken overseas on holiday cover was available on an all risks basis.
Recently as economy drive I tried to shop around for similar cover from alternative insurers.My experience was John Lewis said all covered under unlimited house contents insurance but they would only cover me from entry to my house via a police approved key safe box for a neighbour not any carers for my partner so I gave them a miss.I tried Admiral as they are my car insurers but to my surprise they refused to cover my TKIs so could not go ahead despite the good premium and an extra discount as an existing customer for other insurance products with them.I cited the case of the £5 k diamond ring and yes this would be OK.The call centre agent said he would take it as an issue with his superiors but added we have only been in home insurance since 2012!
I went back with Hiscox home insurance which is not cheap.
So I would like to ask fellow CML suffers in UK have you ever had a loss with your TKI and how was it replaced?
Otherwise to all have you raised the issue with your insurer or do you just assume that you are covered?
Also in the event of a loss how would you be able to show that you would need to fund yourself to replace them and how would you claim?Would the insurer ask you to try in on with NHS first and so on.I suggest it could be a nightmare and you might be without medication for a while.
Look forward to your responses
Best wishes
John