in association with


www.insurancewith.com


Insurance witha bedside manner


nsurance broker Fiona Macrae was diagnosed with breast cancer in February 2005 when her son Cameron was just five months old. She endured eight cycles of chemotherapy, and on completion, what better than to take a holiday with her family to recuperate?


I


What do you know? As soon as she tried to obtain insurance, travel insurers simply didn’t want to know. The premiums superseded the cost of the holiday. And she also reports that the industry’s ‘bedside manner’ was sadly lacking, with distressing, personal and intrusive questions presented very insensitively.


After 20 years in the business, a different kind of determination now prompted Fiona to do something to change this situation, and enable people with an experience like her own to access affordable holiday insurance for pre-existing medical conditions.


And that’s where


Insurancewith comes in - a travel insurance product for people with pre-existing medical conditions. See www.insurancewith.com But this was not her first foray into this sector. In 2006 she founded Insurepink, a facility offering affordable travel insurance for those diagnosed with primary breast cancer. “From working with the breast cancer community I discovered the major threat is the possibility of secondary breast cancer where it spreads to other parts of the body, and is incurable. Breast cancer is different to other types of cancer whereby there is no magic five years where - if it doesn’t come back - you are cured. Unfortunately breast cancer can come back at any time after the initial diagnosis. And because secondary breast cancer is a terminal condition it’s very difficult to find affordable travel insurance.” It’s possible the ‘treating customers fairly’ and the


Windscreens going to have on the motor market? Early days of course, but in the short term the extra workload will fall on the remaining major windscreen companies of which Autoglass is the largest. Customer service levels will obviously come under threat, until the gearing up for the extra volume is complete. Observers will be watching the extent to which insurers will


Whither windscreen cover? W


hat sort of impact is the apparent demise of Auto


Fiona Macrae with son Cameron


Aldermanbury Declaration regimes may one day catch up to address this particular aspect of professionalism in the insurance industry. But meantime something always seems to be lacking when underwriters react in fear, and pull down the shutters. Or hope the enquiry will go away if they simply quote a ridiculous premium.


“The perception of ‘terminal cancer’ does frighten the majority of underwriters,” adds Fiona Macrae. “But what’s needed is a better


understanding of the condition.


Many people live for 10 or 20 years after being diagnosed with secondary cancer. They will never be cured, but it can be treated.


“So Insurancewith sets out to apply this better


understanding of the risk, and to rate it accordingly. And we don’t just cover breast cancer, but all conditions. By using the same model, we obtain a fuller understanding of the respective condition by working with the charities who support it. And we donate to those charities through the sales of the policies. We currently support several charities for cancer; cystic fibrosis; diabetes; and Genetic Alliance UK who are an umbrella charity that lobby and offer support for over 130 smaller charities who support people with rare genetic conditions.” A recent sign-up for support is the Haven breast cancer support centre charity www.thehaven.org.uk


Insurancewith is a trading name of Infinity Insurance Solutions, a division of Travel Insurance Facilities Group. Of particular market interest is the news that Insurancewith also offers brokers a facility to place one-off business for any travel insurance cases they have difficulty in placing.


See www.insurancewith.com


be affected by the near monopoly that could be enjoyed by Autoglass, and the extent to which others such as National Windscreens and possibly, in time, AA AutoWindshields will be encouraged to compete. Market feeling suggests insurers may use this opportunity to revisit their stance on automotive glass. Look out for an increase in the windscreen excess!


MARCH 2011 insurancepeople 5


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