If you've searched the web for private medical insurance that covers congenital heart disease then you are most likely for looking for trusted UK based health insurance providers that will cover congenital heart disease.
Our advice when shopping around for health insurance that covers congenital heart disease is to speak to a insurance broker. Health insurance is incredibly complicated and if you want complete certainty that congenital heart disease is covered by your policy you should talk with a broker who can explain which policy providers will cover this medical condition and which will not.
There are many advantages to using a insurance broker but the largest by far is that you're using their expertise at no cost. They are paid by the insurer (Aviva or Bupa etc) rather than by you so it costs you no extra to use their brokering services.
- Do you reside in many different areas? Some will give you a cheaper premium than offers. A insurance broker will be able to advise whats best.
- Do you have a hobby that may invalidate your insurance claim? A broker will know this critical information.
- If you are a couple and one of you has claimed on your policy this year would it be cheaper to separate you both onto two different policies?
- You've developed a certain condition and want to know which insurer offers the largest amount of cover for it. A broker will know this instantly saving you huge amounts of time and effort.
You can call around every medical insurance provider you can find and ask if they cover congenital heart disease, however this will be a very time consuming process. Each insurer will ask for your medical history because its not normally a simple yes or not if a medical condition is covered or not.
Its far far quicker to speak to one medical insurance broker which will know which providers on the market cover congenital heart disease and under what terms they do or don't cover it.
Congenital Heart Disease Information
Congenital heart disease is a general term used to refer to a series of birth defects that affect the heart.
There are over 30 different types of heart defect.
The two main types of congenital heart disease are:
Cyanotic heart is where problems with the heart mean there isn't enough oxygen present in the blood.
Babies born with cyanotic heart disease generally have a blue-coloured tinge to areas such as their fingers, toes and lips because of a lack of oxygen.
They may also experience symptoms of:
Acyanotic heart disease is where the blood contains enough oxygen but it's pumped abnormally around the body.
Babies born with acyanotic heart disease may not have any apparent symptoms but, over time, the condition can cause health problems.
In this group of conditions there can be a significant increase in blood pressure, putting the heart under more strain as it works much harder. This can weaken the heart, and increases the risk of developing heart failure, where the muscle is unable to efficiently pump blood around the body.
In addition, the blood pressure in the lungs is often too high. This is known as pulmonary hypertension and can damage the lungs and cause symptoms such as:
Congenital heart disease is the most common type of birth defect, with 1 in 180 babies being born with the condition.
Some babies born with congenital heart disease will require immediate surgery after birth, while many others will probably require surgery or medication at some point during their childhood.
Congenital heart disease can sometimes develop alongside certain genetic conditions, such as Down’s syndrome.
An infection during pregnancy, such as rubella, can also cause congenital heart disease.
However, many cases of congenital heart disease have no clear cause.