It is essential when applying for health insurance that you check all details of your policy. Particularly those that you think may come in useful in the future. For example, some health insurance companies will not cover you for alternative therapies and some incorporate a build your own type of policy where you can bring in aspects that suit your lifestyle, such as dentistry and optical care.



Many health insurance companies will not cover long term chronic conditions that may develop even after the policy was taken out. Illnesses such as diabetes, where care is costly and on-going, generally for the rest of the life span, may not be covered so it is worth checking out the small print of your policy and measuring it against your family history.

This is even more vital given that diabetes is on the increase in the UK to the point where we could be facing an epidemic of cases. A peak of diagnosed cases in the UK reached 2.5 million last year. With 167,000 new cases, this is double the increase of the previous year and this ushers in a worrying trend.

Experts from the charity Diabetes UK suggest this increase may be in line with a rise in the incidents of obesity. There is most definitely a link, say specialists. Nine out of ten diabetes sufferers have Type 2 which occurs when the body can no longer process blood sugar due to the pressures of being severely overweight. This leads to organ damage and years of ill health and is most definitely a thorn in the side of health insurance companies, hence their concern with insured parties maintaining a reasonable weight.

Taking out a health insurance policy in no way means that you can disregard lifestyle habits and the effect they have on your health. In fact, it should ensure that you take ever more care of yourself with a moderate exercise and diet regime to avoid long term health issues and high insurance premiums.

It is suspected that as many as half a million people in the UK could have Type 2 diabetes and not know about it. This figure is expected to double in the next two years and is putting immense strain on the NHS and the health of the nation. The issue is that it is so easily avoided with sensible eating patterns and a less sedentary lifestyle. Much of the increase has occurred in Scotland but this has been attributed to better recording of data. The problem is a nationwide one.

One of the things we can look out for is the symptoms of Syndrome X – better known as Metabolic Syndrome or Insulin Resistance Syndrome. They include an 'apple' shape to the body, where fat accumulates around the middle leading to the dreaded beer belly or muffin tops. Directly beneath this extra layer of fat are the liver and pancreas which are key to controlling sugar metabolism. Too much body fat in this area and the organs will initially cope by producing extra insulin but further pressure and functioning is impaired to the point of causing Type 2 diabetes.

As with many health issues, the most important thing we can do is to work out a diet and exercise regime that keeps us as healthy as possible, be aware of the signs and symptoms of common problems that mean early intervention could prevent years of illness and check out the small print in health insurance policies.