Contents insurance.....zzzzZZZZZ!

[Sugarbum]

Hi all,

Soooooooo sorry now that all my posts seem to be about pumping these days! I promise the next one will be some gossip!

Anyhooo....quick question, contents insurance- my DSN tells me to add my pump on to my contents insurance to be insurred in and out of the house to the value of ?4000. Easy, I thought.......hell no!

Can I find anyone who will insure any medical equiment more exciting than a hearing aid?! No. And that includes Diabetes UK insurance who seem to like mucking me about.

Can anyone shed some light on this rather dull subject (Im shooting myself for asking these dull questions already....!).

Greatly appreciated any help, have a good day all x

 

[aymes]

I know someone, I think it was Bev maybe, put a post on here about a week ago about a company that was insuring pumps as part of content insurance, I'll see if I can find it....

 

[aymes]

http://www.diabetessupport.co.uk/boards/showthread.php?t=1917&highlight=insurance

This was the post I was thinking of

 

[Sugarbum]

http://www.diabetessupport.co.uk/boards/showthread.php?t=1917&highlight=insurance

This was the post I was thinking of

Oh thats great, cheers Aymes!

You gotta laugh, thats my querie sorted in 4 minutes....is that a record?!?!

 

[aymes]

this board certainly is lively this morning!

 

[Sugarbum]

Hiya,

Just done a tesco quote and for contents only insuring the pump for only ?3000 costs ?257, which I think is pricey for my shoe box/1 bedroom flat.....so if anyone else knows of other companies please do let me know!

Thanks all x

 

[bev]

I will go and ask on the childrens forum for you. But what i dont understand is how can you insure something that you dont actually own? Surely if something went wrong with it the hospital would claim off the pump manufacturer? Its only a 'borrowed' item isnt it? Bev

 

[Sugarbum]

I will go and ask on the childrens forum for you. But what i dont understand is how can you insure something that you dont actually own? Surely if something went wrong with it the hospital would claim off the pump manufacturer? Its only a 'borrowed' item isnt it? Bev

Yes I agree Bev, and I must admit a grey area for me. My DSN said the pump company sort out any problems, defects etc but I dont think they replace it if broken and I think this is why I need the insurance. But I would be unlikely to make a claim for all that money if I never paid for it in the first place I think? Do you know what I mean Bev? Im a little confused!

 

[bev]

Perhaps if you made a claim they wouldnt actually give you the cash - they may just ask the manufacturer to replace it with like for like? I will ask hubby later he works for Zurich insurance! Bev

 

[Sugarbum]

Perhaps if you made a claim they wouldnt actually give you the cash - they may just ask the manufacturer to replace it with like for like? I will ask hubby later he works for Zurich insurance! Bev

BEV you are genius! Thank you for your help x

 

[Debz7172]

Hi, I've just registered on here to look for info about pumps, im seeing my pump nurse to discuss which one that I want on Fri, Ive just got my funding. She said that she will well get a letter done for my insurance company re insuring the pump. As far as Im aware the company who make the pump will replace it if it goes wrong etc but if it gets damaged by dropping or something its up to us to get it replaced!

 

[Einstein]

I will go and ask on the childrens forum for you. But what i dont understand is how can you insure something that you dont actually own? Surely if something went wrong with it the hospital would claim off the pump manufacturer? Its only a 'borrowed' item isnt it? Bev

Insurers aren't at all keen on insuring other peoples property other than that of the insured, especially the NHS's. This was ok with the previous hearing aids I had, the NHS buy them at ?65 each - my excess is ?500! However, the new ones have a cost price of ?2,300 each... and can't be insured too easily.

Guess I need to be very careful! Mind you, I can't hear any more with these in than without them - the idea is to give me a perspective of any sound that I might be able to hear but not make out what it is - vast amounts of inaudible noise in other words

The reason I was given was that if your house gets burgled and all your mates had left their jewelry at yours and oh, its gone too! It should be claimed on their insurance not yours.

Messy one especially with such small but critical pieces of equipment being mistaken in a hurry for an MP3 player or the like.

 

[bev]

I think you wear the pump 24 hours a day - so a bit hard to lose i would have thought! But what i dont understand is if you dont actually own the item -therefore you havent paid for it - how can you claim cash for it? 🙂 Bev

 

[Einstein]

I think you wear the pump 24 hours a day - so a bit hard to lose i would have thought! But what i dont understand is if you dont actually own the item -therefore you havent paid for it - how can you claim cash for it? 🙂 Bev

Well, I was wondering that. But when I spoke to one of the pump manufacturers a while ago they said something about selling you two pumps, but only charging you for one. As they figure I thought was ?2,000 I was thinking the NHS provided two, incase one fails...

I can't recall what the situation was with cochlear implants, obviously the bit inside your head only goes missing when you get kidnapped, but the external component, hmmm pass... as its the expensive bit at around ?7,000 plus - each side if you have two! Don't fancy explaining that to my insurers 😱

 

[bev]

Bit confused! (easily done) - but are you saying that the company actually provide you with 2 pumps and its up to the nhs if you actually get a spare or not? I know some people are fighting to get a spare pump and they would be horrified if they thought that they nhs were keeping one without their knowledge!Bev

 

[Einstein]

Bit confused! (easily done) - but are you saying that the company actually provide you with 2 pumps and its up to the nhs if you actually get a spare or not? I know some people are fighting to get a spare pump and they would be horrified if they thought that they nhs were keeping one without their knowledge!Bev

Bev, the NHS use very big purchasing sticks with the manufacturers, therefore, what we buy privately as and what the NHS buys at are completely different things.

The product maybe the same, but the price and package/deal isn't.

I think this manufacturer didn't have sufficient resource to be able to service the product nationwide and as such they covered themselves with supplying two, perhaps one was a long term loan unit. It was 3 years ago - at least.

With the NHS, I would have expected them to be able to provide an acceptable level of service to repair/replace defective units locally, e.g they buy 5% more units than they use to act as spares. Then they setup and out of hours service number to provide exchange pumps.

I am unsure what insulins a pump uses, if you can just put a novorapid cartidge in, or if there are specific insulins/cartridges for pumps. If it is purely novorapid then for the sake of a weekend it isn't the end of the world to use a pen, but if its different then switching insulins must be a real pain/worry.

This is all new, new ground to me.

 

[Mand]

We are just waiting to hear if my son is going to get a pump but if he does then apparantly the local health authority will actually own it but we have to insure it on our house insurance. If there is a manufacturing fault then the authority sort it out with the manufactures but if my son loses or breaks it or it is stolen then we have to claim on our house insurance.
We have not actually got one yet but this is my understanding. I phoned our house insurance company who said it could be added to our household insurance. As we are part way through our payment year they will not charge us extra but when we re-new our household insurance next year then it will increase slightly due to the pump. I heard that when someone else did this is cost them an extra ?6 a month on their household insurance.
All the above is only my understanding as we not got pump yet.

 

[Sugarbum]

We are just waiting to hear if my son is going to get a pump but if he does then apparantly the local health authority will actually own it but we have to insure it on our house insurance. If there is a manufacturing fault then the authority sort it out with the manufactures but if my son loses or breaks it or it is stolen then we have to claim on our house insurance.
We have not actually got one yet but this is my understanding. I phoned our house insurance company who said it could be added to our household insurance. As we are part way through our payment year they will not charge us extra but when we re-new our household insurance next year then it will increase slightly due to the pump. I heard that when someone else did this is cost them an extra ?6 a month on their household insurance.
All the above is only my understanding as we not got pump yet.

Its all so confusing isnt it?!

My DSN told me to insure the pump for ?4000, and I have read on 2 websites in the news today it is only worth ?2800! The premiums I will paying on a yearly basis for this make me wonder is it worth it? I have called several companies now, no-one will insure it (it doesnt fit in their criteria) and now at the lower price bracket I am wondering if it is worth it. I might wait until my pump comes next month and see what paperowrk comes with it. A warranty perhaps?

 

[Einstein]

It's down to the NHS to keep the pump operational during its working life and to then replace it when it is obsolete/beyond repair - the only gotcha here is if they claim when you get to 18 you don't need a pump that you had as a child.

If you damage the pump, loose it, or neglect it they are within their rights to expect you to pay for the repair/replacement of the pump. Clearly if its due to be replaced in 4 weeks time this would be harsh and unreasonable of them.

What is critical when obtaining quotations from insurers is to explain this item isn't owned by you, but by the NHS and is on long term permanent loan and the level of cover the NHS expects.

You may of course find that given at ?250 excess the repair on the pump is only ?140 as such the claim isn't worth it, as such you're paying for cover you probably won't need. But then, you can always save money by not insuring something, until you need to claim. It's all about risk.

I presume the PCT are more concerned about childrens units being insured as they are more likely to suffer the bumps and falls that adults won't experience - says he who fell four times this morning in the woods 🙄.

Other options to consider include an to approach the manufacturer of the pump and ask them if they have an insurance scheme, or know of one. Similarly Heath Lambert DUKs insurers may have a specific pump insurance plan.

The value of the unit needs to be obtained in writing from your PCT or Hospital - they will know how much they cost, otherwise you may well be insuring an item for considerably more than its replacement value and if it was you that gave that valuation to your insurers there may be nothing you can do to reduce your premium until the time your policy is due for renewal.