If you've searched the net for private health insurance that covers chronic myeloid leukaemia then you are probably for looking for established UK based health insurance companies that will cover your chronic myeloid leukaemia.
Our advice when looking for private medical insurance that covers chronic myeloid leukaemia is to speak to a health insurance broker. Health insurance is incredibly complex and if you want absolute certainty that chronic myeloid leukaemia is covered by your policy you should consult with a broker who can explain which policy providers will cover this medical condition and which will exclude it.
There are many advantages to using a broker but the biggest by far is that you're using their insurance training 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 services.
- Do you reside in many different postcodes? 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 insurance policies?
- You've developed a certain medical condition and want to know which policy provider offers the biggest 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 chronic myeloid leukaemia, 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 health insurance broker which will know which providers on the market cover chronic myeloid leukaemia and under what terms they do or don't cover it.
Chronic Myeloid Leukaemia Information
Leukaemia is cancer of the white blood cells. Chronic leukaemia means the condition progresses slowly over many years. Chronic leukaemia is classified according to the type of white blood cells that are affected by cancer. There are two main types:
These pages focus on chronic myeloid leukaemia, which is a cancer of the myeloid cells. The following other types of leukaemia are covered elsewhere:
Your bone marrow produces stem cells. These are unique cells because they have the ability to develop into three important types of blood cell:
In leukaemia, a genetic mutation in the stem cells causes a huge over-production of white blood cells and a corresponding drop in red blood cells and platelets.
It's this lack of red blood cells which causes symptoms of anaemia, such as tiredness, and the lack of platelets that increases the risk of excessive bleeding.
In its early stages, chronic myeloid leukaemia usually causes no noticeable symptoms. As the condition develops, symptoms include:
Read more about the symptoms of chronic myeloid leukaemia
Chronic myeloid leukaemia is quite a rare type of cancer. Around 8,600 people are diagnosed with leukaemia every year in the UK. In 2011, around 680 people in the UK were diagnosed with chronic myeloid leukaemia.
Chronic myeloid leukaemia can affect people of any age, but it is more common in people aged 40-60. There is no evidence that it runs in families.
The outlook for chronic myeloid leukaemia depends to a large extent on how well a person responds to medication.
Most patients (60-65%) do well on imatinib tablets, which are taken every day for life.
For those who don't do well on imatinib, more than half respond to one of the alternative drugs. Nilotinib is recommended by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) for patients with chronic myeloid leukaemia who are not responding to, or can't tolerate imatinib.
Those who fail these drugs or cannot tolerate them may be offered a bone marrow transplant if this is a suitable treatment.
Read more about the treatment of chronic myeloid leukaemia
If the condition is diagnosed early (the chronic phase), the outlook is excellent, with almost 90% of people living at least five years after diagnosis.