The British Heart Foundation has unvelied a new report “Couch Kids – the nation’s future” which indicates that children are still not getting a sufficient level of exercise.

The report states that despite efforts to improve child exercise levels, a high number of young people across the UK are not reaching the 60 minutes target exercise each day.

Figures revealed for England as an example shoe that 15% of boys and 19% of girls aren’t even exercising for 30 minutes a day.

You can read more on the conclusions of the report at the British Heart Foundation website, where you can also download the report in full from here.

What is your opinions on this report? Why are children still not getting the levels of exercise they need?

The health and wellbeing of our children is a vital aspect of family life, and choosing a child health insurance policy can be rather difficult.

In common with any other type of health insurance policy, the reasons for taking out a childrens medical insurance policy are varied. However, many of the leading health insurance companies will offer policies that are directly tailored to aid you in any situation where your child requires healthcare.

Common options which you should look out for include:

• Consultations with a specialist before diagnosis
• Tests to diagnose your child’s condition
• Treatment in a Private hospital, such as surgery
• Some insurers will pay for you to stay with your child at the hospital where they are being treated (if they are under 11)
• Private treatment such as radiotherapy, chemotherapy and CT, MRI and PET scans
• Plus other benefits such as parental accommodation and private ambulances

These are some of the main considerations when choosing an ideal health insurance policy for you child.

Childrens Health Insurance

We would like to point our readers in the direction of an interesting article from leading US News website salon.com entitled, ‘British like their healthcare, don’t care what you think‘. There is currently a huge debate underway in the US regarding reform of their healthcare system, President Obama has pledged to get a reform bill through congress by the end of the year (he identified healthcare reform as a key policy area during his campaign). The US does not have a universal system of healthcare coverage, instead the burden is on the individual to obtain health insurance. Most US citizens get coverage through their employers, whereas others must sign up for private healthcare shemes.

With this in mind, the Salon.com article and many others have been outlining the differences between the US and UK Healthcare systems, as well as the pros and cons of each. As the Salon article describes, a number of Republican thinkers including The GOP have been deriding the UK healthcare system as unworkable and dangerous, using such taglines as:

Go on the government’s dime for medicine, and you’ll die waiting for that easy surgery!

There are also complete falsehoods and scare stories:

In Great Britain, individuals lose their right to make their own health care choices.

This proves that The GOP has completely failed to understand UK health system. That we have a choice is the whole point of our system – its not perfect but it works. You can use the NHS for free, however, if you wish to pay for private health insurance cover and treatment then that is fine – you decide.

We hope that the US manages to at least lay the groudwork for a more balanced system by the end of 2009.

Swiss Health Insurance

The people of Switzerland throughout plans aimed at trying to bring down the high rising costs of health insurance. It was thought that the country would be turning a new corner and ending the days of consistently high health insurance quotes. A staggering 70% of the voting population voted against the new single means tested system that was widely regarded as the best way forward.

Since 1990 the country has seen health insurance costs rise by an average of 2.5% each year. The new proposals would have meant that there would have been a single health insurance cost that would help out the elderly and chronically ill, who have been hit hard with the yearly increases over the years.

The Foods Standards Agency has published its review of Organic Food (primarily concetrating on nutritional aspects) ad it doesn’t make for particularly happy reading for Organic evengelists.

The report concludes that Organic Food has (quoted):

no important differences in the nutrition content, or any additional health benefits …… when compared with conventionally produced food

Gill Fine, the Director of Consumer Choice and Dietary Health outlined the principal findings of the report and what they mean for us as consumers.

Ensuring people have accurate information is absolutely essential in allowing us all to make informed choices about the food we eat. This study does not mean that people should not eat organic food. What it shows is that there is little, if any, nutritional difference between organic and conventionally produced food and that there is no evidence of additional health benefits from eating organic food.

The Agency supports consumer choice and is neither pro nor anti organic food. We recognise that there are many reasons why people choose to eat organic, such as animal welfare or environmental concerns. The Agency will continue to give consumers accurate information about their food based on the best available scientific evidence.

So, it’s over to you – What are your views on organic foods after this report – fill in our survey!

You can download a PDF of the full FSA Report on organic food here: (http://www.food.gov.uk/multimedia/pdfs/organicreviewreport.pdf).

What conditions does your policy cover your for?

Acute Medical Conditions

The purpose of a private health insurance policy is primarily to help you deal with acute conditions. These can be broadly defined as  illnesses of injuries that a sudden and unexpected and require a rapid response through medical treatment. Your health insurance policy will cover you for these conditions, that are proven to respond to medical treatment. Examples of acute conditions could be an accident causing a broken bone or an Asthma Attack.

Chronic Medical Conditions

Chronic illnesses fall into one or more of the categories listed below.  If your illness falls into any of these sections your pre-existing condition will be deemed to be chronic in nature.

• Your condition requires ongoing monitoring through consultations, examinations, check-ups, and tests
• Requires ongoing or long-term control or relief of symptoms
• You to be specially trained to cope with your rehabilitation
• Your coindition continues indefinitely
• There is no known cure for your condition
• The condition comes back or is likely to return

Usually it is the case that if you have a previous medical condition before your private health insurance cover starts, then your policy will not be cover you.

Hopefully this has helped to clear up some of the issues regarding acute and chronic medical conditions in health insurance policies.

Scottish Widows Health Insurance Claims

Sottish Widows

Claims for critical illness details have been released from Scottish widows, there was over £28,000,000 in claims for critical illness from November 2007 through till October 2009, on average this works out to be around £543,000 per month.

Claims that have been turned down for non-disclosure has dropped down by 3% on the previous year from 5% till 2%, this is now the third year in a row where there has been a welcomed decrease in this area.

In the year 2008 the main three claims made where from cancer, stroke or heart related incidents. 48 years was the average age of male claimants and the women’s average age were three years younger at 45 years of age.

The cost of Private health Insurance in the UK remains to be affordable and with a wide choice of packages and competition, this will ensure that patients benefit the most.

We have the NHS – So why go private?

This is one of the most common quandries that people from the UK have when it comes to deciding on whether or not to take out a private health insurance policy: Whats the point in paying for private medical cover when i can get care for free on the NHS?

NHS under strain

The NHS was founded over 60 years ago, based upon the laudable premise of providing free healthcare for all, private healthcare evolved along side this as many wished to have an alternative to the public service. Since this period there has been a shift in UK demographics. Increased life expectancy (thanks partly to the NHS)  has meant that the population of over-65s – whom place the greatest pressure on the NHS – has doubled. Since 1950 the proportion of elderly in the UK has risen from 8% in 1950, 11% in 2007  and it is projected to reach 22% in 2050. See here for a detailed breakdown of these statistics.

Government policies and targets throughout the years have placed NHS staff under intense pressure to deliver. As a result, of this the quality of care has been compromised, and many mistakes have been made. Evidence of this can be seen in the appalling levels of care at certain NHS hospitals and the rise of ‘superbugs’ such as MRSA and C.Diff.

There are certain circumstances where NHS care still prevails. For example, private health cover should not be seen as an alternative to the NHS for emergency care situations – private health institutions are not equipped to deal with these scenarios.

Private Health Insuance helps you take control

The strain that the NHS is under is negated by paying for a private health care policy. The principal benefit of private health insurance is that you are effectively eliminating any of the possible risks and inconveniences of NHS treatment, and guaranteeing a significantly higher quality of healthcare. Many of the latest advanced medical treatments and technologies are only available through private healthcare, the NHS just cannot stretch to cover these innovations.

Private health insurance cover empowers you with the ability to take control of your own medical treatment, insuring prompt diagnosis and the choice of when and where you receive any operation or treatment that you may require.

As you can imagine, private medical insurance industry is big business. There are a number of very large companies vying for your business. Fortunately, many of them now offer a broad range of policies, so there should be a policy that will suit your personal circumstances. There are now over 7 million people in the UK covered by health insurance.

As usual in May there has been no shortage of both serious, weird and wonderful health news.

Here are some of our top health stories so far this May.

• Man Flu: Real of Myth – Many of our female readers have probably asked themselves this question numerous times. This informative article from NHS choices has an interesting analysis of the man-flu phenomenon.
• Study says beautiful people earn more – United Press International reports that the improved confidence that beautiful people have from their looks propels them into the top jobs.
• Mobile Phone Technology Combats Swine Flu – The Palm blog details how advanced mobile technology could soon be used in the fight against future viral outbreaks, such as Swine Flu.
• World’s Oldest Mother at Age 66 – Of course, we would never be judgemental about this but when her kids are 16 she’ll be 82.
• Drinking in the UK: An exploration of trends – Fade Libraray post on the situation regarding alcohol use in the UK, with links to the latest study from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation.
• Prepare for a heatwave, UK told – the latest data seems to point to a very hot summer – with all the associated health risks. This BBC article has some excellent tips on staying cool.

These are just a selection of our May health stories – any that you could share would be gratefully accepted!

Getting Affordable Medical Insurance Quotes

Is it as easy as they say?

With all the television adverts – advertising that getting a quote is as easy as one two three, I had never done an on-line quote before so I decided to put them to the test, I will go through the top four health insurance companies and see how easy it really is to go one, two three.

• Bupa – confusing, you click the get a quote button and it takes you into a page offering 5 choices, I don’t know what one to go with so I click a random one, it now takes me to a page with a hole lot more links explaining different charges. At the bottom it points to a phone number saying get a quote. ultimately I am confused and still don’t know what to get or how much anything costs, outcome = thumbs down.
• healthinsurance.co.uk – This is an on-line abrogator that finds you the best deal, it claims it only takes 1 minute to fill in a form and get a quote, sounds good and to start with it is good, I fill in the form, At this stage I am happy with how things are going then when I hit the button wham, nothing happens, I go and check my email account and they have sent me an email explaining how they are going to help through every stage, once again I don’t know anything about prices, packages, outcome = thumbs down.
• AXA PPP Healthcare – Walla, nice and simple, I clicked into the get a quote link, it took me to page where there was a selection of about 5 questions with two answers to each question , I navigated through them, filled out my details page, another 2 questions with two answers to each of them (multiple choice), wam bam thank you mam, £19.20 per month, I am not sure what the policy covers (but it does say) as like the rest of the tests I just pressed buttons to try and get to the end, and I have to say I am impressed, outcome = thumbs up.
• PRU – another well done to the PRU, just like AXA PPP Healthcare they had a quick questioner, each question was a yes or no answer and then it went to the details page, filled that in and wham bam thank you mam, we have a range of 5 monthly payment options with different covers attached to each.