Life insurance for people with Type 1 diabetes.

23 June 2010
17 Comments

A reader contacted me to ask me about life insurance for us T1s recently, so I contacted my insurance adviser to find out what the story is (I know I have life insurance but I also have a million other types of insurance seemingly, even pet insurance – so I struggle to recall what cost is what, etc).

His response:

The answer is that basically insurers will only look at life insurance for Type 1s.  Not Income Protection, Trauma, Permanant Disablement etc.

The average loading is 350% – that is 3.5 times the premium if it was at standard rates. Your loading is exactly that. The loadings can get much higher if there are complications or lack of control, and…

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By Nic on 23 June 2010 at 9.56 am
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Carb count question, plus good news!

22 June 2010
20 Comments

…. just a quickie for you all. One of our readers wants to know what you should bolus for for mandarins and feijoas…. what sort of carb count are you all using, please?

The good news is… Michelle (who did a guest blog last week) gave birth to a healthy baby boy last week, Tyler Murray. Congratulations from all of us, Michelle!! Tyler was 10 pounds 7 ounces. I wanted to make note of his weight because Michelle had HbA1cs in her pregnancy of around 6, so ladies – don’t beat yourselves up if your baby gets bigger, there is only so much of this condition we can fight…. even if you…

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By Nic on 22 June 2010 at 9.14 am
Posted in Food
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The differences between T1 and T2.

21 June 2010
6 Comments

I came across this article last week and it made me wonder why I’d never thought of putting such a chart together myself… would be sooooo useful when people start banging on about their grandmother or uncle who has ‘diabetes’ which turns out to by type 2!

Chart pasted below, but please refer to the original article for the full context.

Characteristics of Disease
Type 1
Type 2

Risk Factors

Very Different
Having a parent or sibling with type 1. Having another autoimmune condition. Environmental factors like stress or exposure to toxins. Possibly drinking cow’s milk in infancy.
Poor diet.…

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By Nic on 21 June 2010 at 10.11 am
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Aaron: Who wants to be a…?

18 June 2010
13 Comments

I can’t take any credit at all for the topic of this post because I stole the idea directly from a comment made by James on the post about my pending CGMS initiation where there was some banter about T1’s flying microlights in NZ being legal which got me thinking…..

…what jobs can’t diabetics do in NZ?

I don’t know about the actual legalities of all of the list below but I can imagine that there would be a few issues with:

Pilots (not microlights though!)
Professional drivers (freight etc)
Surgeons?
Police officers?
Fireman/firewoman (professional)
Air traffic controller?

That’s just the first few that came to mind but does anyone actually know what the deal is with…

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By Aaron on 18 June 2010 at 9.30 am
Posted in Work
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Yay!! Jenna got her wig.

17 June 2010
1 Comment

Ahhhh this is the best news I’ve heard in a long time. Little Jenna, whom I did a post on last week (T1 preschooler, about to go to school, also has alopecia and needed a specially made wig which would cost several thousand dollars) has raised enough money to get said wig. I am so happy for her and I really, really wish her all the best.

BeingDiabetic readers who gave a donation: well done. Jenna: enjoy school!

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By Nic on 17 June 2010 at 8.41 pm
Posted in Community, Funding
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