dancing crane
02-14-2005, 12:31 AM
My sister has symptomatic HCM and I need to decide whether or not to get an ECHO for myself (59) and my daughter (20). We are both asymptomatic, and she is not an athlete, though she is active, dancing and gardening. Medically, we should do it: I gather that I have a 50-50 chance of it, and if I have it, she also has 50-50. But I am concerned about insurance. Page one of the health questionnaire in my state lists cardiomyopathy as one of the short list of items that throws you off the questionnaire immediately. In other words, either your rates will be higher or you could be denied coverage-- even if we are asymptomatic and may remain so. Especially for my daughter, who may very likely end up living in other states where she'll need coverage from different companies, or who may later in her young life decide to, or need to, go without insurance for a period of time then want it again.
If we have HCM, but no symptoms, what would we do differently in our lives, and why not just take those precautions anyway, and save ourselves the insurability stigma of the "diagnosis"?
If we have HCM, but no symptoms, what would we do differently in our lives, and why not just take those precautions anyway, and save ourselves the insurability stigma of the "diagnosis"?