Does Health Insurance Cover Liver Cirrhosis?

Most of us strive to adopt healthy habits and make better lifestyle choices to ensure a healthy body and mind. Some resort to yoga, weight lifting, and cardio while others like to indulge in activities like dancing and aerobics. Lifestyle choices make a huge impact on our health, positive as well as negative. One of the negative effects birthed from unhealthy lifestyle choices is liver cirrhosis. Liver cirrhosis is a very serious illness categorized as one of the many critical illnesses. As expected, the treatment is expensive and recovery can be slow. Let’s see what liver cirrhosis actually is and how can health insurance in Dubai help you in dealing with it.

What is Liver Cirrhosis?

The final stage of liver disease, liver cirrhosis is an illness that causes permanent damage to the liver by scarring the liver tissue. It is a life-threatening disease and can only be treated with a transplant. Inflammation is the first stage of liver disease where the gland inflames due to several factors like alcohol poisoning or excessive fat composition. An inflamed liver is often referred to as fatty liver. The second stage is fibrosis when the scarring of the liver begins. The healthy tissues of the inflamed liver begin to scar slowly. Cirrhosis comes as the third stage when the scarred tissues have developed enough to prevent the liver from functioning. There is one more stage – End-Stage Liver Disease or ESLD. This stage of damage cannot be reversed and can only be treated by a full transplant.

Does Health Insurance Cover Liver Cirrhosis?

Health insurance plans in their basic form may not cover liver cirrhosis or end-stage liver disease. However, several critical illness health insurance plans offer cover for both these conditions. The coverage level of your critical health insurance in Dubai decides what and how many critical illnesses are covered by it. The most comprehensive plans would cover a maximum of 36-38 critical illnesses only which are pre-specified in the policy wordings. Liver cirrhosis and end-stage liver disease are often covered by the most comprehensive critical illness plans only. Some basic health insurance plans with a wide coverage scope may also offer a few benefits for liver cirrhosis treatment.

What are the Symptoms of Liver Cirrhosis?

Basic or early symptoms of chronic liver failure can include excessive fatigue, nausea and vomiting, abdominal discomfort, and loss of appetite. The symptoms for advanced liver damages can be yellowish skin aka jaundice, easy bleeding and bruising of the body, feeling of disorientation or confusion, build-up of fluid in arms and legs, dark urine, itchy skin, nose bleeding, sudden weight loss, and loss of appetite.

Major Causes of Liver Cirrhosis

Liver cirrhosis causes can of multiple natures. Given below are some of the main causes of live cirrhosis:

• Hepatitis B or Hepatitis C infection
• Alcoholic damage
• Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease
• Autoimmune diseases like Hepatitis
• Diseases that block bile ducts such as cholangitis

Treatment Course of Liver Cirrhosis

Mild liver damages can be treated with simple lifestyle changes only such as a balanced diet, exercise, abstinence from alcohol, and avoiding medications. However, liver cirrhosis being a higher level of damage, lifestyle changes alone can not reverse the damage. Depending on the severity of the damage, you may have to get the damaged tissues replaced with healthy tissue or have a complete liver transplant. Once the damaged tissues have been removed successfully, the liver can heal and regenerate over time, slowly. However, exceptional levels of precautions are required for that phase as well.

What is Covered by Health Insurance?

When talking about basic health insurance in Dubai that cover liver damage, you can mostly count on getting the essential benefits like hospitalization expenses, daycare services, etc. if it is a critical illness health insurance plan we are talking about, you will be compensated with a lump sum amount that can be used to cover the cost of liver cirrhosis or end-stage liver disease treatment. It is a basic reimbursement or compensation style settlement where you get the amount agreed upon after submitting the required paperwork. The policyholder can use the received sum of money as they see fit.

What are the Exclusions?

The exclusions for health insurance in Dubai that covers liver cirrhosis generally depend on the plan itself. Some may come with sub-limits for the individual benefits while others may have limitations like a waiting period. Common exclusions for all basic health insurance plans and critical illness plans offering liver cirrhosis benefits can be – self-inflicted injuries, illnesses because of substance abuse, injuries due to war or a state of war, and obesity treatments. Some health insurance plans in Dubai that you come across may reject the claims for liver diseases altogether. This is often because liver damage is self-inflicted or self-obliged damage. Make sure that there are no such conditions in your health insurance plan.

Preventing Liver Cirrhosis

Liver cirrhosis can be prevented like most diseases. Given below are some practices one can adopt to make sure that liver cirrhosis doesn’t become a part of their lives:

• Consume alcohol in a moderate amount only.
• Do not take excessive medications since the liver works to synthesize most.
• Mixing medications should also be avoided as well as mixing them with alcohol.
• Get a vaccine for Hepatitis A and B. Opt for regular exams and consultations with your doctor.
• Maintain a healthy diet and get regular exercise as well.

In a Nutshell

Liver cirrhosis is one of the most fatal diseases which is covered by health insurance in Dubai. However, it is best to rely on preventive measures and ensure your liver stays healthy. Many bodily functions depend completely on the liver which makes it a vital organ not to mention, the biggest gland in our body. If you have a family history of liver damage, make sure you are covered by insurance beforehand. Choose your plan carefully and go for the one that comes with all the necessary coverage elements. You will most probably have to opt for the most comprehensive critical illness health insurance plans to get liver cirrhosis covered.

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