Hi there,
Just looking for a bit of advice and support. I am 31 and have had diagnosis of Chiari malformation since 2012. I am applying for PIP due to a sudden onset of symptoms since giving birth to my second child earlier in June. Was wondering if anyone has been through this process and can offer me some words of wisdom.
Any and all advice support is welcome
TIA x x
Hey Marelle,
I havenât responded earlier because Iâm in Australia and our health systems and insurance systems are very different in comparison to the U.K. and was hoping that someone with more relevant information may respond.
We do have something similar to PIP known as â3rd party insuranceâ but it is solely for motor vehicle accidents. Also because we have universal healthcare in Australia such insurance would not be required for Chiari, it would all be covered by our Medicare system.
As for words of wisdom (if you can call it âwisdomâ).
I have had the âjoyâ of dealing with an insurance company and they can be nothing short of nasty. If they can get away without paying, they will. They may try to discredit you and your symptoms. They may try to question the cause, affect and impact. They may try to send you to their own doctors who are sympathetic to the insurer and willing to minimise any concerns. DONâT LET THEM The best way I found to prevent them playing their games is to get ahead of them. Compile your own medical file with all of your scans, all of your reports, everything. This can shorten their processes, which can take months if you leave it all to the insurer.
I say all of this because initially I left it in the insurers hands and they had me running from one dr to the next, obtaining repeat reports over and over and ov⌠In the end I decided to get the lawyers involved and my only wish was that Iâd started the lawyer process sooner. They took care of it all. The insurer certainly didnât like the lawyers involvement, in fact, they tried to convince me not to use a lawyer at all. But I was sick and tired of trying to deal with them all on my own.
Hope it helps
Merl from the Modsupport Team
Hello Marelle
Welcome back to the community! . As supermoderator Merl mentioned (indirectly), we are an international forum, with a majority of our members in the USA. Iâm afraid most of the people who read your subject line (Chiari and PIP) wonât understand it. BUT if you explain a bit more, they may still have some valuable words of wisdom for you. Where I live, disability assistance is called ODSP. In the US, itâs SSDI. But there will be common themes (as Merl mentioned too) and general advice that you shouldnât miss.
My suggestion is to add âdisability assistanceâ or âdisability paymentsâ to your subject line. Although itâs different in every jurisdiction, there are some common themes and pieces of advice that you may get.
Iâll get the process started by improving your subject line. If you want to improve your post, click on the pencil icon
below your post, and edit away!
All the best to you.
Seenie from ModSupport
Hi Iâm from the uk and the social said I wasnât eligible for PIP as my symptoms wasnât severe enough.
I also ended up medically retired from my job due to symptoms of chiari. I can now claim ESA due to not being fit to work.
I have had issues of ESA and have been advised to try for new style ESA. So duno how this is gonna go.
Thank you for your replies x x