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An Irish insurance company has highlighted the importance of providing life cover for people with Hepatitis C and HIV.

Eagle Star Life was recently approved for Ireland’s Hepatitis C Insurance Scheme, operated by the country’s Health Service Executive.

Introduced after a campaign by support groups including the Irish Haemophilia Society and the Irish Kidney Association, the insurance scheme is intended to help people with medical conditions that would otherwise hinder their attempts to get cover.

"Eagle Star has committed to this innovative scheme to help provide valuable and essential life insurance cover to those who would otherwise find such cover unavailable or prohibitively expensive," confirmed Michael Brennan, Eagle Star Life’s chief executive.

Mr Brennan added that the inability to get affordable insurance, or any insurance at all, has long been recognised as a barrier to normal living and working for those with medical conditions such as Hepatitis C and/or HIV.

Ireland’s insurance scheme aims to enable people eligible for life cover and mortgage protection to take out such policies as if they were not in fact living with a medical condition.

The Insurance Helpline specialises in obtaining cover for people living with medical conditions

People with arthritis may find it easier to get insurance as a new drug for the condition has been granted approval.

The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice) advised adalimumab as an option for adults with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) who have already trialled two disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs.

Andrew Dillon, the chief executive of Nice, pointed out that the approval of the drugs, known as anti-TNF medication, is "good news" for sufferers of RA.

"By recommending the use of these drugs, people in England and Wales with this condition have access to effective treatments when they need them," Mr Dillon commented.

Nice has ruled however that treatment with the medication should only continue if there is sufficient response after six months.

Campaigners from Arthritis Care welcomed the new guidelines, with the charity’s head of policy campaigns highlighting that sufferers should have "the widest choice of proven treatments available".

"These drugs are life changing, and in some cases life saving," said Abigail Page.

More than seven million adults in the UK - 15 per cent of the population - have long-term health problems because of arthritis and related conditions, with obesity a major risk factor for those with osteoarthritis of the knee.

The Insurance Helpline specialises in obtaining cover for people living with medical conditions