EVERYDAY AGEISM

It’s the last tolerated prejudice. But Femail’s had enough. It’s time we called out those day-to-day moments when we’re patronised for no longer being young...

FIRST-world problem alert. Don’t get me wrong, I feel lucky, very, very lucky, to be able to afford private health insurance in these pandemic-ridden times.

But my goodness, do health insurance premiums rocket when you hit a certain age.

Life insurance rockets too, doubling every five years after you hit 60. I get it. The older you get the more prone you are to disease (and, er, death). Us old folk is how these companies make money, duh.

That said, having just had to go to hospital for endometrial cancer, I know my premium is going to be through the roof on the next round. So much so, I may do what a number of friends are doing — which is to axe the policy and put what I would pay for health insurance in a separate account to use only when I become ill (or have fun with it in the future, if I don’t). Is it Pollyannaish to think that if enough of us do this, health insurance firms might start taking note?

Or should I suck it up, be thankful that car insurance premiums go down, and just accept that it is expensive being old?