I cannot recommend Tania, Dean, and the team at BRAVEday enough.
Once I started full time work in my 20's, I met with Dean to discuss my insurance needs. He comprehensively broke down the best insurance types and policy options for myself and my partner and explained everything so thoroughly. This was brilliant because once my policies were in place, I knew what I was paying for and had a great understanding of my insurance.
I never would have anticipated being diagnosed with cancer in my 30's. It was a huge shock, and those first few weeks after were incredibly stressful - full of phone calls, appointments, tests, scans. Not only are you dealing with very scary news, but you are completely overwhelmed with administration, daunting medical procedures, treatment, and financial decisions to be made, people to talk to, as well as speaking with and updating friends and family. It was chaotic and frightening.
I can honestly say that having Tania, Dean, and the team at BRAVEday to help was invaluable. Not only was I pleased to have great insurance in place, but the process was significantly less stressful because I had BRAVEday to assist me through and organise my claims. I cannot imagine how much more difficult this would have been without the support, kindness, and guidance they were able to provide.
Through my insurance, my partner and I had so many more choices than we would have had otherwise. We were able to use some of our trauma benefit towards fertility preservation to give us the choice to expand our family in the future, an option that was not publicly funded in my case. Time was absolutely of the essence with this, as I had to decide to go ahead before immediately starting chemotherapy - Tania arranged everything so quickly, told me exactly the documents I needed to fill out and spoke directly with my insurer, crucially freeing up my time for other matters and ensuring the claim came through very quickly.
Additionally, some chemotherapy agents are non-PHARMAC funded and not covered by all insurance policies. This is something that was brought to my attention in those initial meetings with Dean, which I would have had no knowledge about had I obtained insurance on my own. I was very grateful and relieved to know I had cover for this and therefore the best treatments available to me after I received my diagnosis.
Throughout over a year of treatment Tania has been amazing. Always prompt with her communication, easy to get a hold of and incredibly knowledgeable. She has also checked in to see how I am doing, prompted us with documents and actions needed, provided words of kindness, and even sent flowers after milestone parts of my treatment. I have felt so supported and taken care of throughout, and it truly has been a weight off my mind and given us one less thing to organise so I can focus on my health and time with my family.
Being diagnosed with a life-threatening illness is terrifying, but I am such an advocate for having an amazing insurance broker like BRAVEday in your corner. To anyone reading this I cannot recommend them highly enough. They have literally changed the trajectory of our lives with their outstanding advice, care, and customer service.
Thank you BRAVEday, from the bottom of my heart.
Phoebe