Are you covered?
Posted on behalf of Claire:
I was diagnosed with breast cancer just a couple of weeks before my 50th birthday. I wondered if my new wage insurance would cover me as I had only taken out the cover a few weeks before. The fact that it was eventually rejected wasn't my major gripe. It was that it took my insurer nine months to reject it, all the while I believed it was going to be paid.
It was eventually rejected because I had not ‘disclosed’ that I had been referred to a cardiologist 18 months earlier. The reason I had not ‘disclosed’ it was because
1) it didn't cross my mind and
2) the cardiologist reassured me that the reason for my referral was a "range of normal" and I did not need to see him again or take any medication.
Yet this was the reason I was stamped as uninsurable, although as I say, it took them nine months to decide this. Had I not contracted breast cancer, I might have gone on paying for this policy for a very long time, only to find that when needed, it was ruled as invalid.
I have learned two things from this:
1) If you want any kind of personal insurance get it before you even consider going for a check up, and
2) If you have been to your doctor for so much as indigestion, a headache, the flu etc, mark all visits on the application form. Your insurer will carry out a full examination of all your records and decide if you can be insured.
This would have been far less stressful for me than fighting a losing battle, especially when I had other, more important battles to fight. I am sure there are multitudes of seniors out there who think they are covered and may not be.
Have you had a similar experience to Claire?
I've worked for an income protection insurer, if you get knocked back you then need to seek legal advice or complain to the insurance ombudsman. They will often knock a claim if they think you won't fight it, but if you get a lawyer and go back they will back down. Not an ideal way of treating people especially people who pay to ensure they have something if they get sick but then that's why I don't work there anymore.