Hi all, just back from our bank (Lloyds) hoping to use the holiday insurance cover our account allows but as my condition (AF) isnt on the list of existing conditions, the young man rang up the insurance section of the bank and put me on for an assessment. Due to the fact that I am waiting to see an EP at Liverpool Heart and Lung hospital (10th May) for further investigation and possibility of ablation, they will not cover me. So its back to the drawing board. I`m sure others have had the same but its no nice to be turned down.
Pat
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ruskin10
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If you do shop around you MUST tell the next company about this refusal to cover (it doesn't matter that it is an existing policy) because the insurance companies share information and you don't want to be caught out in the event of a claim.
If you are waiting for a diagnosis or assessment you can't get travel insurance. You could risk you holiday without insurance. Once you have the diagnosis, then you can be accepted for travel insurance.
I'm afraid this is the norm. It is so important that you do disclose details of further investigations , appointments pending etc. If you do have to make a claim the insurance co will go through your medical records with a fine tooth comb and will use any excuse not to pay up.
Absolutely true. They will contact your GP and get every referral, sometimes as far back as 30 years or so and then contact the respective hospitals and consultants. That is why it is imperative that if you have something wrong you write in and challenge it and insist that the medic writes back.
For instance about 12 years ago I went to a private hospital for an early afternoon appointment re my eyes. On the way there I ate my lunch and had a mug of tea on the underground. The Consultant wanted blood tests done and the results were sent to him and then he sent to GP. A week later alarm bells from GP about coming in and seeing ASAP. GP explained my cholesterol levels were high and I needed to take statins and needed monitoring. I immediately guessed that hospital had done the test without me knowing. I said to GP not surprised at all because it was NOT a fasting test and that I had eaten and drunk not only in the hour or two before the blood was taken but during the whole morning as well. He then understood and sent me for repeat blood tests which were fine. He had assumed that the tests had been done as a proper fasting test (and so did the consultant). Despite numerous letters and conversations the info could not be deleted from any of my records (GP, hospital, consultant, optician, opthalmist, etc). GP advised me to write to all and also if I had to do any proposals / take out insurance to answer yes to high cholesterol and then write an explanation. Unfortunately this will last for life (unlike most people who are imprisoned for murder!!!).
I used.insure. And go and got insured no problem even though I was awaiting a further ablation used same company last year and.was accepted this time with pacemaker
Wendi
mmmmmmm......you're not waiting for a diagnosis are you? You have one, you have AF. The ablation is just an alternative to drugs and is not an end in itself, or indeed a cure as such. So I think it's unfair. I am fully diagnosed, had one ablation, been on and off drugs for years, and could eventually be booked in for another ablation, but I would consider wrong if I were then to be refused insurance during the period I was awaiting a procedure.
They just don't understand and their tick lists are their bible. If you read their lists of five hundred allowed conditions they are quite laughable and include things like athletes foot!
I have a small aortic aneurysm that none like. They ask if it has bled, No. Has it been repaired, NO it probably never will need to be but still turn me down.
A girl at SAGA who turned me down actually agreed how stupid it is and told me that her Granny in her mid 80's had recently had hers repaired.
One company wanted £2K for a month in America. Insureandgo just exclude it from the policy for me.
When we were insured with TSB they were quite cheap for our joint World Wide annual policy. One year as the clock ticked from 65 to 66 they wanted nearly double on the basis that we were a year older. They also refused my wife as she had a duodenal ulcer during the previous year.
We have just cancelled the package we had with Lloyds as we have never used the travel insurance mobile phone cover or breakdown cover. we did this after seeing
a Martin Lewis programme that said banks had miss sold these packages we made a claim and it was successful we had the money back.
It does make sense, but you need to know some of the principals behind the scenes, actuarial assessments, statistical analysis, risks (actual and perceived) and past claims. I have worked with and against insurance companies but not specifically in travel (though some aspects did involve travel insurance policies / travel claims). The info may be teaching some people how to suck eggs but for others some aspects will be completely new.
The fundamental principal (in basic terms) of all insurances is that in any year is that income from selling policies + monies received from other insurance companies should be greater than the payouts (people, other insurance companies, companies etc) + the costs of doing business (eg salaries, offices, administration, litigation costs, specialist reports, etc). This way an insurance company can make a profit and stay in business. In reality it is not quite so simple in many areas because individual claims may take many years to settle (some over 10 years). Also some things do not occur every year (eg major floods).
When assessing premiums, risk assessments and input from insurance specialists is key and two different people in different companies may perceive the risks quite differently and that will include their advisors. In addition a companies claims records are assessed. So for instance if two companies have 1,000 people with AF and Company "A" has 10 people claim in a year in Europe and Company "B" 30 people claim in Europe then at level 1 Company "B" will perceive AF as 3 times as risky and start premium loading. Then on the next level company A pays out a total of twice as much (in total not actual amount per claim) then they will perceive this as very risky because the amount per claim is so much higher. By using computers, databases and sophisticated programs there are hundreds (in some areas thousands) of sub analyses. In addition nowadays assessment is done per major postcode area and sub postcode area.
I'm with Lloyds, they have covered me for PAF for the last 4 years for an extra premium of £105 per annum, that covers me for 2 trips of 93 days European travel each year.
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