Critical illness cover: Hi We have a policy with... - LUPUS UK

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Critical illness cover

MarcelaS profile image
13 Replies

Hi

We have a policy with Legal & General for the past 15 years. I called them today to see if I could claim, they said my policy which I purchased 15 years ago doesn't cover Lupus. But if I purchased a policy today it covers it !!!

Anyone else had this problem?

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MarcelaS profile image
MarcelaS
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13 Replies
diane46 profile image
diane46

I have been wondering about this I got mine 10 years ago but now you have told them have your premiums gone up x

MarcelaS profile image
MarcelaS in reply todiane46

No, they say my policy doesn't cover it 😢 X

FIZZY1967 profile image
FIZZY1967 in reply toMarcelaS

I WAS DIAGNOSED WITH LUPUS NEPHRITUS- I HAVE THE CRITICAL ILLNESS COVER WITH LEGAL AND GENERAL ABOUT 5 YEARS. SLE IS COVERED BUT ONLY IF YOU KIDNEY FUNCTION GOES BELOW 30 OR IT AFFECTS YOUR BRAIN . FELT LET DOWN Y THIS - I HAD THREE MONTHS OFF SICK - IF I HAD 6 MONTHS OFF THEY WOULD HAVE CONTINUED MY MONTHLY PAYMENTS FOR ME FOR LIFE

SjogiBear profile image
SjogiBear

That's a worry . . . I have also got Legal & General Critical Illness cover purchased 19 years ago so I would assume I would have similar problems if I ever had to submit a claim based on my lupus or other autoimmune conditions.

Tre123 profile image
Tre123

I'm also with legal & general and called them when I was diagnosed. They said that when I took ly policy out lupus was not covered but now they recognise lupus as a critical illness they started covering it 2 years later. I made a complaint to ask why they do not send out updates of newly covered diseases to advise people and they said they don't do that! Anyway I was told that although Im not covered for lupus I'm covered for disability and could claim under that if I became too ill to carry on working. Hope that us helps

rlupus profile image
rlupus

lupus is now covered on crittle illness its was added about 2/3 years ago but was told anyone witha policy before this would not be covered , I only found this out as my son and his partner were applying for crittle illness and it came up on most insurance policeys,

due to all my health problems nobody will cover me so we no longer have life cover i have been screened by so many i had to just accept it.

MargaretGail profile image
MargaretGail

I purchased my Legal & General critical illness cover 23+ years ago and they paid out on it last year. I got the same answer when I tried to claim for Lupus but then I read the policy cover to Cover. You need to find the small paragraph which says something like - unable to carry out the daily duties required of your work place / daily life etc.

Forget about the word Lupus and look for all the phrases in the policy that apply to you. They paid up no problem, good luck xx

misswoosie profile image
misswoosie in reply toMargaretGail

"the small paragraph which says something like - unable to carry out the daily duties required of your work place / daily life etc"

So i guess that would be the disability cover that Tre123 was speaking of.

Several years ago, as a nurse, I helped someone who'd had a stroke within the previous 6 weeks, albeit with limited disability, secure travel insurance to go to the USA. We contacted Macmillan support and they suggested we try these people who were able to offer cover.

Obviously

the risks for the insurance company were quite high as he was going on a long flight and travelling to a country with a

messed up, inusurance driven, extortionately expensive

healthcare system. None of the usual companies would touch him.

the-insurance-surgery.co.uk...

MargaretGail profile image
MargaretGail in reply tomisswoosie

I'm sure mine was in 2 different sections but I just hilighted every relevant line in the policy but yes it could all be in the disability section. Thanks for the link :)

Bacardibabe76 profile image
Bacardibabe76

Hi all, it is usually only when the kidneys are involved with the lupus. Lupus itself generally will not pay out if covered on CI policies.

caninecrazy profile image
caninecrazy

interesting! as every now and then my hubby and I are called into the bank to update things, they updated his life insurance but wouldn't touch mine as ive been diagnosed with lupus in 2005, and fm in 2013 years after my policy started. will phone them and ask now, thank you x

Wendy39 profile image
Wendy39

Hello

Spotted your post recently and it caught my attention.

We took out critical illness cover for me against our mortgage, from the start. Ours was Norwich Union, now Aviva.

When I contacted them last year to say that I had a confirmed diagnosis of SLE they told me that I wasn't covered. However, their policies do now cover SLE.

At the time we took our policy out, SLE was not on any such policies we were told. But now it's on all policies.

If I had taken out the policy just 2 years later, we would have been covered and our mortgage paid in full.

Even though they then became aware of my illness our monthly payments gone up.

I contacted our local financial adviser who set up the mortgage and policy and he confirmed their advice. The only way we could claim or sue, was to say that the financial advisor was negligent in his advice but they swear it was the best policy for us at that time.

But my husband also asked someone else about it and was told that the company our critical illness cover is with have a test case going through the courts, against them, for a similar case. Apparently if you took out the best policy with them and paid the premiums, they had a duty to notify their customers every year when they updated their policies - i.e. including "new" recognised illnesses etc, and offered for us to update our policy so that we continued to have the best possible policy with them. But they never did this - in the whole 16 years ?? that we have been with them.

So we are still keeping our eye on this. If the test case is successful we might pursue it. It seems grossly unfair that we were sensible and took our life insurance and critical illness cover for our mortgage at the beginning, thinking we had the best policy and now can't claim, but if we'd waited 2 years and then taken it out - I would then be covered and our mortgage would be cleared. We would def have update dour policy if we'd been notified too.

So judging by your post on Legal and General it would indeed seem that no policies covered SLE around 15/16 years ago.

Strange, as you would think that medical care and treatment would have improved over the years and it would have been known to be potentially life threatning then??? We're not talking the 1950s or 1960s????

It's very frustrating and unfair.

Wendy

Wendy39 profile image
Wendy39

Here's part of the reply I received, when I questioned why our policy would not pay out.

***

I have spoken with Norwich Union (now Aviva) in connection with your illness and the critical illness cover provided by your protection plan. Unfortunately your illness is not listed under the critical illness cover provided under your policy, although their critical illness cover in 2002 was the most comprehensive within the protection market. It is impossible for the providers to provide cover for all critical illnesses so they provide cover for the most common according to the British Medical officers statics. It is also impossible for clients to know what critical illness they could have in the future but to have the main core critical illness conditions (Stroke, Cancer, Heart Attacks etc) covered is vital, especially in connection with a mortgage loan.

As independent financial advisers we research and review the whole protection market when making a recommendation. I have reviewed the critical illness protection offered by other protection providers we considered in 2002 and not one of them provided critical illness cover for SLE.

***

So they do say that no policies covered SLE in 2002!

It's bad isn't it!

Wendy

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