Annual Multi trip Travel Insurance

Harveydos

Hi all,
My father has been travelling to India now annually and taking out an annual policy each year.
Both him and my mother have been staying out there for over 5 months at a time for the past 5 years , they are retired, and he has religiously renewed his travel policy each year with the now mistaken belief that the policy he has been buying covers them both for the period that they are there.
It has only become apparent now after he suffered a fall and ended up with a serious head injury which left him in a coma for 5 days and not regaining consciousness for another twelve days after.
In the meantime before flying out to be with him and my mother I initiated a claim procedure over the telephone with the Halifax Insurance and they were helpful enough in that they carried out the initial procedures such as informing us of the only hospital in the region that could provide the specialist care that could be provided for such an injury in that region of India. Within an hour of this initial call they rang me to inform that the claim had been refused on the grounds that the holiday had extended beyond the 60 day limit of the maximum period of travel for each trip abroad on this Annual Multi trip policy. After careful consideration of all the facts I had no option but to refer the case to the Insurance ombudsman who while I was explaining the case to over the phone suggested to me that the policy had been mis sold to my father as one of the questions that the insurance salesman would have had to have asked my father was how long do you intend to travel and which dates are you travelling from and the date of return. Upon the criteria of the demands and needs statement the salesperson should have informed my father at that point that the policy will be unsuitable for his particular needs and either should have discontinued the sale or informed my father of the 60 day clause and made sure that he understood that this time period existed. My father is not wholly eloquent in English and may not have understood fully.
We still had my father treated at the hospital they had suggested and we now know that they had saved his life. But the cost have had to be born by the family and even upon my return from India the Halifax have not yet come to a decision as to whether they are going to pay up the costs or not. My father was in hospital for five weeks and is still having to attend checkups there in India as he is still unfit to travel. The costs for his treatment have been astronomical but treatment does not come cheap when the only care available is private as there is no NHS type system available in India.
I will keep this forum informed as to how we get on with the ombudsman ruling which we should hear about within the next two weeks as they have to allow an eight week period in which the Halifax can make a decision.

dacouch

Good luck..

PMISpecialist_2

He certainly should have been advised better than he had. Its one of the first things the advisor should have asked. I too wish you all the best of luck here and wish your father a speedy recovery.

Maybe for the future: The best travel insurance that i have ever come across is Bupa Travel Complete (for companies/groups). Its a worldwide annual policy. Its certainly not the cheapest you can find but has excellent cover levels i.e. 180 days at any one time and covers laptops ect (where many are 60 days and will not cover laptops ect). You need a minimum of three people to set up a group/company scheme with them and this covers 3+ members and there respective family on business AND pleasure trips. They take you on MHD (medical history disregarded) underwritting. Which is exactly as it sounds they do not take past conditions into account.

Look to pay £94 for per family or £40 per individual for annual worldwide cover at the very top cover level. There are cheaper alternatives too.