hospital plan insurance services advice please

kjm999

This is my first posting so apologies if I inadvertently breach etiquette. I am trying to help my elderly mother with her paper work, she has dementia. This is a bit over whelming and I am desperate for sound advice.

She has a host of policies for Hospital plan Insurance Services for which she is paying over £30 a month. She has been paying this for years. Has anyone any experience of this company as it looks like a scam to me. Any advice would be gratefully received. I am tempted to cancel them all but she has been paying for years, can I complain? Or claim? I did search for other posts on this company but couldn't find them

Errata

Website here http://www.hpis.co.uk/index.html

Unless you have power of attorney you won't be able to cancel them on behalf of your mother and if her dementia is bad she won't be able to understand how to cancel them herself.
HTH

kjm999

Thanks, I am in the process of getting the power of attorney registered, and in the meantime I am trying to make sense of it all.

My lovely mum has managed to convince us all that she was managing but she has not been and now I am trying to ensure that her money is used wisely. I have been horrified by the amount of hard sell junk mail that has been sent to her which she has signed up to, it is frightening and should be illegal to prey on the vulnerable. Charities are the worst because once you give to them they keep hounding you for more.

Errata

I'm afraid hard sell junk mail lands on everyone's doormat nowadays, and companies can't know who is vulnerable and who isn't.

margaretclare

Charities do not just 'prey on the vulnerable' - they don't know who is vulnerable and who is not!

It may be time for your Mum to make a claim against the hospital insurer, depending on what they will pay out for.

DH and I have been paying into HSA (now called Simply Health) for many years, just like your Mum. He's paid into it since he was an apprentice, I have since I was a student nurse. If we cancelled it now we couldn't rejoin because of age, but we've had back almost every penny-piece we ever paid in. Read the paperwork of what your Mum's plan actually covers. Our HSA policy covers dental, optical, as well as any hospital treatment.

shauniebabe

Im going through almost exactly the same myself at the moment.

Im making a cliam at the moment for 2 hospital stays but i dont hold out much hope!

shauniebabe

Oh by the way it isnt like Hsa its for stays in hospital i think!

Edinburghlass_2

kjm999 wrote: »

Thanks, I am in the process of getting the power of attorney registered, and in the meantime I am trying to make sense of it all.

My lovely mum has managed to convince us all that she was managing but she has not been and now I am trying to ensure that her money is used wisely. I have been horrified by the amount of hard sell junk mail that has been sent to her which she has signed up to, it is frightening and should be illegal to prey on the vulnerable. Charities are the worst because once you give to them they keep hounding you for more.

Have a read of this thread and Martin's Blog if you get a bit of time regarding junk mail targeting the elderly.

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1632437

kjm999

Thanks for the link Edinburghlass and really frightening. Considering this my mum got off lightly and at least my mum's money has good to good causes.

However my mum, an OAP with a tiny pension and dementia has given away more each month than her pension to the likes of:

Help the aged
Save the children
RNID
Oxfam
and many more house hold charities
who because she has given money keep writing to her sending heart rending letters which she responds to.

margaretclare

kjm999 wrote: »

Thanks for the link Edinburghlass and really frightening. Considering this my mum got off lightly and at least my mum's money has good to good causes.

However my mum, an OAP with a tiny pension and dementia has given away more each month than her pension to the likes of:

Help the aged
Save the children
RNID
Oxfam
and many more house hold charities
who because she has given money keep writing to her sending heart rending letters which she responds to.

But they're not targeting her because she's 'vulnerable'! They have her details on their mailing-list and these 'heart-rending letters' are sent out automatically.

It's like those sad eyes you see on TV pleading 'please give £2 a month'. They are deliberately designed to tug at the heart-strings.

I have a limited number of charities that I donate to, but I always get appeals from Christian Aid. Reason? I sent a donation to them at the time of the Boxing Day tsunami and they've got my details on file.

Oldernotwiser

shauniebabe wrote: »

Oh by the way it isnt like Hsa its for stays in hospital i think!

HSA pays out for hospital stays as well.