travel insurance claim denied

mcnichod

hi, I took out travel insurance 18th March for a single trip. However, I had been to doctors week before, and sent for an ultrasound. I had a lump in my abdomen. Doctor wasnt concerned, but thought it should be looked at. Dont worry about your upcoming holiday, he said. When taking out the policy, there was a screening element, but as i did not know anything was wrong, and the docs werent overly concerned, I didnt put anything in the policy. woe betide within 3 weeks, I have a condition that needs an operation - quick, and cant travel. Now I have just found out (after much expense getting docs forms and travel information to the insurer), that I am not covered as the initial docs appt was the week before. Can they do this? My gut tells me yes, as they have it written in the pages of info they send out, but it feels wrong as until the week before i was travelling, i had no idea how serious my condition was. Help anyone?

vax2002

The contact you entered in to would need to be taxed (read) by a contract law legal specialist.
Until that has happened, nobody can say for sure.

lisyloo

Can they do this?

Probably (although as above contract needs to be checked).

as they have it written in the pages of info they send out, but it feels wrong as until the week before i was travelling, i had no idea how serious my condition was

If they have it written in their documentation and you didn't declare it, then you are in the wrong for not declaring it I'm afraid.

In general they don't ask you whether you know you have something serious.
In general they ask you about doctors appointments/tests etc. so from what you have said it sounds like "non-disclosure" (I'm not saying you lied deliberately).
But as above, detailed checking of the wording is required.
If you state the travel company then someone may be willing to help check the wording for you.

mikey72

Ring the FOS.
They can advise you whether it's worth complaining or not, and won't cost you anything.

mcnichod

the company is insure and go. i was hoping to go on the holiday, and the issue of advising was only highlighted to me when I read the paperwork that came through. More fool me, but I doubt many actually read it when purchasing. I'm going to try to see if the insurers will settle, but i wont hold my breath

rs65

It looks like they may be right.

However, what was the timescale between booking the holiday and taking out insurance?

If you booked the holiday, then went to the doctor then took out insurance - it looks bad. It looks as if you had reason to think you would need to cancel

If you went to the doctor, then booked the holiday and took out insurance - it doesn't look so bad. It looks as if you had no reason to believe you couldn't travel. Doesn't mean they are wrong but would give you a better argument.

huckster

I think the OP is saying that they had booked a holiday, then had the Doctors appointment and then took out the Travel Insurance without disclosing anything because of the Doctors advice.

I would suggest that the claim could rest entirely on what the Doctor says in any information they can provide about this appointment, before the Insurance was arranged. But as the Doctor appears to have got their diagnosis wrong they might not wish to confirm this in any letter.

If the OP was misinformed by the Doctor, what would Insure & Go have done, had the OP mentioned the appointment and what the outcome was. Would they have excluded anything to do with issues regarding the abdomen ? I think if the OP managed to obtain a letter from the Doctor to say that nothing was diagnosed as being wrong and no further examinations were necessary, then it would be over to I&G to explain their normal underwriting process. If they would not have endorsed the policy to exclude anything to do with the abdomen, then in my opinion they should deal with the claim.

chanz4

they would have to put down oustanding investigation on the medical section

luci

Most insurers won't cover an undiagnosed conditions so even if you had declared that you were under investigation, they probably wouldn't have covered it.

If you had taken out insurance at the same time as booking the holiday, and before visiting the doctor, it probably would have been covered.

huckster

I missed the bit......... " but thought it should be looked at".

If this is the case, the Doctor was not saying that there was no medical issue.

It was a gamble the OP took and it looks like it did not pay off.

Quentin

mcnichod wrote: »

hi, I took out travel insurance 18th March for a single trip. However, I had been to doctors week before, and sent for an ultrasound. I had a lump in my abdomen......

Their policy is pretty unambiguous about things like this.

This is what they say about existing but undiagnosed conditions (ie. symptoms existing at the time you bought the policy):

No cover is available at all if any person including those not travelling, whose condition might give rise to a claim:

- is receiving or waiting for hospital investigation or treatment for any undiagnosed condition or set of symptoms....