travel insurance claim advice urgently needed!

dansznad

Hello All,

I really hope someone can advise me as to what I should do wth my situation...

I live here in the UK. My parents are from India. They came to visit me last
year and we all went to America. I bought travel insurance for them
from a travel agent over here.

Unfortunately my dad was hospitalized in the US and now the bills are
coming in...mostly going to insurance company. For some of the bills
I got, I was advised by the insurance co. to send them in with a claim form.

When I started looking at the claim form, it asked for a UK mailing address
and I began to realize that my dad is not a resident here and asked myself
would the insurance company cover him ?

In the policy that I got in the email its not written anywhere
that my dad needs to be a resident in the UK.

And on asking the travel agent they first said yes, but honestly they didn't
sound convincing. I called again and was told that "No" the insurance would
NOT be covered if my dad is not a resident here.

But when I purchased the insurance from them I had told them that he
is visiting me, yet in their "records" on their computer his nationality is
"british". When I began to question how they put that in there, they said
that they automatically "assumed" it. They don't even have his passport#.

Now US hospital bills are so high that I don't know what to do. Plus in the
claim form it says that they can prosecute me if any information is wrong.

In the claim form, I have put in my dad as staying with me in my UK
address.

What do I do? It surely isn't my fault if the travel agent sold me this
insurance without ensuring that my dad needs to be a resident in the UK.

Can someone please advise me on where I stand and what should I do??
Should I let the insurance company know? Or should I wait and see what
happens?
Thanks very much.

Astaroth

As long as you have answered the questions honestly and have actually answered the question (ie it doesnt ask "claimants nationality" and you have simply put "dad was staying with me in the UK") then you wont have done anything wrong.

You clearly need to raise a formal complaint with the agents that sold you the policy if the insurance says it is only for UK residents

dansznad

Hello, thank you for your reply.

Yes, during my conversations with the insurance company
I have told them that my Dad was visiting me and staying
at my address but that he is from India. They even know
that because they asked and got back a filled medical
questionaire from my Dad's doctor from India.

When I filled in the claims form for him I didn't see it
asked anywhere for claimant's nationality. So I put in my
UK address. But the record that the travel agent has about
his nationality says he is British. This is what the agent
assumed and even though they knew he's just visiting me.
And thats whats really bugging me. I don't know what will
happen next, this realm is too new to me, and there's a lot
at stake.

Can you advise me as to what should I do at the moment?
Would it be advisable to tell the Insurance co. about the
travel agent?

And what if even though the insurance co. knows now that
my dad is not a resident of UK but during his insurance
evaluation by their claims department he gets rejected?

Awaiting your reply, many thanks.