Critical Illness Insurance claim time limit

gooner83_2

My husband was diagnosed with cancer 6 months ago and at that time we were so occupied with getting over the shock and coping with the treatment and its consequences (including keeping his employer sweet) that checking insurance documents didn't come to mind. We also assumed because there is, fortunately, an excellent recovery rate from his type of cancer that we wouldn't have a claim anyway.

I was going through a paperwork trawl today when I read our life and critical illness insurance policy documents and realised that his cancer was probably covered.

Does anyone know of any time limits associated with critical illness claims? He is still undergoing care with his oncologist currently.

I'd be grateful for any help and advice with this matter.

dunstonh

Typically it is around 120 days but most insurers will give tolerance on that (mainly due to FOS guidance) that the delay is reasonable. 6 months should not be a problem if you put your claim in next week.

gooner83_2

Thanks for the advice, my husband is going to give them a call tomorrow. My only concern is that they mention that the claim must be within 30 days of the 'initial occurrence' (whatever that may mean in plain english...). Under the circumstances this seems an unduly short period of time.

Could you clarify who the FOS is and where I could find their guidelines? Will this have any influence over this clause in the insurance policy (if we need it)?

dunstonh

ould you clarify who the FOS is and where I could find their guidelines?

FOS is the financial ombudsman service. There are no published guidelines as they would apply the "treating customers fairly" principles. 6 months would be hard to justify why they couldnt consider a claim. 6 years would be a different matter. So, applying TCF to it, you would expect them to consider the claim.

gooner83_2

Update - My husband has submitted his claim, fingers crossed...

Has anyone else out there been in a similar position, i.e. submitting a critical illness claim after the company's quoted deadline? Was your insurance company understanding?

Would be good to hear what other people have been through to give us some idea of what may happen next. Any other advice on this issue would also be really useful.