Serious issue with travelinsurance

unit_g83

Dear All,

First, thank you in advance for taking the time to read this, I appreciate any help I may receive.

Unfortunately my father has found himself in need of medical treatment while on holiday with Turkey.

He travelled last year and declared all his medical conditions. Now, I don't know what made him do this, but he travelled this year and did not declare all medical conditions - his reason (which I only found out after he needed to go to hospital, and only then discovered that he did not declare his conditions) is that the insurance company has his records on file and he thought he would only need to declare any new conditions. Basically - an oversight.

Long story short, he's been to a medical center, been referred to a hospital in another town, and then passed on to a hospital for medical procedures in a large city. The condition he was admitted for is completely new and not related to any pre-existing medical conditions. He should have been out of the hospital on Monday/Tuesday but the insurance company kept saying they needed to speak to their underwriter, directly delaying my father's discharge from hospital

As he did not declare his pre-existing health issues, the insurance company are saying he is not covered. They said if he had declared anyway, they may have still not covered him.

Our arguments to them are:
1. They covered all his conditions before. There has been no change and thus if we were to start a whole new quote and purchase of insurance online, he would be accepted as insurable

2. They are responsible for up to four extra days of hospital time, raising related costs

3. They took too long to go into the details of the insurance case in the first place, delaying my father's treatment and then advised he should receive treatment while they were reviewing his case. So, naturally, we went along with their advice.

I think hospital bills are coming somewhere in the region of £8000.00

We really do not have the money, but they will not release my father from hospital until they receive payment. As mentioned, the insurance says we are on our own.

Can anyone advise where we stand on this? I am completely lost, I do not know what to do. My sister has agreed to pay on credit card so they can let my father go as the bills just keep going up. However she has to repay this to the credit card company too.

Would appreciate any help. Thank you.

InsideInsurance

Did he buy a new policy or just renew the old one?

Non disclosure falls into two categories, accidental and intentional. Accidental then it comes down to if the insurer would have covered you had you been honest, if they would then generally they have to cover you but they can charge you the additional premium that they would have.

Intentional non-disclosure is basically fraud and as such voids the policy even if they would have insured you had you declared it.

Really your father will need to log a complaint and go through the process but assuming he did buy new and didnt renew then its not going to be a quick process

unit_g83

InsideInsurance,

thank you for such a quick reply. The policy was a new one (single trip). The non-disclosure was completely accidental, and not at all intentional. I believe the insurer would have covered if my father had done this correctly the first time, as they did so for his past trip.

InsideInsurance

Is it an insurer or broker?

Do a dummy quote to see if they will

Providers, particularly those that arent the insurers, change their terms and acceptance criteria with moderate regularity to using them one year is no guarantee they'll accept next year.

If it is actually a broker with a panel you would need to ensure its the same insurer quoting as its them not the broker that set the terms and so it could be a broker could have placed the business but it'd have been with a different provider

FlameCloud

unit_g83 wrote: »

InsideInsurance,

thank you for such a quick reply. The policy was a new one (single trip). The non-disclosure was completely accidental, and not at all intentional. I believe the insurer would have covered if my father had done this correctly the first time, as they did so for his past trip.

How can he declare them one year, and then 'accidentally' forget them the next? That is surely a deliberate act.

unit_g83

Hi flamecloud,

yes, as crazy as this seems this wasn't intentional. My father's retired and he's bot keeping too active so I feel it's affecting his judgement. I am absolutely furious with what's happened - he actually believed that since he had used the same insurer before they would hold his details and there would be no need to declare again his pre-existing conditions. Am absolutely furious. And my poor dad, he feels terrible about all this now that he understands what the issue is.

InsideInsurance - it's an insurer, and yes also think it's a good idea to do a dummy quote and see the outcome.

katejo

I have renewed with the same insurer for several years. Each time they make a point of saying that I can't just say 'situation unchanged' or no new conditions to declare from the previous year. I have to tell them again about the same condition(s).
You have my sympathy if it is a new condition which has caused the problem.

bryanb

unit_g83 wrote: »

The policy was a new one (single trip)

Did he complete and sign a proposal form? If so it's hard to see how he forgot to declare.

elsien

FlameCloud wrote: »

How can he declare them one year, and then 'accidentally' forget them the next? That is surely a deliberate act.

You'd be surprised. I have a staff member who thought the same - that because he was using the same company it would all be on record and taken into account. And it was a genuine belief, he wasn't trying it on, he's one of the most honest people I know.