Uber Driver Sickness Policy Help

xMehaKx

I'm not sure if this is the right place to post this but I don't know where else to post it.

My dad is an Uber taxi driver, and has been for a very long time. He works 7 days a week, and only ever takes a day off when he really needs to, as he is the sole earner. He has Type 2 Diabetes, and also suffers from Psoriasis. In December he had an awful Psoriasis flare up. It was badly infected and he was in a lot of pain. His legs were extremely swollen and being out in the cold made it worse. He was advised by his doctor to take some time off work to recover as it would have gotten worse had he not rested. His doctor provided him with a medical note for 3 weeks.

Uber offers medical insurance for their drivers, using the company, AXA. My dad contacted AXA with regards to his sick leave. He provided all the information and documents that were requested, but they said he was unable to make a claim as his sickness was caused by a pre-existing condition.

My dad has to support the whole family (there are 6 of us), so having to take 3 weeks off work was a big setback. He only took the time off because he thought he would be paid sick pay. It was the rest of us who convinced him to take time off to recover, even though he insisted on going to work.

Does anyone have any advice on what can be done in this situation? Is there an appeals process or any legal advice available?

Any advice will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

Nasqueron

If it's a pre-existing condition then you'd almost certainly be excluded from claiming on any policy and these would be standard terms for most policies. You can try a formal complaint to the insurer and escalate to the FOS if you feel it was treated unfairly.

Weighty1

There is almost no comeback from this scenario as it is standard that most of these types of plans exclude pre-existing conditions if there's been symptoms, treatment or medical consultations in the 24-months before the cover was taken out.

The only real option would be for your dad to try and find a plan that covers pre-existing conditions, however, even then the likelihood is your dad would need to be off work for a minimum of 30-days before a claim could be made so it would be of no use for illnesses which prevented him from working for less than a month.