Critical illness cover, am I able to claim?

joanna3293

In my twenties I took out a pension and life insurance with Abbey Life. In my thirties I was diagnosed with kidney disease and went on to have many years of dialysis and finally a kidney transplant. I am now in my fifties and Abbey Life has ceased to trade and has been brought out by Phoenix Life. I have transferred my pension to a different provider but wanted to keep my life insurance with Abbey Life, now Phoenix Life. I do not have a copy of my original Abbey Life insurance policy but I don't think I was covered for critical illness, in any event I never thought to claim for the kidney disease and Im pretty sure it probably only covered my life. To check this I have asked Phoenix Life if they could send me the original policy but they have said they do not have it. My transferred life insurance policy from Phoenix Life has just come through and it provides the following benefits 'A sum assured of £59,992 on the earlier of death or diagnosis of terminal illness or critical illness'. Kidney disease is covered as a 'critical illness'. My question is whether it is possible to claim in retrospect for the kidney disease or if it is just a case of keeping this policy going and being able to claim when my current kidney fails. Any advice gratefully received. Many thanks for reading this.

dunstonh

To check this I have asked Phoenix Life if they could send me the original policy but they have said they do not have it.

That is quite normal. There are normally only 1 or 2 policies issued at the point of sale (an original for you and a second one for the lender - most lenders no longer require the second one and many providers stopped issuing them). The insurer does not keep a copy for themselves as they do not need it.

Perhaps you asked them the wrong question. i.e. not a copy of of the policy but instead ask them what the cover is for.

Kidney disease is covered as a 'critical illness'. My question is whether it is possible to claim in retrospect for the kidney disease or if it is just a case of keeping this policy going and being able to claim when my current kidney fails.

You are meant to claim within 120 days of the event but most insurers will not enforce that. However, the problem with data is that it gets deleted over time. So, 30 years on from diagnosis, there may not be too many records left. Plus, if te condition required medical tests, they cannot be carried out retrospectively.

So, by all means put in the claim. I have seen old ones go through and others fail. You dont know until you try.

joanna3293

Thank you so much for your reply, so do you think that, even though critical illness may not have been on the original Abbey Life plan, because it is on the new one I may be able to claim?

Novice_investor101

Just call them & ask to speak to their claims dept about it.
I have a family friend who found her father's old insurance paperwork after he died & called to claim on his life policy. Turned out that he had critical illness without knowing it (he died of cancer) & Norwich Union paid out on the Critical illness part as he had that first as a claimable event, before dying. It was a decreasing sum insurance so the pay out was nearly twice as much as the death payout would have been.

joanna3293

thank you both so much for your replies, it feels like a tricky situation, if I still had the original policy and it included critical illness I wouldn't hesitate to try to claim but seeing as Phoenix Life have taken over and included critical illness I would have thought I can only make a claim for any illnesses going forward. I will definately give them a call though - thanks again

Weighty1

joanna3293 wrote: »

thank you both so much for your replies, it feels like a tricky situation, if I still had the original policy and it included critical illness I wouldn't hesitate to try to claim but seeing as Phoenix Life have taken over and included critical illness I would have thought I can only make a claim for any illnesses going forward. I will definately give them a call though - thanks again

It'd be highly unlikely that Phoenix Life would provide critical illness if it wasn't on the original plan as you're about 5 times more likely to claim on that than on a life insurance plan.

There is absolutely nothing to lose by putting a claim in. It will either be accepted or declined (and I'd expect accepted) but you never know without trying.

lisyloo

I can’t see you have anything to lose apart for half an hour form filing and potentially a lot to gain, so I think you have to put in a claim.
What the worst that can happen?