Admiral travel insurance- disgusting company

Ganga

Misslayed said:

A former colleague had worked for a big insurance company in a previous career, she told us their company had an entire floor of their building devoted to finding ways to refuse claims, with splendid bonuses for those who worked there. Which is why she left and went into teaching. 

I suspect this is an urban myth ,insurance companies do not pay out willy nilly but do when the facts are correct.

k12479

TELLIT01 said:

I think it is a ridiculous expectation by insurers that you know everything about the medical history of family members, who may be living 100s of miles away and rarely have face to face contact. 

Fair enough. Are YOU willing to pay higher premiums to cover people who don't communicate with each other and have dysfunctional families?

I'm not.

DullGreyGuy

Misslayed said:

A former colleague had worked for a big insurance company in a previous career, she told us their company had an entire floor of their building devoted to finding ways to refuse claims, with splendid bonuses for those who worked there. Which is why she left and went into teaching. 

Then they lied to you

Insurers may have multiple floors of staff handling claims inline with the policy terms. Staff will be marked down for declining claims that should have been paid. The problem is two fold, 1) people dont read policies so dont know what they are covered for or not and 2) most people buy on price alone and the way to make insurance cheap is to cut cover

eskbanker said:

Bicycleman22 said:

Whats is pre existing and who is a close relative would need to be determined before cancelling as of course they dont ask those questions when taking out a policy.

The policy terms will clearly define who is categorised as close relatives - I don't know whether there's the opportunity to declare pre-existing conditions for such relatives at the time of taking out the policy though.

Never seen a single policy where you could declare conditions for anyone not travelling, others have claimed to have found such things here but then cannot remember who the insurer was. 



As to the OP, unfortunately Admiral have one of the broadest definitions of Pre-Existing conditions and do explicitly exclude any claim related to a pre-existing condition in a close relative irrespective of if you knew about it or not. Unless you can provide medical evidence that your sisters illness commenced last month after you bought the policy then unfortunately you are not covered. Its not clear if her death was related to her alcoholism or not but if it were then its very unlikely that it developed and killed her in a bit over a month... having had a couple of relatives die from alcohol it was a slow painful demise not a sudden deterioration. 

sheramber

k12479 said:

TELLIT01 said:

I think it is a ridiculous expectation by insurers that you know everything about the medical history of family members, who may be living 100s of miles away and rarely have face to face contact. 

Fair enough. Are YOU willing to pay higher premiums to cover people who don't communicate with each other and have dysfunctional families?

I'm not.

Those who want such cover  could  pay any extra premium, not everybody.

k12479

sheramber said:

k12479 said:

TELLIT01 said:

I think it is a ridiculous expectation by insurers that you know everything about the medical history of family members, who may be living 100s of miles away and rarely have face to face contact. 

Fair enough. Are YOU willing to pay higher premiums to cover people who don't communicate with each other and have dysfunctional families?

I'm not.

Those who want such cover  could  pay any extra premium, not everybody.

They could, in theory. But as @DullGreyGuy points out a) whether such policies exist is questionable and b) it's clear most people wouldn't bother to read and understand those policies, either.

TELLIT01

Bicycleman22 said:

I think it is fair to say this is an area where you make a decision to cancel a holiday or not once you know if you are covered or not. Whats is pre existing and who is a close relative would need to be determined before cancelling as of course they dont ask those questions when taking out a policy..... I imagine all policies are the same as Admirals.

The insurance companies often list who they class as close family members.  It doesn't mean family members who live close to you, or those with whom you have regular contact.  It will be parents, siblings etc.  I saw my brother on a regular basis but he didn't break the news to me that he had leukemia until he had actually started treatment.  He had known he had it for several months before treatment started.  Would I have been denied insurance payout for something where information had been deliberately withheld?  If the answer is 'Yes' there is a problem with travel insurance.

eskbanker

TELLIT01 said:

Bicycleman22 said:

I think it is fair to say this is an area where you make a decision to cancel a holiday or not once you know if you are covered or not. Whats is pre existing and who is a close relative would need to be determined before cancelling as of course they dont ask those questions when taking out a policy..... I imagine all policies are the same as Admirals.

The insurance companies often list who they class as close family members.  It doesn't mean family members who live close to you, or those with whom you have regular contact.  It will be parents, siblings etc.  I saw my brother on a regular basis but he didn't break the news to me that he had leukemia until he had actually started treatment.  He had known he had it for several months before treatment started.  Would I have been denied insurance payout for something where information had been deliberately withheld?  If the answer is 'Yes' there is a problem with travel insurance.

As ever, it'll depend on the specific policy terms, but my expectation is that yes, insurance typically won't pay out if the reason for cancelling a holiday was ultimately due to a pre-existing condition becoming worse, whether or not the traveller was aware of it - the issue remains: how can the insurance company be expected to know (or validate) what information has been shared and when?

CKhalvashi

DullGreyGuy said:

Misslayed said:

A former colleague had worked for a big insurance company in a previous career, she told us their company had an entire floor of their building devoted to finding ways to refuse claims, with splendid bonuses for those who worked there. Which is why she left and went into teaching. 

Then they lied to you

Insurers may have multiple floors of staff handling claims inline with the policy terms. Staff will be marked down for declining claims that should have been paid. The problem is two fold, 1) people dont read policies so dont know what they are covered for or not and 2) most people buy on price alone and the way to make insurance cheap is to cut cover

eskbanker said:

Bicycleman22 said:

Whats is pre existing and who is a close relative would need to be determined before cancelling as of course they dont ask those questions when taking out a policy.

The policy terms will clearly define who is categorised as close relatives - I don't know whether there's the opportunity to declare pre-existing conditions for such relatives at the time of taking out the policy though.

Never seen a single policy where you could declare conditions for anyone not travelling, others have claimed to have found such things here but then cannot remember who the insurer was. 



As to the OP, unfortunately Admiral have one of the broadest definitions of Pre-Existing conditions and do explicitly exclude any claim related to a pre-existing condition in a close relative irrespective of if you knew about it or not. Unless you can provide medical evidence that your sisters illness commenced last month after you bought the policy then unfortunately you are not covered. Its not clear if her death was related to her alcoholism or not but if it were then its very unlikely that it developed and killed her in a bit over a month... having had a couple of relatives die from alcohol it was a slow painful demise not a sudden deterioration. 

I have been asked if another person would depend on me not travelling.

The answer in 99% of cases to this would likely be no.

ETA: HSBC Premier insurance underwritten by Aviva.

sheramber

I have read that cover for cancellation due to illness or death of a close relative will cover pre existing conditions if a medical practitioner can state that there was no reason to suspect that the the condition would get worse  when the poiicy was taken out.

eskbanker

sheramber said:

I have read that cover for cancellation due to illness or death of a close relative will cover pre existing conditions if a medical practitioner can state that there was no reason to suspect that the the condition would get worse  when the poiicy was taken out.

Which provider does this relate to?