Being screwed over by AXA Travel Insurance

jhend29

MyRealNameToo said:

The law requires you to answer all questions honestly and completely, failure to do so can result in a policy being voided and claims avoided even if the false answer is unrelated to the claim. 

You are claiming for two medical incidents, at least one seems to be in an area that you have a pre-existing condition given you mentioned using an inhaler. Your insurer is entitled to make enquiries with your doctors to ensure you complied with the law on disclosures. You refusing to allow them to do so is doing nothing but creating a rod for your own back and ultimately will result in the claim being declined which the FOS will almost certainly consider reasonable. 

I also suspect you bought it from an intermediary who is selling policies written by Axa rather than it being a trading style of Axa. 

NOOO the inhaler was given to me by the doctor. She came out the first day; left antibiotics, steroids and inhaler and then came back the next day to see how I was doing. I’ve (thankfully) never had asthma or breathing difficulties past the odd bout of bronchitis / Covid years ago… 

but that said, of course there will be breathing difficulties on my medical records - I had Covid in 2022 and was given Paxlovid because I was in the at risk group due to my Crohn’s medication (which II haven't been taking for over a year now!). So I bet they’re going to LOVE seeing that on my records! Isn’t  this the perfect example of them fishing to find irrelevant conditions they can use to avoid paying out? I’d argue that nearly EVERYONEs medical files are going to show SOME history of respiratory problems 5 years after a pandemic!! 

Aylesbury_Duck

The thing is, if you don't provide the information they're asking for they're definitely not going to consider your claim.  If you do provide it, yes there's a chance there's something there that invalidates the additional claim you're making, but there's also the chance it satisfies them and they settle your additional claim.

I can't see an outcome where you withhold information and get the extra money you're seeking.  I think you're overthinking this on the basis of an off-the-cuff remark from your GP.

user1977

Aylesbury_Duck said:

I think you're overthinking this on the basis of an off-the-cuff remark from your GP.

Seconded. In my limited experience it's fairly common to ask for full records, so limiting it to 5 years could be seen as a bonus!

jhend29

MyRealNameToo said:

GPs get absolutely 0 training on insurance during medical school and are even less likely to be kept in formed of changes in insurance legislation and regulation as time goes on. They are therefore simply expressing a personal opinion. 

They do seem worryingly uninformed though as most will be doing a number of these fairly regularly. Most are the exact opposite, we send a questionnaire and rather than answer the questionnaire plenty just staple a photocopy of the policyholders complete file to the questionnaire. Inevitably we go back as we arent medical professionals and so can gather some answers from the full file but not the medical opinion ones. Most they time they reply on the second attempt but most will try and send a second invoice for doing so. 

Sure it was actually a GP and not one of these Physicians Associates who generally barely know their !!!!!! from their elbow?

Ha, who knows? I didn’t get their name
 but I’ve called back to tell them to answer any questions that AXA has and provide anything they ask for.I feel like my argument is valid though - if they’re going to go hunting through my records looking for a reason to not pay out, they’re going to find something they can use.  I doubt anyone travelling today has Covid declared on their travel insurance if they had the typical 7 day run of feeling crappy and then got better again, but Lord help them if they’re insured by AXA and need to claim for Bronchitis or Pneumonia, because 5 years on from a pandemic we’re all going to have some mention of it in our records….

 Does that mean no one should be covered by AXA’s rules?

MyRealNameToo

jhend29 said:

MyRealNameToo said:

The law requires you to answer all questions honestly and completely, failure to do so can result in a policy being voided and claims avoided even if the false answer is unrelated to the claim. 

You are claiming for two medical incidents, at least one seems to be in an area that you have a pre-existing condition given you mentioned using an inhaler. Your insurer is entitled to make enquiries with your doctors to ensure you complied with the law on disclosures. You refusing to allow them to do so is doing nothing but creating a rod for your own back and ultimately will result in the claim being declined which the FOS will almost certainly consider reasonable. 

I also suspect you bought it from an intermediary who is selling policies written by Axa rather than it being a trading style of Axa. 

NOOO the inhaler was given to me by the doctor. She came out the first day; left antibiotics, steroids and inhaler and then came back the next day to see how I was doing. I’ve (thankfully) never had asthma or breathing difficulties past the odd bout of bronchitis / Covid years ago… 

but that said, of course there will be breathing difficulties on my medical records - I had Covid in 2022 and was given Paxlovid because I was in the at risk group due to my Crohn’s medication (which II haven't been taking for over a year now!). So I bet they’re going to LOVE seeing that on my records! Isn’t  this the perfect example of them fishing to find irrelevant conditions they can use to avoid paying out? I’d argue that nearly EVERYONEs medical files are going to show SOME history of respiratory problems 5 years after a pandemic!! 

As long as its been declared if the questions they asked required it to be declared then thats fine. 

A real fishing exercise would be that they ask for your full medical records if you were to claim your flight was delayed 24 hours. Technically they could and CIDRA would allow them to decline the claim and void the policy were they to discover you had undeclared conditions but I've never seen a travel insurer ask for medical records in relation to flight delays, cancellations, lost luggage etc. 

It's standard practice on any medical claim to ask for a medical history. Normally this is in the form of a questionnaire to the GP and it's the GP that decides to overshare.  This isnt "fishing" but basic sensible checks.  Insurance is broadly priced by the level of risk the insurer is taking. People lie on their applications and so either checks are done to weed them out or we all pay much higher premiums as a fit, no illness 20 year old pays the same as a 70 year old with a history of cancer, heart attacks etc because the insurer cannot check records to see what your health background is. 

jhend29

Aylesbury_Duck said:

The thing is, if you don't provide the information they're asking for they're definitely not going to consider your claim.  If you do provide it, yes there's a chance there's something there that invalidates the additional claim you're making, but there's also the chance it satisfies them and they settle your additional claim.

I can't see an outcome where you withhold information and get the extra money you're seeking.  I think you're overthinking this on the basis of an off-the-cuff remark from your GP.

Good point. It just seems so unfair that on top of treating us horribly while we were out there and ignoring me for the better part of 3 months they come back and then cause more upset and stress with this nonsense. They seem to enjoy picking and choosing which parts are related to which condition - they’re trying to say that the knee injury wouldn’t have necessitated a change in flight and longer hotel room  stay when the XRays were done the day we were supposed to fly and they weren’t read until the day after - so regardless, we’d have needed those things. They told me when the claim started that if we came home within the week then they wouldn’t need to see my medical records, so the fact that they’re backtracking on that now seems really suss…. (They even mention that in their email today!)

lincroft1710

jhend29 said:

MyRealNameToo said:

The law requires you to answer all questions honestly and completely, failure to do so can result in a policy being voided and claims avoided even if the false answer is unrelated to the claim. 

You are claiming for two medical incidents, at least one seems to be in an area that you have a pre-existing condition given you mentioned using an inhaler. Your insurer is entitled to make enquiries with your doctors to ensure you complied with the law on disclosures. You refusing to allow them to do so is doing nothing but creating a rod for your own back and ultimately will result in the claim being declined which the FOS will almost certainly consider reasonable. 

I also suspect you bought it from an intermediary who is selling policies written by Axa rather than it being a trading style of Axa. 

I’d argue that nearly EVERYONEs medical files are going to show SOME history of respiratory problems 5 years after a pandemic!! 

I think you would lose that argument as less than half of the UK population suffered with Covid

MeteredOut

lincroft1710 said:

jhend29 said:

MyRealNameToo said:

The law requires you to answer all questions honestly and completely, failure to do so can result in a policy being voided and claims avoided even if the false answer is unrelated to the claim. 

You are claiming for two medical incidents, at least one seems to be in an area that you have a pre-existing condition given you mentioned using an inhaler. Your insurer is entitled to make enquiries with your doctors to ensure you complied with the law on disclosures. You refusing to allow them to do so is doing nothing but creating a rod for your own back and ultimately will result in the claim being declined which the FOS will almost certainly consider reasonable. 

I also suspect you bought it from an intermediary who is selling policies written by Axa rather than it being a trading style of Axa. 

I’d argue that nearly EVERYONEs medical files are going to show SOME history of respiratory problems 5 years after a pandemic!! 

I think you would lose that argument as less than half of the UK population suffered with Covid

And even fewer will have that recorded on their medical files.

TELLIT01

There is no reason not to give them the reports if they requested information about any medical intervention in the previous 5 years.  If you don't let them have access they certainly won't pay out.

Tell your GP to hand over the information.  It's not for them to decide what is relevant to the insurer and what isn't.

sheramber

If you answered the questions on the application form honestly and truthfully then there should not be a problem.

But , many people decide to think something is not important and don’t include it , only to find out that comes back to bite them if they make a claim. 

If the form  ask for  conditions you have seen  a go or medical professional about in the last 2 or 5 years and you can’t remember, then you ask your go practice for a copy of your medical records for the last 2 or 5 years.