Extortionate fee for medical certification on travel insurance claim form.

mmm

Hi,

I recently had to cancel a short trip to France because I was too ill to travel. On receiving my claim form from my insurance company, I phoned my doctor to check out the procedure for having the medical section filled in, at which point I was horrified to find out that they would charge £25 for filling it in. This seems rather excessive judging from the amount of information which needs to be entered on the document. As the trip was a special Ryanair cheap flight and the accomodation was at an International Hostel and I only incurred a lost deposit as I cancelled 12 hrs before the deadline, it was not worth putting in the claim as the difference between that and the GP fee was negligable. Is there any other way I could have had the form filled in, and is this not another case of being ripped-off as with the bank and credit card charges?

mattymoo

Surely your complaint is against your doctor for levying the charge though?

meester

Why should the doctor provide his professional services for free?

Very strange.

£25 is pretty much the minimum they could charge.

jonesMUFCforever

Is there any reason why the £25 fee could not be added to your claim as a legitimate expense?

Sue-UU

Hi mmm, There's nothing to be surprised at or disappointed with your Dr about as it's standard practice. To be honest, you were fortunate as they can, if they wish, easily charge anything up to or in excess of £45 depending on the amount that has to be done. On the other hand you'll get Drs that won't charge at all, often because they know their patients are possibly on SS payments or certain disability allowances. Swings and roundabouts I'm afraid so don't be too hard on him, his treatment to you is what's most important!!! Try and put it out of your mind as it's not just you that's had to pay for their services. Sue

dunstonh

£25 sounds cheap. My experience on this is that they usually charge more.

I see no problem with the charge as you are asking a professional who spent years of learning to provide a service that they need to be paid for. If you dont pay it, who is?