intothewest
Registered User
- Messages
- 22
Hi All.,
My mother is almost 77, and at the beginning of the year my Dad died. Her and Dad had a policy for the last 55 years with same health insurer.
Dad had different treatments over the last 15/16 years, but my mother has only had two hospital related claims. One was in 2019 for a day patient operation in the Hermitage.
She had to change policy this year cos Dad passed away, and it was due for renewal at the end of June. She asked me to help navigate the quagmire that is health insurance, but I wasn't able to make any inroads, despite looking at comparison websites etc. In the end, my mother called them and asked them to advise her on what option to take. We think this was around May time. My understanding from a conversation with them around this time, was that she wasn't covered for two years in some hospitals for pre-existing conditions. At that time (May) she had no pre-existing conditions. She had stomach problems on and off for years, but her GP had been treating them as ulcers. In June, her GP decided to send her for a scan for something and it showed up something which required a keyhole operation.
She rang health insurer on June 22nd about the operation being covered, and they asked her to get a hospital code. She got that and asked me to check with them. I contacted them on webchat on June 25th with the code and they said they would have to call me back about it (I am waiting for them to forward me that webchat as I don't recall the details of it). They said they called me on the 26th, but I don't recall a missed call from them.
The 'new' policy kicked off on Jul 1st. Both my mother and I feel though that we did get confirmation from them that it was ok for her to proceed with the op in the Hermitage. She did, but at start of month, got a letter from ins co saying they had rejected her claim, on the basis that her policy didn't cover her for two years for a pre-existing condition.
There was no break in cover at any stage. Customer of 55 years, She's now super worried, has been back to her GP (who is writing a letter) and has been through enough this year to be frank. Also, her new policy, that they recommended to her was a better policy from her previous one, not a downgrade with less cover.
Any recommendations of how to approach this? It's currently with their Complaints Dept.
My mother is almost 77, and at the beginning of the year my Dad died. Her and Dad had a policy for the last 55 years with same health insurer.
Dad had different treatments over the last 15/16 years, but my mother has only had two hospital related claims. One was in 2019 for a day patient operation in the Hermitage.
She had to change policy this year cos Dad passed away, and it was due for renewal at the end of June. She asked me to help navigate the quagmire that is health insurance, but I wasn't able to make any inroads, despite looking at comparison websites etc. In the end, my mother called them and asked them to advise her on what option to take. We think this was around May time. My understanding from a conversation with them around this time, was that she wasn't covered for two years in some hospitals for pre-existing conditions. At that time (May) she had no pre-existing conditions. She had stomach problems on and off for years, but her GP had been treating them as ulcers. In June, her GP decided to send her for a scan for something and it showed up something which required a keyhole operation.
She rang health insurer on June 22nd about the operation being covered, and they asked her to get a hospital code. She got that and asked me to check with them. I contacted them on webchat on June 25th with the code and they said they would have to call me back about it (I am waiting for them to forward me that webchat as I don't recall the details of it). They said they called me on the 26th, but I don't recall a missed call from them.
The 'new' policy kicked off on Jul 1st. Both my mother and I feel though that we did get confirmation from them that it was ok for her to proceed with the op in the Hermitage. She did, but at start of month, got a letter from ins co saying they had rejected her claim, on the basis that her policy didn't cover her for two years for a pre-existing condition.
There was no break in cover at any stage. Customer of 55 years, She's now super worried, has been back to her GP (who is writing a letter) and has been through enough this year to be frank. Also, her new policy, that they recommended to her was a better policy from her previous one, not a downgrade with less cover.
Any recommendations of how to approach this? It's currently with their Complaints Dept.