Critical Illness Cover

Hi CeeDee,

Hopefully someone on this forum will reply to you soon relating to the long delay in waiting for your critical Illness cover. I would advise you to get back on to your Insurance Company as each company has their own policy.

I hope you continue to do well and if you have any queries do not hesitate to call the Irish Cancer Society’s Freefone Helpline (1 800 200 700) and speak to a specialist nurse in confidence.

With kind regards,
Cancer Information Service Nurse.

Hi ceedee,
This topic was covered on Joe Duffy about 18 months - 2 years ago and, while it dealt with one particular company, it reflected much of my own experience and that of a colleague. It would appear that the industry hopes that those afflicted by Cancer will "just go away"

The procedure for claiming will be clearly set out in your policy documents. Ensure that you follow these. If you do not get a satisfactory response within a reasonable period - bearing in mind that you probably have already been communicating with the company for some time - then [b:2vd96dx6]WRITE[/b:2vd96dx6] to them asking for their [b:2vd96dx6]FINAL RESPONSE[/b:2vd96dx6] - it's [b:2vd96dx6]CRITICAL[/b:2vd96dx6] that you use this exact phrase. After that the company has 25 working days to respond. See here for more info: http://www.financialombudsman.ie/complaints-procedure/

My policy stated that it would pay out "within 3 weeks" of getting all documents. It took nearly 6 months, the threat of legal action and a complaint to the ombudsman before they paid out - with further compensation for the delay.

They kept telling me that "It's with the CMO" (Chief Medical Officer), then "it's been approved" ....several weeks and no cheque, then "it's gone back to the CMO". This was repeated several times. My wife was in tears, pleading with them over the phone, while I was physically too weak, at the time, to even talk to them on the phone.

My advice, assuming you've already been talking to them, is to write, asking for their [b:2vd96dx6]Final Response[/b:2vd96dx6], and take it from there.

Given the discussion on Joe Duffy, along with my experience, and that of my late friend, I am absolutely incensed (still) that these companies treat those with serious illnesses in this manner. When you are hit with the sledgehammer diagnosis of one of these critical illnesses, the very last thing you want ..or need...is to get shabby, immoral and what I term unethical treatment. Grrr!

Good luck with your claim!

PS.....If you're getting the runaround...Don't you be NICE!

Hi.

I was diagnosed in June and had payment by mid September. My broker managed everything for me so that could be the reason why there wasn't much of a delay.

Regards,

Kar

Hi Kar,
You were fortunate that the insurance Co dealt with your broker. For C.I. claims, most cos will only deal directly with the client and won't go through a broker.

It's a good point though, and certainly worth shaking the brokers tree to speed things up. Even if they can't act for you, they can certainly get the ear of the insurance co.

Incidentally, my broker told me "We can't act for you in the claim", while, after I settled with the Insurance Co, they said "We could have sorted that for you".............Doh!

Thanks everyone, cheque arrived last week without me phoning the insurance company.
So I can make some plans and relax and enjoy a few family treats.Hair growing back well and in great form thanks for all the tips
CeeDee

glad you got sorted.

I found mine was delayed for what seemed like forever, when I finally rang the insurance company they told me that they had sent a form to my GP 6 weeks ago and had not received anything back. I rang my GP office and explained the situation and was met with "oh we are very busy"...6 weeks they had it....I cant decide if I was more annoyed at them for not looking at it or with the insurance company for not updating me on what stage they were at...after that I rang them both every other day until it got sorted!

Hello everyone!

Just an add-on to this subject; even though I haven't worked since Feb, for many reasons we didn't look into Critical illness cover until recently so to make a long story short I sent in my claim for Mid to End of September and I got my first payment paid into the bank today and I have another one going through and should hit my bank by Monday or Tuesday.

In fairness, after seeing the original post on this it made me keep after my claim with the insurance and I have to be fair to them, they have been terribly helpful each time I rang (but I think it was me ringing that got it through without any messing!) so I have to thank ye for that!

Hi Guys, Ive just booked a family Skiing trip to Italy for early January so im really looking forward to that.I have an apointment with my surgeon in November to talk about replacing the expander with the permanant implant but im waiting until after the Skiing to do it.
A few years ago I nearly stopped the critical illness cover as things were very tight financially thankgod I didnt.
CeeDee