Critical illness Insurers under fire
Brokers Online offers cutting edge articles and information about Life Insurance, health insurance and loans.
With critical illness insurance, before it will pay out the insurer will want to satisfy itself that the claim is valid in three primary areas:
Its in everyones interests to ensure that the diagnosis has been made correctly - so theres rarely any conflict between insurance company and policyholder on that matter. Its the other two validation areas where conflict can arise. (life assurance) Depending upon the wording on the policys schedule of insured illnesses there can sometimes be some illnesses which fall into a grey area - it can be argued that they are insured and it can be argued that they arent. Now its not an issue if the insurer believes an illness is covered but the policyholder doesnt - the claim is never made and the issue never surfaces! But the sparks fly when the policyholder thinks he is insured but the insurer disagrees. Such a case comes before the Courts in the next few weeks. David Hawkins from Staffordshire is suing Scottish Provident under his £400,000 policy. Basically, the policyholders medical advisers believe his illness is covered by the terms of the policy whereas the insurers medical advisers disagree. If Mr Hawkins wins, the press will have a field day and the critical illness industry will suffer a further knock it can ill afford. Another writ, filed in the High Court, points up the problems when an insurer thinks that the claimant mislead them on the original application form thereby obtaining insurance cover on false pretences. Thomas Welch form Kensal Green, north London, is suing Scottish Provident for £206,800. The issue goes back to 2000 when, two years after taking up the critical illness policy, it was confirmed that he had testicular cancer. Scottish Provident refused the claim because of "non-disclosure", saying that Mr Welch had not been honest about his smoking habit. He admits that he did smoke earlier in his life but insists that he had long since quit by the time he applied for the insurance and as such, did complete the form honestly. We presume that the case in court will centre upon whether Mr Welch accurately answered the questions about smoking. Most insurers define "a smoker" as someone who has smoked or taken nicotine products within the last 5 years. If Mr Thomas had said "yes", to this type of question, then his insurance premium would have been as much as 65% more than he would have been charged as a non-smoker. We guess that his lawyers may try to argue that he omitted information by simple error and that the past smoking was irrelevant to his testicular cancer. An interesting issue. We shall follow the case and report the outcome. Click here for page 2 (cheap home insurance)
Did you Know? Did you Know? Did you Know? As you already know, personal loans are widely advertised on the Internet. But how can you be sure to find the cheapest interest rate? Research from the UKs largest credit reference agency, Experian, shows that of accepted loan applications, 43% are offered a higher rate than the advertised interest rate. So, if youre looking for a cheap personal loan (car insurance quotes) , its probably best to apply through a Loan Broker. The Broker will be well aware of which lenders will be happy with your credit history and theyll be well placed to find you the cheapest interest rate possible.
|
|