My Battle Royale with the medical insurance company!!

 

My sincerest apologies to everyone who took my recommendation to use "Travelinsurance4medical.com" and my glowing reports of how good they are - I was misinformed!

I had an annual policy costing £380 or so. It had seven weeks left to run. A week before my trip I called them to tell them I was waiting for a cardioversion for my Atrial Fibrillation which has returned. No problem they said - you need to pay an extra £350 to cover you for those remaining weeks!!!!! Obviously, I said that it was ludicrous and I was only going away for a week but "computer says... blah…blah ".

He then offered to sell me a one-week policy - only to find I am now uninsurable!!

So then I asked if I would get a refund on the remaining seven weeks of my policy:

"No, because we are not cancelling it"

"But I'm not covered anymore?"

"No"

"So, you are not insuring me nor refunding me"

"No, it's your choice not to pay the extra"

Thieving barnyards.

Stupid, I know, but I actually, shamefully, cried on the phone. Honestly, on top of the last six years when I have 12 cardioversions, four failed ablations, a SCAD heart-attack and now a failed minimaze only to find myself in Afib again and wait months for a cardioversion, this was just the final straw. I was thinking that, for the first time, this Afib is copeable (much slower than I've ever had before when my HR would rise to 195 at times) and I could still go to Paris. Now I can only go without insurance. So ANGRY!!!!!  I posted everywhere – Facebook, Health Unlocked forum and Trustpilot…

The irony of it is that, because I was waiting for a cardioversion because I am in Afib,  I was LESS likely to need to go to hospital as I could not go into Afib! 

Anyway, the next day, as a result of my Trustpilot review, TravelInsurance4medical.com called me.  They proposed as a favour that they would cover all my medical conditions without extra premium, which I thought was fair.  I specifically said “Just to clarify, you are covering everything except Afib?” and was assured yes.

When I got their email it actually said “except any cardiovascular conditions” which then meant they would not cover my SCAD. 

I queried this and was told that, yes they had told me that, but they had a made a mistake!  I asked what would happen if I had made a mistake - for example, such as forgetting to tell them I was waiting for a procedure (which was what triggered this whole drama to begin with).  They just kept apologising.  I then made an official complaint which goes through their internal process before the Ombudsman.  I updated Trustpilot too with this latest development.  I had zero faith in the internal process (actually called a “statement of dissatisfaction” rather than a complaint!) or in the Ombudsman tbh.

However, the following day they called to say that, though they were technically correct, that as a gesture of goodwill they would cover me for EVERYTHING and they themselves would swallow the £350 excess they had wanted to charge me!!

So obviously I was delighted but this has been so stressful on top of everything.  I don’t think I needed anymore stress after the last 16 months (or 6.5 years!).

To be fair, I would like to say that TI4M was unfailingly helpful and polite throughout – even when trying to rip  me off in the first place…..

BUT I FELT LIKE FLIPPING JOAN OF ARC WHEN I WON!!!  VANQUISH THE THIEVING BARNYARDS!!!