Claiming Critical Illness Cover
Discussion
While I hope not many people have had to invoke this insurance, has anyone had a successful Critical Illness Claim on their mortgage/life insurance?
My wife has just been diagnosed with breast cancer which has spread to her lymphatic nodes (and hopefully not elsewhere - we're still waiting for the test results).
Someone asked if we had critical illness cover as part of our mortgage/life insurance that we took out when we moved house in March last year. Neither of us could recall, but after checking the policy it does appear that we do have the cover with Legal & General.
The policy does outline some forms of cancer they don't pay out for (melanoma, cancer in situ etc) but from what we know so far I think we are almost certainly in a category that would be covered.
The thought of no mortgage would mean my wife can leave a professional she is disillusioned with and explore other career avenues after her recovery.
We're not banking on anything, but does anyone have any advice on how the process works? Thanks.
My wife has just been diagnosed with breast cancer which has spread to her lymphatic nodes (and hopefully not elsewhere - we're still waiting for the test results).
Someone asked if we had critical illness cover as part of our mortgage/life insurance that we took out when we moved house in March last year. Neither of us could recall, but after checking the policy it does appear that we do have the cover with Legal & General.
The policy does outline some forms of cancer they don't pay out for (melanoma, cancer in situ etc) but from what we know so far I think we are almost certainly in a category that would be covered.
The thought of no mortgage would mean my wife can leave a professional she is disillusioned with and explore other career avenues after her recovery.
We're not banking on anything, but does anyone have any advice on how the process works? Thanks.
L&G are pretty good. Critical illness is pretty straightforward to be fair, if you meet the definitions and you didn't tell fibs on the application you will get a payout. From my experience Life insurances and Critical Illness tends to pa out without any hassle, it isn't like motor insurance where they will use any little loophole to wiggle out and avoid paying you what you paid them to provide.
Good luck and I hope your wife makes a speedy recovery!
Good luck and I hope your wife makes a speedy recovery!
I may be wrong but from recollection when in insurance industry, CI only pays out if the diagnosis is terminal/completely life altering where, where you will not be able to work/severely restricted in work.
If your wife is in a 'profession' then I suspect there are good benefits attached. I'd milk those for as long as possible.
I hope I'm wrong.
If your wife is in a 'profession' then I suspect there are good benefits attached. I'd milk those for as long as possible.
I hope I'm wrong.
We had a friend who survived a heart attack, had a choice of reduced lump sum or have 10 years of monthly payments, thank God they had that cover, went for lump sum but I suppose it depends on how much you would be covered for, hope everything goes straightforward, but get in touch with the insurers
Good luck
Good luck
sparkyhx said:
I may be wrong but from recollection when in insurance industry, CI only pays out if the diagnosis is terminal/completely life altering where, where you will not be able to work/severely restricted in work.
If your wife is in a 'profession' then I suspect there are good benefits attached. I'd milk those for as long as possible.
I hope I'm wrong.
That's what we suspected but according to the policy, their critical illness kicks in if you are diagnosed with any of the stated conditions. There then follows 3 pages of illnesses to choose from. There's no mention of certain criteria regarding work that also have to be met.If your wife is in a 'profession' then I suspect there are good benefits attached. I'd milk those for as long as possible.
I hope I'm wrong.
She's in education so will get 6 months off at full salary. We can still survive after that mortgage or not. We're simply being cautious about the fact we may have actually had the luck to cover ourselves for circumstances we never thought we'd find ourselves in.
Obviously I'd rather keep things as they are and have my wife's health back, but there you go.
sparkyhx said:
I may be wrong but from recollection when in insurance industry, CI only pays out if the diagnosis is terminal/completely life altering where, where you will not be able to work/severely restricted in work.
If your wife is in a 'profession' then I suspect there are good benefits attached. I'd milk those for as long as possible.
I hope I'm wrong.
You are...... wrong that is, in fact completely wrong. If the OP has a true critical illness policy then on the face of it the claim should be paid.If your wife is in a 'profession' then I suspect there are good benefits attached. I'd milk those for as long as possible.
I hope I'm wrong.
However....... some life policies have a terminal illness (note not critical illness) rider which will pay out the life assurance if the prognosis is terminal with less than 12 mnths to live.
craig1912 said:
sparkyhx said:
I may be wrong but from recollection when in insurance industry, CI only pays out if the diagnosis is terminal/completely life altering where, where you will not be able to work/severely restricted in work.
If your wife is in a 'profession' then I suspect there are good benefits attached. I'd milk those for as long as possible.
I hope I'm wrong.
You are...... wrong that is, in fact completely wrong. If the OP has a true critical illness policy then on the face of it the claim should be paid.If your wife is in a 'profession' then I suspect there are good benefits attached. I'd milk those for as long as possible.
I hope I'm wrong.
However....... some life policies have a terminal illness (note not critical illness) rider which will pay out the life assurance if the prognosis is terminal with less than 12 mnths to live.
craig1912 said:
sparkyhx said:
just curious - whats the insurable loss if you recover and carry on working?
There doesn't have to be an insureable loss to claim.But all insurance is to cover loss. The nature of the loss must be definite and financially measurable. i.e. illness stops you working for a period of time/forever or means you have to downgrade.
If someone is diagnosed with Prostate cancer they could be quite happily living with it for the next 30 years, and then die of a heart attack.
Similarly with most other in-situe cancers, I always thought these are not deemed 'critical', however when they metastasize thats when they become 'critical' i.e. your chance of recovery is pretty much nil, albeit with indeterminate length of time.
Hi. First time posting although I've been an avid reader for quite a while.
Claiming on life assurance. I can only tell you about my experience.
I didn't have critical cover but it turned out our life assurance had the terminal illness cover included. I didn't know about this until I read the small print last October after getting some s
t news I'd more or less expected.
I phoned the insurers, Halifax it was, and they put some forms in the post which I gave to my oncologist to read and sign.
She sent them back to the Halifax and about three days later I had a phone call to say it had been approved. The money was in our bank account the next day.
The whole thing took about two weeks start to finish.
Some of the money we used to pay off our mortgage and the rest is in the bank. I gave up work two weeks after getting our claim approved.
Phone them if in doubt, as already said they don't tend to mess people about, unlike car insurers.
Best of luck
Claiming on life assurance. I can only tell you about my experience.
I didn't have critical cover but it turned out our life assurance had the terminal illness cover included. I didn't know about this until I read the small print last October after getting some s
t news I'd more or less expected. I phoned the insurers, Halifax it was, and they put some forms in the post which I gave to my oncologist to read and sign.
She sent them back to the Halifax and about three days later I had a phone call to say it had been approved. The money was in our bank account the next day.
The whole thing took about two weeks start to finish.
Some of the money we used to pay off our mortgage and the rest is in the bank. I gave up work two weeks after getting our claim approved.
Phone them if in doubt, as already said they don't tend to mess people about, unlike car insurers.
Best of luck
sparkyhx said:
I know we are getting a bit technical here and I don't want this to detract from the OP post at this concerning time.
But all insurance is to cover loss. The nature of the loss must be definite and financially measurable. i.e. illness stops you working for a period of time/forever or means you have to downgrade.
If someone is diagnosed with Prostate cancer they could be quite happily living with it for the next 30 years, and then die of a heart attack.
Similarly with most other in-situe cancers, I always thought these are not deemed 'critical', however when they metastasize thats when they become 'critical' i.e. your chance of recovery is pretty much nil, albeit with indeterminate length of time.
without going into specifics there doesn't have to be a loss and it doesn't have to be measurable - I know a couple of people who have claimed under a CI policy and have recovered and cleared of any cancer but have benefited fully from the policyBut all insurance is to cover loss. The nature of the loss must be definite and financially measurable. i.e. illness stops you working for a period of time/forever or means you have to downgrade.
If someone is diagnosed with Prostate cancer they could be quite happily living with it for the next 30 years, and then die of a heart attack.
Similarly with most other in-situe cancers, I always thought these are not deemed 'critical', however when they metastasize thats when they become 'critical' i.e. your chance of recovery is pretty much nil, albeit with indeterminate length of time.
craig1912 said:
without going into specifics there doesn't have to be a loss and it doesn't have to be measurable - I know a couple of people who have claimed under a CI policy and have recovered and cleared of any cancer but have benefited fully from the policy
Same as the terminal cover. It pays out if you have less than twelve monthes to live. Mine paid out in October so you can do the sums. I however fully intend to outlive that. 
That will show them.
There are too many different types of critical illness and life policies available and variations on declarations for you to get any solid advice here without people knowing the exact policy features.
Call L and G or go to where you purchased it, they will tell you straight up exactly what you are entitled to.
I hope the missus has a full recovery, best of wishes to you both :-).
Call L and G or go to where you purchased it, they will tell you straight up exactly what you are entitled to.
I hope the missus has a full recovery, best of wishes to you both :-).
Made a claim on our critical illness cover after getting diagnosed with MS. Took a while with lots of doctors & consultant letters going back and forth. But since the policy just said "diagnosis of MS" they paid out.
it was a pretty old policy and i cant remember who the company was. Memory aint what it used to be 😠
it was a pretty old policy and i cant remember who the company was. Memory aint what it used to be 😠
Juggsy1 said:
Hi. First time posting although I've been an avid reader for quite a while.
Claiming on life assurance. I can only tell you about my experience.
I didn't have critical cover but it turned out our life assurance had the terminal illness cover included. I didn't know about this until I read the small print last October after getting some st news I'd more or less expected.
I phoned the insurers, Halifax it was, and they put some forms in the post which I gave to my oncologist to read and sign.
She sent them back to the Halifax and about three days later I had a phone call to say it had been approved.
Glad you managed to sort it out.Claiming on life assurance. I can only tell you about my experience.
I didn't have critical cover but it turned out our life assurance had the terminal illness cover included. I didn't know about this until I read the small print last October after getting some s
t news I'd more or less expected. I phoned the insurers, Halifax it was, and they put some forms in the post which I gave to my oncologist to read and sign.
She sent them back to the Halifax and about three days later I had a phone call to say it had been approved.
joefraser said:
There are too many different types of critical illness and life policies available and variations on declarations for you to get any solid advice here without people knowing the exact policy features.
Call L and G or go to where you purchased it, they will tell you straight up exactly what you are entitled to.
I hope the missus has a full recovery, best of wishes to you both :-).
Spot on, We had CI never thought it would happen to us so switched to LI when we moved with Terminal illness cover thrown in as a bonus, although wife diagnosed with metastatic cancer spread to bones we put claim in to help out but rejected (Leg & Gen) as you have to have less than 1 year prognosis before policy payment, Oncologist reckoned 18 months so a no go, luckily OH muddling along 4 years later but you can safely say we wished we never binned CI as life would have been a lot easier on 'limited' time.Call L and G or go to where you purchased it, they will tell you straight up exactly what you are entitled to.
I hope the missus has a full recovery, best of wishes to you both :-).
You guys....
Thank you for the reassuring comments.
I spoke to L&G yesterday to get my head around what we need to do when we're ready to submit a claim. They were as helpful as could be in light of the circumstances, so as soon as we have all the results and the official diagnosis from the oncologist we'll have a chat about what we want to do.
Thank you for the reassuring comments.
I spoke to L&G yesterday to get my head around what we need to do when we're ready to submit a claim. They were as helpful as could be in light of the circumstances, so as soon as we have all the results and the official diagnosis from the oncologist we'll have a chat about what we want to do.
I have claimed on mine.
I rang up to tell them that I had had a stroke - wasn't actually planning on claiming - and their response was "we will send out your claim forms". I asked why they were doing that, but a stroke was one of their reasons to pay out.
The claim took ages - about 7 months I believe. Now I don't believe I had a "bad" stroke, that or the health care I got was very good in the couple of days I spent in hospital. (I was taken in an ambulance, blue lights flashing, and I can't remember it!). I ended up calling them every week and asking what the story was. In the end, I was getting a bit worried about it and they went to every doctor I have ever been to in Salford, Manchester and my GP; having gone higher up the chain, they paid out in full - house paid off and remainder paid to me.
That said, I can't get critical illness insurance now. Not even "without stroke cover". I have also been passed over for life insurance as well.
Am I glad I have been paid out? Partially. If I had NOT had a stroke, I would probably be close to paying off my mortgage now, also I wouldn't get so tired as I do now. I wouldn't have money in the bank for that rainy day, but then I would have insurance for critical illness and life. I'm glad they paid out, but I would rather not have had to claim.
My Insurers were Zurich, I seem to recall.
I rang up to tell them that I had had a stroke - wasn't actually planning on claiming - and their response was "we will send out your claim forms". I asked why they were doing that, but a stroke was one of their reasons to pay out.
The claim took ages - about 7 months I believe. Now I don't believe I had a "bad" stroke, that or the health care I got was very good in the couple of days I spent in hospital. (I was taken in an ambulance, blue lights flashing, and I can't remember it!). I ended up calling them every week and asking what the story was. In the end, I was getting a bit worried about it and they went to every doctor I have ever been to in Salford, Manchester and my GP; having gone higher up the chain, they paid out in full - house paid off and remainder paid to me.
That said, I can't get critical illness insurance now. Not even "without stroke cover". I have also been passed over for life insurance as well.
Am I glad I have been paid out? Partially. If I had NOT had a stroke, I would probably be close to paying off my mortgage now, also I wouldn't get so tired as I do now. I wouldn't have money in the bank for that rainy day, but then I would have insurance for critical illness and life. I'm glad they paid out, but I would rather not have had to claim.
My Insurers were Zurich, I seem to recall.
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