Insurance Companies, and the Bile They Leave in my Mouth
For those of you who don’t know, a little background: last August, my girlfriend and I went on a trip to England to attend a wedding, in which Carla was the maid of honour. Carla has cystic fibrosis, but this has never been a problem in regards to travel. She’s been on many trips, and her doctor has never been concerned. This time, however, the combination of extended travel, lack of sleep, smog, exercise, and allergies ended up putting her in the hospital. She spent almost a month in intensive care unit at Papworth Everard, near Cambridge. The staff there are to be commended.
We, of course, had travel insurance through Thomas Cook (not the restaurant, but the travel agency). Thomas Cook travel insurance is handled by Pottruff & Smith. At first, they assured us everything would be fine. Then after two weeks, they phoned the hospital to inform us that our claim was being denied on the basis that Carla had made a doctor’s visit 90 days prior to the trip. Therefore, she could not be considered stable, regardless of the fact that it was a routine visit that involved standard procedures for CF patients. Then they gave me a person to contact if I wanted to appeal. That fellow ended up being on vacation. To make matters worse, they sent the appeal letter to our address in Saskatoon. Basically, we were left there to rot.
We figured everything out on our own, blah blah blah, ended up having to get a lawyer involved to represent us. Last week we received excellent news: the insurance company was now accepting our claim. Oh, did I mention that they decided to accept the claim three days after our lawyer sent them a letter stating that he was sick of their stalling and was going to file a motion in court if they didn’t respond to him immediately?
As I said, this is excellent news. But forgive me if I don’t feel entirely grateful at the moment. I believe that the insurance industry has an ethical issue that needs to be dealt with. I understand that an insurance company is a business and that profit is the bottom line. But they must remember that they have customers who depend on their services. Instead of nitpicking every detail when a claim is filed, they should be considering their ethical obligation to the customer. The customer trusts that if something goes wrong, the insurance company will be there to help. I mean, it took a year for our happy ending to be resolved, and we didn’t even have to go to court; yet the insurance company still had to pay all those people to make sure that our claim was deniable. What a waste. Stressing everyone out for no reason (us and them included).
I wonder: did they have a change of heart a year later? Did they suddenly decide, ‘well, let’s be nice and help this lady out’? No. It was a calculated assessment spurred on by the threat of legal action that did the trick. I also imagine that they worried about a possible PR nightmare, considering they have insurance plans that cater specifically to CF patients.
I hope they don’t think they did us a favour. Cuz if that’s the case, they can go fuck themselves.
Pics: Carla and I at a 400 year old pub; the village of Papworth; and an English bunny, to end this post with a smile!
We, of course, had travel insurance through Thomas Cook (not the restaurant, but the travel agency). Thomas Cook travel insurance is handled by Pottruff & Smith. At first, they assured us everything would be fine. Then after two weeks, they phoned the hospital to inform us that our claim was being denied on the basis that Carla had made a doctor’s visit 90 days prior to the trip. Therefore, she could not be considered stable, regardless of the fact that it was a routine visit that involved standard procedures for CF patients. Then they gave me a person to contact if I wanted to appeal. That fellow ended up being on vacation. To make matters worse, they sent the appeal letter to our address in Saskatoon. Basically, we were left there to rot.
We figured everything out on our own, blah blah blah, ended up having to get a lawyer involved to represent us. Last week we received excellent news: the insurance company was now accepting our claim. Oh, did I mention that they decided to accept the claim three days after our lawyer sent them a letter stating that he was sick of their stalling and was going to file a motion in court if they didn’t respond to him immediately?
As I said, this is excellent news. But forgive me if I don’t feel entirely grateful at the moment. I believe that the insurance industry has an ethical issue that needs to be dealt with. I understand that an insurance company is a business and that profit is the bottom line. But they must remember that they have customers who depend on their services. Instead of nitpicking every detail when a claim is filed, they should be considering their ethical obligation to the customer. The customer trusts that if something goes wrong, the insurance company will be there to help. I mean, it took a year for our happy ending to be resolved, and we didn’t even have to go to court; yet the insurance company still had to pay all those people to make sure that our claim was deniable. What a waste. Stressing everyone out for no reason (us and them included).
I wonder: did they have a change of heart a year later? Did they suddenly decide, ‘well, let’s be nice and help this lady out’? No. It was a calculated assessment spurred on by the threat of legal action that did the trick. I also imagine that they worried about a possible PR nightmare, considering they have insurance plans that cater specifically to CF patients.
I hope they don’t think they did us a favour. Cuz if that’s the case, they can go fuck themselves.
Pics: Carla and I at a 400 year old pub; the village of Papworth; and an English bunny, to end this post with a smile!
posted by Kris at 12:26 AM
2 Comments:
An extremely stressful and saddening situation with unnecessary added stress of an insurance company. Not to mention the fact that it dragged on for more than a year. Where's the money for the pain and suffering? Like you said, they didn't do you any favors.
Jenn
It's not completely finished, so I probably shouldn't comment too much on it as of yet, but having them do their fucking jobs is enough compensation for us. We'd definitely have to go to court to get any 'pain and suffering' compensation, and the two or three years of court proceedings will add more stress than it will relieve. Sure, we're screwed over on certain aspects, but I'm not out to end up in the positive; having things equal out is fine by me. I'd rather just get my out-of-pocket expenses back and tell them to go to hell. It's more satisfying than money.
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