Hi, Although I have used this website regularly over the past 6 months I have only just become a member so I hope I'm doing this right.
I am looking for a little advice and appologies if the subject offends anyone but I have recently undergone a total hysterectomy to treat my CC and am now in the process of trying to claim on my critical illness cover, it's with legal and General and they rang yesterday to say they have heard from my GP but need to write to my gynaecologist to get more info.. They want to ensure my cancer isn't just in situ but is invasive however the letter the doctor sent them said the following which I took as confirmation of the cancer being invasive.
A focus of poorly differentiated carcinoma measuring 3.4 x 2 mm that extended to the margin of the cone biopsy.
Am I correct in thinking this means it's invasive? I've not had any letters confirming a stage which is what they seem to want but the policy just says it has to be invasive?
Any advice would be great, I'm very sceptical that they will try and wriggle out of paying.. Many thanks
I'm afraid I can't be much help here so really I'm just here to give you a spot of encouragement. Certainly you've done your first post, complete with signature perfectly :-) To the best of my knowledge insurance companies will always try to wriggle out of paying a claim, that is what they are for. Basically any insurance policy is a bet. You are betting that you'll need financial help for whatever and the insurance company is betting that you will be just fine and dandy. They are sore losers and they are much bigger than any one of us individually so they like to push us around and bully. This is where you may find a difference between one insurer and another in that I think there are some insurers out there who are less inclined to bully, but I couldn't for a moment tell you who they might be.
I come from the standpoint of someone who does not have insurance, does not have access to free healthcare and who has had to spend several thousand euros of her own savings on hospital treatment, travel and accommodation expenses.
I wish you every bit of luck in your battles with both cancer and insurers. I would like to think that the phrase 'poorly differentiated' can be easily swapped for 'invasive' but it would probably require a kindly doctor to take the time to actually re-write the thing. If the insurance company is looking for specific words I doubt very much that they will accept an alternative, even if it means almost exactly the same thing. It looks like a get-out clause to me.
thanks for the reply. So sorry to hear of the financial struggle you've had in your battle.. i think it's easy to forget how amazing the NHS is.
Hopefully when the hospital confirm the grading it'll be fine. As a single parent it would be amazing to have the financial security, I'll keep my fingers crossed. legal and general have one of the better reputations but we will see.
illness cover and can let you know that the consultant confirmed Stage Ibi G1 adenocarcinoma of the cervix
Every insurance policy is different but Friends provident completed their checks and paid full payment into my bank account 14 days after I started the claim. Wishing you the same luck with your claim.
I want to thank you for flagging this up. It had never crossed my mind that this was something I might be entitled to, it has been so long since we sorted any insurance type things that we couldn't even remember what we had! Anyway, lovely husband has now looked into it and it looks as though I might be entitled to a bit of a pay out! Watch this space! It would just be fantastic as it has been the year from hell financially in top of everything else. It would put my mind at rest about my possible decision to take a bit of unpaid time off just to make sure I'm really better.
Just to reassure you that my critical illness policy was with L&G and they did pay out but it took about 8 weeks, they do pay you interest on the claim tho if it takes a while. My tumour was smaller than yours, treatment was the same and I’d only had the policy a year. It was also for a lot but they still paid. So I don’t think you’ll have a problem.
that's reasurring to hear.. Glad you got it all paid, I don't know about you but part of me feels guilty which is crazy cause the reason i took the policy out was for the unthinkable..
Hi molly I really hope you get yours, I see you were stage 1b, I have seen some older post on here where there are lots of people at the same stage as yourself who were paid out no issue so fingers crossed, mine was stage 1a I had confirmed Friday but still invasive so fingers crossed.. It would be lovely to have a nice holiday with my family after this past year..
I just wanted to update this for anyone coming on here for answers like I did. Today I got the long awaited call from legal and general to say they are paying out my critical illness, my stage was 1a1.
I think i'd convinced myself i would have a huge fight on my hands which i havent the energy for so brilliant news after 7 months.
I was diagnosed just over 4 weeks ago. They think it's stage 1a1 but are checking deeper biopsy to make sure. Had cold cone biopsy last week and waiting for results. My consultant advised me to claim under critical illness when he broke the news. He said he'd fill in any forms and help where needed. I'm also legal and general who have kept in touch but are yet to make a decision. Hearing your stories has given me some hope as i was sceptical at start that they'd try to wheedle out of it.
Thanks for sharing your stories
Tanya
Jan 2016 went for routine smear
feb 2016 called for colposcopy after abnormal cells detected biopsies taken
april 2016 confirmed abnormal stage 3 precancerous cells and given lletz treatment told see you in 6 months
26 April 2016 called in to see consultant told had cancer (world fell apart) believed stage 1a1 red flagged for cone biopsy
19may 2016 cold cone biopsy to stage cancer waiting for results
Wanted to add my experience on here as I found this post when I was going through my own critical care claim.
I had a joint life insurance and critical care policy with Legal and General. It took a while, and some chasing, but they have paid in full based on my 1a1 staging. It’s a large amount (I set the amount to be enough to pay the mortgage off for my partner incase anything ever happened to me).
If you have insurance put a claim in! The worst to happen would be they’d say no. Situations like these are exactly why we take out these policies, we just think we’ll never need them.
Once the you receive the payout the policy is closed. You no longer have life insurance which I think is worth flagging
I did the same, however my critical illness insurance policy is separate to my life insurance policy. So thankfully I still have life insurance however if I try to change to another provider before 5 years all clear the premiums will be huge!
The critical illness has now been cancelled, I no longer have that.
Yeah so far I’ve not even been able to get a quote for a new policy I’m waiting for my test of cure appt which is in February before I pick that piece of life admin up again
I’m waiting for my test of cure appt which is in February before I pick that piece of life admin up again
