5 ms·

This is why it's important to read the policy itself, not just the marketing materials. Usually they have the specific details of what you have to do and what y

This is why it's important to read the policy itself, not just the marketing materials. Usually they have the specific details of what you have to do and what you're entitled to receive. The insurer definitely didn't handle it well but it would have gone much smoother if the expectations were properly set by reading the policy. The travel insurance that comes for my credit card for example makes it quite clear that you have to contact the insurer as soon as possible after an accident and that in most cases, they'll opt to have you repatriated for care in your home country.

icebraining 8y ago
in most cases, they'll opt to have you repatriated for care in your home country. Yes; and that's a shitty thing to require when the person has a broken rib and a detached fingertip and is 20h+ away from the home country. The problem wasn't that he didn't know the policy, it was the policy itself.
- TwoBit 8y ago
  Certainly it was partly his fault for not reading the policy.
  - Flimm 8y ago
    He did read the policy. He also read the 94 page medical manual they later sent him, which presumably wasn't in the original policy. He found the reason in all those pages of text why he was eligible for getting his costs covered, and they still replied with: > “This is a general exclusion and doesn’t apply to you specifically. Our decision still stands with curtailment. No further medical input needed. Why do you feel that he shares any part of the blame here? Why do you expect him to be an expert in reading and interpreting insurance policies in the middle of a medical emergency?
    - trocadero 8y ago
      He's being willfully ignorant there. That quote comes from the section saying when an airline requires medical clearance. Two pages later there are several pages of specific medical conditions and guidance on if they should fly. One of them is "Full plaster cast" and it says that you can fly 2 days after getting one.
      - rsbadger 8y ago
        I felt that paragraph was the most relevant to me, I had been told by my DR that I shouldn't fly. They had already told me I was crazy to have flown to SG with my finger hanging off without being stitched up first. And I didn't have a plaster cast, they had given me a make shift thing in Bali, but once I reached SG I was unfit for flying home due to the risk of further damage to the hand. It was massively swollen and 2 of the bones were pretty badly shattered. I wasn't going to ignore the advice of a DR who was holding my X-rays to appease an insurance company who doesn't give 2 shits about my health.
        trocadero 8y ago
        >I felt that paragraph was the most relevant to me And not the one specifically dealing with broken bones? >I wasn't going to ignore the advice of a DR who was holding my X-rays to appease an insurance company who doesn't give 2 shits about my health. Which is not something anyone is going to argue about with you. Except, of course, those that have to write the $15K check. They are going to want more documentation that a one liner when standard medical advice says you can fly.
        armitron 8y ago
        Standard medical advice? Are you even reading what he wrote? His doctor did not clear him to fly. It's crystal clear from the way they conducted themselves that the insurance company would find any excuse to deny his claim. It's also very probable that their delays were deliberate. I hope OP can talk to an attorney and take them to the cleaners. At the very least, he named them so potential future victims will have something to find if they perform due diligence. With all the responses you've generated here and the way you go about your argumentation I wouldn't be surprised to find out that you work for the insurer.
    - kbutler 8y ago
      The blame comes earlier - he should have read his insurance policy before buying it. Along with the policies of the airline(s), cabs, web sites, phone services, hotels, ... Basically, every service provider provides custom contracts with different exclusions, because that's the environment. We need to get to a common set of expectations - like in a restaurant. Those expectations differ between countries/regions (is tipping expected? is water free?) but you have a common set of expectations that aren't governed by individual contracts for each restaurant.
  - mikeash 8y ago
    On one side: a gigantic company with a fleet of lawyers whose full time job is to write policies that are as advantageous as possible for the company. On the other side: a random non-expert who needs some insurance, among a thousand other things going on in their life. How much fault should assign to the second one?
gnode 8y ago
He got a medical opinion that he was not fit for travel before his operation. This wasn't a case of not reading the small print, it was a case of the insurer valuing their own medical opinion over that of their customer's doctor.
ghaff 8y ago
It's probably particularly important with travel insurance because travel insurance exists for reasons in addition to a standard health insurance policy (which may, in fact, be your primary health coverage for out-of-country travel in any case). I think of travel insurance as serving two main purposes. - Insuring against not being able to take or having to cut short an expensive pre-paid trip or - Evacuating you (e.g. a helicopter rescue) if you injure yourself in a remote place (especially if you're doing activities like mountain climbing). Of course, it depends on the quality of your main medical insurance.

icebraining 8y ago

in most cases, they'll opt to have you repatriated for care in your home country. Yes; and that's a shitty thing to require when the person has a broken rib and a detached fingertip and is 20h+ away from the home country. The problem wasn't that he didn't know the policy, it was the policy itself.

TwoBit 8y ago
Certainly it was partly his fault for not reading the policy.
- Flimm 8y ago
  He did read the policy. He also read the 94 page medical manual they later sent him, which presumably wasn't in the original policy. He found the reason in all those pages of text why he was eligible for getting his costs covered, and they still replied with: > “This is a general exclusion and doesn’t apply to you specifically. Our decision still stands with curtailment. No further medical input needed. Why do you feel that he shares any part of the blame here? Why do you expect him to be an expert in reading and interpreting insurance policies in the middle of a medical emergency?
  - trocadero 8y ago
    He's being willfully ignorant there. That quote comes from the section saying when an airline requires medical clearance. Two pages later there are several pages of specific medical conditions and guidance on if they should fly. One of them is "Full plaster cast" and it says that you can fly 2 days after getting one.
    - rsbadger 8y ago
      I felt that paragraph was the most relevant to me, I had been told by my DR that I shouldn't fly. They had already told me I was crazy to have flown to SG with my finger hanging off without being stitched up first. And I didn't have a plaster cast, they had given me a make shift thing in Bali, but once I reached SG I was unfit for flying home due to the risk of further damage to the hand. It was massively swollen and 2 of the bones were pretty badly shattered. I wasn't going to ignore the advice of a DR who was holding my X-rays to appease an insurance company who doesn't give 2 shits about my health.
      - trocadero 8y ago
        >I felt that paragraph was the most relevant to me And not the one specifically dealing with broken bones? >I wasn't going to ignore the advice of a DR who was holding my X-rays to appease an insurance company who doesn't give 2 shits about my health. Which is not something anyone is going to argue about with you. Except, of course, those that have to write the $15K check. They are going to want more documentation that a one liner when standard medical advice says you can fly.
        armitron 8y ago
        Standard medical advice? Are you even reading what he wrote? His doctor did not clear him to fly. It's crystal clear from the way they conducted themselves that the insurance company would find any excuse to deny his claim. It's also very probable that their delays were deliberate. I hope OP can talk to an attorney and take them to the cleaners. At the very least, he named them so potential future victims will have something to find if they perform due diligence. With all the responses you've generated here and the way you go about your argumentation I wouldn't be surprised to find out that you work for the insurer.
  - kbutler 8y ago
    The blame comes earlier - he should have read his insurance policy before buying it. Along with the policies of the airline(s), cabs, web sites, phone services, hotels, ... Basically, every service provider provides custom contracts with different exclusions, because that's the environment. We need to get to a common set of expectations - like in a restaurant. Those expectations differ between countries/regions (is tipping expected? is water free?) but you have a common set of expectations that aren't governed by individual contracts for each restaurant.
- mikeash 8y ago
  On one side: a gigantic company with a fleet of lawyers whose full time job is to write policies that are as advantageous as possible for the company. On the other side: a random non-expert who needs some insurance, among a thousand other things going on in their life. How much fault should assign to the second one?

gnode 8y ago

He got a medical opinion that he was not fit for travel before his operation. This wasn't a case of not reading the small print, it was a case of the insurer valuing their own medical opinion over that of their customer's doctor.

ghaff 8y ago

It's probably particularly important with travel insurance because travel insurance exists for reasons in addition to a standard health insurance policy (which may, in fact, be your primary health coverage for out-of-country travel in any case). I think of travel insurance as serving two main purposes. - Insuring against not being able to take or having to cut short an expensive pre-paid trip or - Evacuating you (e.g. a helicopter rescue) if you injure yourself in a remote place (especially if you're doing activities like mountain climbing). Of course, it depends on the quality of your main medical insurance.