Terminal Illness payout on life policy

[Guest]

I was diagnosed with MND in Sept 2011 fortunately my problems are progressing slowly.

The criteria for the payout under my life policy is that you must be expected to survive less than 12 months. As this is impossible to predict has anyone out there had any experience of a pay out because of the diagnosis of MND? My cover is with AVIVA

[pete]

Morning Allan,

I expect you don't need me to say how insurance companies will find any excuse to payout , and with MND, it's even murkier, we went to ours, and was told that unlike cancer and a few other conditions that have treatment options at least , Motor neurone wasn't on their list so no go ! In our case, but we where not surprised knowing that they will go to extremes to avoid paying out, there have been several posts over the last few years about this ,may be worth trawling the older posts, I wish you all the best and hope you manage to get some positive results, Considering how quick the medical profession is in telling you how little time you have left, maybe they would like to share that with AVIVA and the others who dismiss it as not terminal , what happened to a bit of compassion .

Regards
Pete

[Allan Y]

Thanks Pete

took your advice and viewed old posts and it loks like i am wasting my time but!
i called aviva this morning and they are going to write to prof shaw so at least they have a record of my condition on file.

I have a paper cutting somewhere when an insurance company paid out on MND with out the 12month limitation so i will fish it out and let you know who it was.

[roy]

Hi Alan,
My critical illness was covered by Zurrich who paid in full on a decreasing mortgage cover.truth is I never knew I had the cover,
When I looked on paperwork that I had filed but never read I found the insurance company only included MND on the policy in
2010, as Pete says they will all wriggle out.When you receive the settlement it is for the outstanding balance only,if you elect
to pay the balance the bank impose an early repayment charge of 5 percent plus interest. Mine is with Barclays Bank. My charge
of 3,500 pounds will go towards the worthy charity to help Bob Diamond as his need is greater than my family bless him.

Best Wishes.

Roy.

[Terry]

I have found a way of dragging this thread a bit lower. On the morbid side, you can get these over fifties policies now. If you live less than 12 years and are around fifty they make good fanatical sense. I took out two three years ago and now I believe that I may live longer than 12 years.
If I’d place a bet on a horse, it would have three legs still looking on the bright side, it is better than a horse with two?
Just a thought, Terry

[john]

Hi Allan,

I think in the past some people have managed to get a doctor to state that their life expectancy is less than 12months but I think this depends on the type of mnd you have and how long you have had it so far. You could try asking your doctor who might be willing to put together a carefully worded letter to send to the life assurance company.

Another option for you may be to ask AVIVA for an equity release loan. If you borrowed the projected value on the pay out on your life policy from them it would be repaid from the proceeds of your life policy in due course. Interest would be to pay but that could be rolled up I believe.
Rory used to exist in this murky world so maybe he could chip in with some sound advice.

John

[Alienista606]

I have AVIVA fight so my neuro send them my details and answer from AVIVA was..."no cos whit MND life expectation was 12m-to 5y " say they doctor its look like they doctors know better my condition then my neuro..
more confused cos my standard life pension was released to me on same set of document so mu neuro cant understand why AVIVA refused my claim.
Now we have another part of fight whit then cos i have wiwes of premium from them now and my neuro send them nice letter whit some nice sentences whit nice world "unfair treated" "ombudsmen" and "missold" so we waiting now for another answer

[teynhambees]

Allan,

Yes in both mine and my younger brothers case. We have Kennedy's syndrome (disease). I was paid in full by Scottish widows after much of a fight! Again my brother paid out this feb a year on from me. Again initially declined but I wrote a letter of appeal with case studies and journals of reference, condsidering Kennedy's has a better prognosis of life expectancy (normal) if any condition (mnd) related should not pay out you would think this would be the case. If you would like my advice FIGHT with reference and quote it and also appeal and state that you will seek the Financial Ombudsman if they will not pay.
Good luck!
Scott

[Allan Y]

Thanks for all your replies and support. I will keep you all up to date with my case.

[roy]

Hi Allan,

Have to take back my remark regarding Barclays Bank as I was wrong, for on my redemption statement the £3.5 k early repayment charge
and the £275 admin charge have been wavered.I phoned and spoke to a call centre in India explained my situation the operator told me the detail would be dealt with by a department and would receive. Phone call.True to their word I got the call from a sympathetic professional member of their team who relayed the news.So I apologise to the woolwich/Barclays Bank for insuating that they were uncaring as in my
Situation this wasn't the case.

Best wishes.

Roy.

[ashfieb]

Hi Allan, I got my mortgage paid off in full with the help of a nicely worded letter from my neurologist, the logic being if MND life expectancy is 3 to 5 years and you have had it 2 years or more you can will expect to die in the next 12 months.

http://www.magimedia.co.uk/buildforum/viewtopic.php?t=4257&highlight=morgage+mortgage

cheers Barry

[Jules]

On a more positive note, my husbands policy did include MND on the list of illnesses. If I remember rightly the consultant wrote that he was terminal but not the expected life span and this was accepted even though the policy actually talked about only paying out when a claimant had less than 12 months to live, and they paid out easily. So to anyone about to contact their life insurance don't just assume that you will be in for a rough ride, sometimes it is a smooth process.

[Big Steve]

Allan,

Yes in both mine and my younger brothers case. We have Kennedy's syndrome (disease). I was paid in full by Scottish widows after much of a fight! Again my brother paid out this feb a year on from me. Again initially declined but I wrote a letter of appeal with case studies and journals of reference, condsidering Kennedy's has a better prognosis of life expectancy (normal) if any condition (mnd) related should not pay out you would think this would be the case. If you would like my advice FIGHT with reference and quote it and also appeal and state that you will seek the Financial Ombudsman if they will not pay.
Good luck!
Scott

Hi Scott
I too have just started a fight with Scottish Widows regarding a terminal illness policy and have already passed it to the Financial Ombudsman. Are you saying that Kennedy`s Syndrome has a better life expectancy than MND? If so I would be grateful for some of the evidence that you used to secure a payout from SW. You can message me privately if that is OK with you but I feel the need to gather as much evidence/info as possible.

Many thanks
Steve

[Lilylou]

Hi I have just joined the forum. My husband has MND and his deterioration has been slow up until the last few months. We contacted our insurance company and were told that that my husband would have to have been told that he only had a certain amount of time left before they paid out. We still went ahead with the form filling and contacted his consultant who wrote them a letter. We were paid out a few weeks later much to our surprise. We are now building Robert a wet room downstairs.

To anyone else reading this it's definitely worth a try and obviously they will ask for a letter from drs and consultants but don't be put off by the small print.

Lilylou xxxx

[pete]

Hi,

Yes we by accident found a policy we had taken out many years ago, long before MND came into our lives,having tried with our mortgage cover ,which was turned down without much of a reason given other than MND wasn't considered by them as terminal !!, so nothing to loose we did as the claim began on our old policy,we had a reply within a week requesting all the usual stuff GP, And other medical information, the time scales where pretty much a standard across most policy cover so after getting a letter two weeks later we where delighted to see the whole amount stated had been paid into our account, < So as Lilylou has said don't give up ,like us you may well be surprised ,some do have a heart and don't make this claim an ordeal you really can do without.