Is MND Classed as a Terminal Illness or not?

Hi Gypster, I've read you post with great interest as my insurance company Legal and General are refusing to pay up on my policy as I have not been told "I have less than 12 months to live". Although. There is a clause which does say the mortgage will be paid if I am told. Who on this planet can tell me?. Apart from the time when it is blatantly obvious. Therefore because I have MND, I have in effect only got life cover and my terminal illness cover is not worth the paper it is written on. My Neuro consultant sent a letter but couldn't definitively say I've got less than 12 months. Can he say I've got more?. Just trying to get as much info as possible as the Financial Ombudsman is the next stop.
Kind regards
Plymptonman.

Hi Peter

I sympathise. I agree that we just have to enjoy our children though and do our best to bring them up.

Sarah

Sarah, I really feel for you. After the realisation of the illness has sunk inall you want to do is enjoy the rest of your life how ever long it is. I to am bringing my 2 boys on my own without any help from my soon to be ex wife. I know the costs of new school clothes as they grow out of them and shoes seem to be every 5 minutes. Luckily for me I have a neice who is a solicitor, so I have a good will in place with powers of attorney set in place and a guardian for the boys. I think at times you have forget the hassle and just enjoy your children while you can. I know it`s hard, I have drunk wife that keeps phoning the house demanding things.

Unfortunately "Terminal Illness" means whatever your insuarance defines it as. You have to read the fine print. My policy says I have to be declared as having less than 12 months to live.

Pete

I wish my broker had advised me to take out critical illness insurance. But I was young, who could have known?

The worst part for me is that my solicitor told me to give my ex-husband a 50% charge over the house. I thought I was going to die within a few years, so agreed. My ex hasn't paid maintenance for our kids for 4 years and I'm struggling to run the house and bring up the kids now. Everything is so expensive. If I live until my youngest is 21, I have to sell the house and give my ex half!

I can't do anything legally, because I agreed to the settlement. The whole terminal illness business has really screwed me over.

Sarah

Had the same problem as you Sarah. They are happy to take your money but not so keen to pay out. There is always a claus that they will throw at you and you need to keep paying so that when anything does happen they will pay out but it is a pain when you think when you take these out that when you need them that it will all be sorted.

Pete

I had the same problem as John with my insurance policies. They wouldn't pay out because I wasn't expected to die within 12 months. And I didn't have critical illness insurance, so couldn't get my mortgage paid off.

Sarah

Iheartbristol if you pm me or email me I will try and give you some advice

John

Thanks for the above advice everyone. We've just been going through the dreaded task of filtering through the insurance folder today for my Dad who was diagnosed this morning. I was wondering whether or not he could actually claim it as a terminal illness and get the rest of the mortgage paid off (the CI policy doesn't cover all of it). I'll broach it him to see if it will pay out, just will wait a little while before I do.

Hi,

I was going to say the same as Luce (re benefit claims etc they count terminal illness as expected to die within 6 months) yet as there is no cure to date, I would like to see their debate on this. I'm gradually going down daily and I would say its terminal

They expect me to go for job interviews too with a partially paralysed right side and difficulty talking without sounding drunk, and my right hand cannot even carry two sausage rolls around a shop?

I think personally until a cure is found or an absolute way of diagnosing life expectancy, that it has to be classed as terminal. I certainly class myself as terminally ill knowing I am going to die from this, (probably, possibly through my being unable to breathe?)

normally you are expeded to die within 12 months - my 2 policys do anyway!

MND is most certainly a terminal illness, but as stated by Prof Talbot in his book "MND The Facts, everyones journey is of diffent length and is personal to each individual. There is absolutely no predicted life span and averages do not mean anything at the individual level and should not be used as a prediction of life expectancy.

One of the problems with life insurance is that they have lists and tarrifs for most of the diseases and MND is probably not on it.

Clive

Fingers crossed for you, John, keep us posted. Robyn

Thanks RobynBright Grey or subsidiary of the Royal London insurance company. They do have an appeals process which when I am given the definite rejection I will be taken up. They haven't said no yet it just seems to being passed up the chain, at first it was always rely solely on the word of the neurologist, then they said it has to be looked at their chief medical officer, now it's gone up to the underwriters, so to me it all sounds a bit odd.

john

Hi John,

Sorry to hear you're having trouble with this. I've had a word with Jacqui on our Connect Team, our fount of knowledge on anything money related. She recommends that you ask directly what proof they're actually looking for and also ask what proof they would accept ie. letter from your GP, neurologist, a breakdown of statistics of people with MND from a reliable source etc.

Also, check if Bright Grey are the actual insurers or a broker. Often several companies are underwritten by one bigger company - a bit like several banks often being owned by a larger banking group behind the scenes.

If they are a broker it's often worth dealing directly with the people behind them; the actual insurers, if that is possible.

Good luck... and if you need to talk anything over that we might be able to help you with, do give Connect a call on 08457 626262.