I was recently diagnosed with testicular cancer and had to undergo surgery to remove the affected ball. All went well and i seem to be recovering well. Even managed to get back on the bike after 5 months off it.

I took out critical illness cover about 6 years ago for this very reason. It is worth an awful lot of money if it comes through but although these companies are quick to sell these policies and take your monthly payment, they don’t like to pay out if they don’t have too. A bit worried that they may find some technicality not to pay out even though all the criteria has been met.

Has anybody else had experience of this?

Hi.

Firstly, glad to read that you seem to be getting over the surgery.

You sound like you’d meet the definition – Invasive tumour treated by orchidectomy.

Companies don’t routinely trawl medical records these days. The ABI Statement of Best Practice prevents such behaviour.

Also, of note, most insurance companies pay in excess of 90% of Critical illness claims – The ones they don’t pay are almost invariably cases of gross non-disclosure (think someone claiming for a heart attack who had a heart attack before taking out the policy – I think most people would agree that you can’t expect insurance companies to pay these – If they had to, they’d only pass the cost on to their customers regardless).

If you answered the questions on the application form honestly, I’d bet my house on you getting a payout.

And if you did answer them honestly and they try to refute your claim, take your case to the Financial Ombudsman Service.

Hope that helps put your mind at rest. Stay strong.

Yep had Colon cancer in 2004 and had full pay out on Critical Illness cover. Consultant filled in some forms for me and said that they often try and wriggle out of paying up if they can, often disputing the intensity/level of the illness but said he could see no reason not to pay out in my case.
All ended happily and I got rid of my mortgage.

Good luck with your claim/recovery

mint ! new bike time chief. Now…. carbon or steel?

I am just waiting for the consultant at the hospital to return a form that was sent to him last week. GP also had to complete a form which the insurance company has now received.

I certainly never lied when I took out the policy but I did have to give my permission so they could check my medical records. Whether they have or not I don’t know but my mind has been rested a bit after reading the above comments. If it comes through then I would be mortgage free and have money left over. I would still rather that none of this ever happened but I guess everything happens for a reason!!!

As for a carbon bike, could be done. I will certainly demo as much bikes as possible before deciding.

I had testicular cancer at the age of 29 and my insurance company paid out OK. I didn’t have any problems with the insurance company but my illness was fairly extensive and therefore not easily disputed.

On a positive note I had the surgery and treatments and I’m now 47 and it’s not really effected me other than the 3 months directly after my surgery and the next 6 months during treatment.

HTH

chiefinspector – Member

All went well and i seem to be recovering well.

Good.
Nothing else is important. 🙂

A friend of mine had a big battle with aviva over a policy he’d been paying into for 15 years.

he was diagnosed with bladder cancer. the cancer had not invaded surrounding tissue or spread anywhere else but as it didnt respond to the chemo he was told he would need his bladder removed.

aviva refused to pay saying this wasnt critical – based on the cancer staging not related at all to the need for major surgery requiring months of recovery. as he was self employed with a young family he couldn’t afford to stop work for 6 months for the treatment.

he took it to the insurance ombudsman and did get offered some deal but no where near a full payout.

luckily as he couldnt agree to the bladder op they offered him another lot of chemo even though the odds were slim on it working. however it did and it has got him a few more years with his bladder

he did have a facebook page set up about it but I think this has been removed, he did fight aviva rather hard to get anything – I will ask him for an update and let you know more details.

My father paid critical illness cover for many years before having a major heart attack at age 34

Did he get paid out….did he buggery

It was a heart attack but non complex or so the docs thought at the time, the blockage cleared its self to after a bit of obervation and investigation and what not he was let out of hospital after a month.

He could not work in his former job on release as he just didnt have the energy and wasnt allowed to drive. was on warfarin and all sorts of other chemicals and they were still sorting out the prescriptions.

He subsequently had 3 further heart attacks while they were sorting out his meds. Was off work for 2 years total. They claimed he could have been doing another less stressful/involved job and that the illness didnt prevent him from working A job …not his job but a job so there would be no payment. .

He eventually got them nailed to the wall and got back all his premiums for misselling but still no payout He also got his meds under control and is almost back to his active self which is more important.

Read the small print with a magnifying glass would be my advice

My critical illness cover seems to cover three illnesses, all of which have a load of exclusions attached. Annoyingly, Guillain Barre syndrome is listed as a critical illnesses on some cover plans, that would have paid my mortgage off.

I looked at CIC cover a few years ago, and compared the list of the conditions of two policies covered side by side. The some of the omissions when comparing the two were alarming. I read of some horror stories of companies weasling out of payments and decided against it.

I hope they pay out, it sould be quite easy to work out from reading your policy if your covered? They are fairly specific about the conditions which are.

The Oncologist told me that they will almost always pay out for this type of condition unless there is some obscure wording on the policy. I’ve gone through the policy and it says there will be no payout if the cancer is classed as in-situ or non invasive. It also excludes prostate cancer and certain types of skin cancer.

I quizzed the Oncologist about the terminology and he told me that the cancer had invaded the testicle and was very much alive when they did the pathology tests. It was a non-seminoma tumor which is a more aggressive type of cancer. Still waiting to hear if i need Chemo or not but i’ve been told i will need regular blood tests and CT scans for the next 10 years to see if it may return.

Here’s hoping it pays out but ultimately i’m just glad it was caught early.

Great news received. Critical illness policy is paying out in full. Once they received the letter from the consultant in the hospital it took them 6 days to respond and no further questions to answer. It’s a life changing amount of money but i would still rather none of this had happened in the first place.

All I can say to everybody is expect the unexpected and make sure you are covered for any future eventualities.

Good to hear that they really do pay out !, All the best enjoying it.

Very pleased to hear that.

Myself and my wife had policies sitting waiting to be signed but had just not got round to it.

£12 pcm with £100,000.00 payout.

Unfortunately, she found a lump before we signed them. Would have been a great help to me and our daughter.

So, i would strongly advise all on STW to get a policy just in case. It does not take away the anguish but not having to worry about money would have helped at a horrible time.