Critical illness cover - timeline?

[Llioed]

Hello fellow mumsnetters! I was wondering if anyone could help with me, please?

I found out back in May 2021 that I have non-hodgkins lymphoma. The type I have is a rare type that is incurable but treatable. Once I got my head around it I eventually got round to starting a claim with Legal and General for the critical illness cover, that my husband and I took out almost 8 years ago when we got our mortgage. I started this claim around Monday 20th Sept with L&G.
My consultant haematologist has sent their info back to L&G very swiftly.

My GP on the other hand….. very slow. It’s been 8 weeks since they received the request from L&G and they still haven’t responded to L&G.

I was wondering how long any of you MNs had to wait for claims/payouts, etc? I don’t know what length of time is normal. Any info would be great, thank you.

Apologies if I have posted this in the wrong category - I’m happy for this thread to be moved to the appropriate category if “General health” is the wrong one.

I’d be interested in this as we are just about it but such a policy.

Good luck @Blimmingdull I hope it goes through quickly for you. I think it will be beginning of January now before I hear anything back 🤷‍♀️

Sorry - I might not have been clear. We’re about to buy a policy, not make a claim. My husband was talking to the policy sellers the other day and it sounded like a straightforward process. But of course you never know.

Chase your gp and don’t stop that will get things moving

Thanks @Laststop - I have been chasing them up each fortnight for the past 6 weeks. I’m going to have a break over Christmas then submit a complaint at beginning of January as by then it will be 11 weeks, which is a silly amount of time to wait for my medical history to be submitted to L&G.

@Blimmingdull sorry, I misunderstood. I do recommend taking out such a policy. I never thought I would be in the position to need to put in a claim, but unfortunately I am. I have no complaints with Legal and General - they have been great, communicated with me every step of the way. Just a shame the admin team of the GP is letting me down.

Hi @Llioed,

I am going through the exact same thing just now. I was diagnosed with a Chronic Blood Cancer beginning of October. Which is also incurable, but hopefully treatable.

I hope you are okay. Its been a bit of a shock for me.

I submitted my Critical Illness claim at the end of October to Legal and General. They got the paperwork back from Haematology mid November, but I've not heard anything since. When I phoned L&G didn't say they were not waiting for anything from my GP but only that it will take some time for assessors to look to see if they have enough information.

It must be frustrating not hearing back from your GP. Do you have your GP email address? Maybe sending something in writing will help.

@Lifebegins21 thank you for your response. I decided last night to take a break from chasing anyone up over the next couple of weeks, seeing as its Christmas and New Year. I will contact L&G beginning of January. If they haven’t heard from my GP then I’ll put in a complaint to my GP because by then (first week of Jan) it will have been 11 weeks since they received the request from L&G for my medical history.
Good luck with your claim, hope it all goes ok for you.

I have just had a successful claim with L&G on my critical illness policy. It was sorted very quickly, once I'd returned my forms, I was paid within two weeks. They didn't require my GP records though, the consultant diagnosis letter to the GP seemed to be sufficient - and I know that was verified very quickly. Good luck, hope it's reassuring that the payment will be fast as soon as they have the documents they need.

@sunflowerroses thank you for your response. I’m glad it all got sorted for you 🙂 although the reason for the payout won’t be good, I’m sorry about that.
Fingers crossed it gets sorted early January. Thanks again.

I understand your frustration with the delay in your report being done, but I’m afraid most GPs are drowning in demand from NHS work and seeing/triaging patients as well as delivering vaccines. Many will have our routine private work to one side to focus on this. You can obviously complain but you’re unlikely to get very far as it’s non contractual work and not covered by the nhs complaints procedure.

Disclaimer - I used to assess CI claims for a different insurer

I would outright ask L&G what info they need from the GP, and is it definitley needed to assess the claim. If the info from your Consultant is sufficient to confirm your diagnosis (and therefore whether you have a valid claim thats meets the definition of a condition covered by the policy), the info from your GP is likely to be about your previous medical history rather than current diagnosis - I'm surprised they are even asking a GP for info on a policy that's 8 years old (as opposed to a new policy where there may be concerns that your symptoms could have predated the policy for example). You haven't reinstated the policy, or changed your cover at all have you?

Ask the question and that might prompt them to reconsider whether the additional info is really needed

Clearly GPs are under alot of pressure at the moment, so it's not totally unexpected that it's taking a long time, but I appreciate that doesn't help your situation.

Ironically got an email yesterday to say my claim had been approved and money should be in my account within 7-10 working days.

L&G definitely didn't contact my GP, just my Haematology Consultant. It will be worth you chasing up again in January and ask them to get this sorted. I'm sorry you have had to wait so long for this. Good luck

Thanks @Llioed - it was also for cancer but I hopefully have just finished treatment, just waiting on pathology results from the most recent operation. Wishing you all the best and the advice about seeing if they really need your GP is a good idea. I've also had my cover 8 years and they didn't need it.

Hi, thank you to you all for your advice.
I will contact L&G and ask them why they need my medical history from my GP. Think in this case I will just have to suck it up and just wait patiently.
Thank you for your advice. Wishing you all a Merry Christmas, considering the circumstances

Hope your recovery is going well and you have a lovely Christmas