Tan Kin Lian's Blog: Rejection of travel insurance claim

Saturday, December 13, 2008

Rejection of travel insurance claim

Dear Mr. Tan,

I wish to seek your opinion and advice on a recent travel claim.

I bought a Travel insurance coverage for myself and my wife for travel to Spain/Portugal. During the trip, we received an urgent call from the travel agency that my wife's brother had a critical stroke and in coma at a hospital. The tour group were 3 days into a tour of 15 days.

My wife and I took a taxi from hotel to the airport and a shuttle flight to catch the SIA flight back to Singapore. We rushed to the hospital and managed to bid farewell to my wife's brother who passed away on the same day.

I submitted a claim for the taxi fare to the airport, shuttle fare and pro-rated reimbursement of 12 days.

I received a letter from the insurance company stating that:
"a - taxi and shuttlefares as expenses incurred after the trip curtailment is not payable under the policy cover
b - trip curtailment expenses for me as the deceased is not considered as a family member under the policy definition."

I would appreciate you frank opinion on 'a' and 'b' before I pursue the matter further.

LNW

REPLY
In my frank opinion, the insurance company should pay your claim, which is quite reasonable and is connected to a covered event. I am sad that they have rejected the claim, which is not fair to the policyholder.

You can file a complaint with Fidrec, www.fidrec.com.sg

5 comments:

Anonymous said...: That is the problem with insurance nowadays. When you do not need it they are all over the place enticing you to sign on. Once you sign on and need the cover, they have a team of legal experts spending all their time planning how not to pay you.
I say, why waste time and money entertaining these people who are not looking after your interests but their own?
We used to have NTUC Income under Tan Kin Lian who is well known to look after policyholders' interests. Now even that is no more as the new management is more intent to look after their own interests as can be seen by the lavish spending on meetings in posh 6 star hotels and expensive furnishings in their offices. Where do they get their money? Obviously through your premiums and then thinking how not to pay you when you claim. Simple isn't it? Mr Tan Kin Lian has warned us in his postings a year ago the changing face of financial institutions. You will do well to take heed and not become another minibond victim or pay to get months of heartache when you try to claim.; December 13, 2008 11:36 AM
Anonymous said...: Travel insurance is insurance that is intended to cover medical expenses, financial (such as money invested in nonrefundable pre-payments), and other losses incurred while traveling overseas.

Therefore i personally do not think that your claim rejected is unfair.

if all cases like this is claimable, consumer might have to fork up a lot higher premium when purchasing travel insurance in the future.; December 13, 2008 2:01 PM
Anonymous said...: The travel policy I bought defined : Family members means your spouse, children, parents, brothers, sisters, grandparents and parents-in-law.

So LNW's Brother In Law is not included, but his wife's Brother is included.

The policy didnot even include Grandparent-in-law as family member.

The extended question is what happen if the death is the Husband's Brother / sister, then can the wife claim under her policy for her extra expenses?; December 13, 2008 4:59 PM
Collin said...: 183,

Does travel insurance cover person not included in the trip? From LNW's case, it seems that his wife's brother was awarded in one of Singapore's hospital.; December 14, 2008 12:58 PM
Collin said...: Ok just realised that this was claimed under Curtailmet/Cancellation expenses.; December 14, 2008 1:03 PM