Hi Brownlegs,

Im so sorry you have this worry.  Insurance companies can really fail us at critical times.  When I was diagnosed with DCIS with a small invasive back in January my nurse said to me "well you can pay off your mortgage now"!  I nearly fell off the chair.   I did have a critical illness policy attached to my life assurance with L&G and they did pay up reasonably quickly.  It certainly wasn't enough to pay off a mortgage but it certainly helped.

You need to go through your policy really well.  I suspect that it's actually the stage and grade of the cancer that they assess.  So for example you could have DCIS but it could be a higher grade.  My DCIS was low grade 1 so I suspect they paid out for me on the invasive even though that was low grade as well.

unfortunately my husband had prostrate cancer 4 years ago and he too was in this position.  His Gleeson score didn't fit the criteria for a payout as he was deemed to be low grade. It's all very frustrating.  Our thoughts on the insurance industry are unprintable here as he had major surgery and was off work for 8 weeks.  He didn't get a penny!  Awful isn't it!

I wish you well and hope you manage to navigate your way around this.

Mary x

Hi Brownlegs,

Im so sorry you have this worry.  Insurance companies can really fail us at critical times.  When I was diagnosed with DCIS with a small invasive back in January my nurse said to me "well you can pay off your mortgage now"!  I nearly fell off the chair.   I did have a critical illness policy attached to my life assurance with L&G and they did pay up reasonably quickly.  It certainly wasn't enough to pay off a mortgage but it certainly helped.

You need to go through your policy really well.  I suspect that it's actually the stage and grade of the cancer that they assess.  So for example you could have DCIS but it could be a higher grade.  My DCIS was low grade 1 so I suspect they paid out for me on the invasive even though that was low grade as well.

unfortunately my husband had prostrate cancer 4 years ago and he too was in this position.  His Gleeson score didn't fit the criteria for a payout as he was deemed to be low grade. It's all very frustrating.  Our thoughts on the insurance industry are unprintable here as he had major surgery and was off work for 8 weeks.  He didn't get a penny!  Awful isn't it!

I wish you well and hope you manage to navigate your way around this.

Mary x

Hi Mary 

still not heard anything from the financial ombudsman regarding my critical illness cover, I am on chemo tablets and getting my masectomy in 2 weeks. Will never recommend Legal and general as a insurance company. 
Reena

So sorry to hear this Reena, the last thing you need.

I've had dealings with the financial ombudsman to in the past and they usually state they are only required to assess and reply within a certain timescale.
 

I'm presuming you've gone down the Ombudsman route because L&G have declined your claim? This is devastating for you, I'm so sorry.  Words fail me although I could think of a few!!   Try not to stress too much over this though, you must prioritise your surgery and recovery.
 

Interesting what Sausage1 has advised on applying for PIP.  This is certainly worth doing.  I would also enquire if it can be backdated to the time of your diagnosis.  

Wishing you all the best for your surgery.  I had a mastectomy and it wasn't as bad as I expected.  Very little pain and quite quick recovery.  You're not quite there, but not long to go now.  Good Luck.

Mary xx

Hi all 

I hipe you don't mind me asking 

sorry to jump on thread , do life cover pay out on a cancer diagnosis ? I'm lately post breast cancer sugery I'm to with legal and general ? 
 

Hi laraj

My payout was specifically from a critical illness policy that I had taken out when I topped up my life assurance some time ago.  
 

Good luck with your claim 

Mary

Mary 

thank you so much for reply and help , I understand so just normal life cover don't pay anything it's the critical illness add on that do xx 

Hi laraj,

I strongly suspect that's the case unfortunately.  Life assurance only pays out on death.  Critical illness if you get 'critical'!!  It's useful to have the additional critical illness element attached to a life policy, the trouble is you pay more for it.  I started my critical illness policy at 50 and it was quite pricey.  Still glad I did it though!

That being said, I think it would definitely be worth phoning your insurance provider to double check.  These policies can be quite complex and they all seem to differ.

Lots of luck with it.

Mary x