Insurance company refuse to pay health fees for sick woman

Mar 15 2010 by Liz Walker, The Journal

“I thought I was doing all the right things, taking out insurance with someone like the Post Office and telling them I had asthma,” said Ms Harris, who is studying for a foundation degree in dance at Newcastle College and works as a care home assistant in Blyth. “A few months before the holiday I went to a specialist and he changed my inhalers. I didn’t know I had to tell them every time I went. It wasn’t even serious, I felt fine.

“They said it is in the small print, but something as important as this should be in big red letters on the front. I wasn’t trying to deceive anyone. Now my family are in a whole load of debt.”

Mr Harris flew out on January 24 to Sousse in Tunisia to stay with her boyfriend’s family for four days, but did not get home until over two weeks later She met Sami, 26, a chef, now working in London, while on holiday four years ago. They got engaged last year.

The total cost of her care and flights to bring her home have come to over £5,000.

Mr Chapman, 66, a retired baker, said: “We would have paid whatever it cost to get her back, but it has left us in a lot of debt.

“They shouldn’t have pulled the plug the way they did. Insurers should make more effort to make sure people know what they have to declare not hide it in the small print.”

A spokesman for the Post Office, where Ms Harris took out her £46 annual insurance policy said: “It is crucial that customers with an annual policy regularly update their travel insurance provider should they see any change in their health or receive any medical treatment, to ensure that cover can be maintained wherever possible.”