We would normally advise people who are thinking of Claiming on Critical Illness Insurance to makes a claim as quickly as possible. Some insurance companies place time limits on how long people must make a claim. This is normally six to twelve months after someone has been diagnosed with a qualifying condition.
The quicker you make a claim the quicker a decision will be reached. It can often take around four to eight weeks to get a decision on a Critical Illness claim (depending on how quick your medical professionals are) so it is best getting this started as soon as possible.
It’s rare that someone would have a critical illness claim rejected due to applying outside those time limits as generally people have good reasons for delaying a claim (normally due to serious ill health).
Most insurance companies will write to your GP for some more information around your condition. For example, a critical illness payout for MS the insurance company may write out to ask for some more information about when someone experienced symptoms.
The Financial Ombudsman state:
“A critical illness insurance claim can be paid either from the date the medical condition is diagnosed or after a set period has elapsed after diagnosis (for example, 14 or 28 days – depending on the policy terms).
In some circumstances, we might decide that interest should be awarded from the date the business would have met the claim had it been notified earlier. For example, the consumer may have been critically ill and unable to make a claim for some time after diagnosis”
Sometimes you may be claiming under the “Total Permanent Disability” section of your policy. People rarely have a Total Permanent Disability Claim rejected due to being outside the timeframes set by the policy.
This is normally because these types of illness take longer to identify and treat before they match the working of the policy.
If you are concerned about making a claim on your Critical Illness policy within the time you can get free information and guidance at Resolute Claims.