Be wary of what you say to your doctor

[stuartpaul]

Right. Apparently there are two levels of access. This from the GoCompare website..

1) Insurers CANNOT access your medical records without your consent
2) If you authorise it doctors can pass relevant medical information on
3) Some insurers may ask for your authorisation through a subject access request - this may result in ALL your medical records being disclosed rather than just things considered relevant

The key wording is 'subject access request' and is clearly what the surgery supplied them ie all of my medical record. A fishing trip, to my way of thinking. I've looked at the documentation that I agreed to and nowhere does it use the phrase 'subject access request'.

A question for both my surgery and the Data Commissioner's Office.

Whilst you may have only ‘ticked a box’ what was the wording that explained what the tick was granting access to?

Have you kept a copy of the application form Roger?

And of course one of the real kickers can be if you apply to another firm and they ask if you’ve ever been refused insurance before!

 

[Phil Pascoe]

It will only be so long before they get access to your supermarket loyalty card. Then most of are stuffed! I have a mate who never hands over his loyalty cards if he is buying booze or ready meals. Paranoia?

I used to get all sorts of odd advertising and money off vouchers. I realised why one day - I always looked in the trolleys and on the floor around the entrance for discarded receipts then take them to customer services and have the points put on my card.

 

[worn thumbs]

If any of you are Camra members,you will have seen the articles in the otherwise turgid newsletter ridiculing the current recommended maximum alcohol intake levels and drawing attention to the close links between on of the temperance campaigns and the committee that altered the limits.I have also enjoyed a drink or several with a GP who thought them nonsensical.On the other hand when I checked the dividend yield on Legal & General shares it was a great deal better than the interest the banks pay.....

 

[RossJarvis]

Cheers
Brian
ps I was refused insurance years ago because i revealed i was into drag racing

I really can't see what clothing you wear whilst trying to drive fast has to do with insurance outside the sport!!! Or did you wear the 6"inch stilettos at all times?

 

[rafezetter]

Roger - if they have your medical records do they include the findings of that study? If you are inclined might be worth asking to actually speak to an underwriter and get them to actually LOOK at the information instead of relying on the computer seeing the 1992 info and automatically refusing.

Surely no previous claim must also have some weight?

I do think everything will go this way eventually though - people listening to computers instead of the other way around.

 

[RogerS]

This is what they send you...

If we ask your doctor for a medical report, it could include details of consultations with any doctor or health care professional but we will only ask for information about your current or past health that is relevant to your application.

The reality is that they go on a fishing trip and ask for the lot.

 

[bertikusmaximus]

This is what they send you...

If we ask your doctor for a medical report, it could include details of consultations with any doctor or health care professional but we will only ask for information about your current or past health that is relevant to your application.

The reality is that they go on a fishing trip and ask for the lot.

Playing devil's advocate here: why shouldn't they? Perhaps it helps to consider insurance as essentially betting upon an outcome.

Think about placing a bet on the horse racing: to have any success, you need to know what you're betting on! In the case of life insurance, you are placing a bet with L&G that you'll die within say, the next 10 years. So L&G are trying to understand whether they should take that bet and what the likelihood is that they'll lose out as a result. In this case, the odds aren't good enough for them to take it, but there will be other companies out there that will.

(Disclaimer: I previously worked for a life insurance company).

 

[RogerS]

This is what they send you...

If we ask your doctor for a medical report, it could include details of consultations with any doctor or health care professional but we will only ask for information about your current or past health that is relevant to your application.

The reality is that they go on a fishing trip and ask for the lot.

Playing devil's advocate here: why shouldn't they? Perhaps it helps to consider insurance as essentially betting upon an outcome.

.....

True but they need to be open about it.

 

[Dibs-h]

I stopped bothering with life insurance. Just depletes my disposable income and when I die, the "hiers" will be minted, relatively speaking, anyway - so didn't make any sense to\for me.

 

[RogerS]

I'm only doing it for LOML while I'm renovating the house.

 

[Dibs-h]

I'm only doing it for LOML while I'm renovating the house.

I see what you mean - if the current general contractor drops dead then she'll have enough money to hire one to finish it off and keep what you were going to spend anyways? LOL

 

[RogerS]

This is what they send you...

If we ask your doctor for a medical report, it could include details of consultations with any doctor or health care professional but we will only ask for information about your current or past health that is relevant to your application.

The reality is that they go on a fishing trip and ask for the lot.

Playing devil's advocate here: why shouldn't they? Perhaps it helps to consider insurance as essentially betting upon an outcome.

Think about placing a bet on the horse racing: to have any success, you need to know what you're betting on! In the case of life insurance, you are placing a bet with L&G that you'll die within say, the next 10 years. So L&G are trying to understand whether they should take that bet and what the likelihood is that they'll lose out as a result. In this case, the odds aren't good enough for them to take it, but there will be other companies out there that will.

(Disclaimer: I previously worked for a life insurance company).

True and I agree with you. But the main thrust of the thread was that so many many years ago while having a general discussion with my GP about something else, we got onto the subject of alcohol consumption and how most people didn't know how to calculate units. I mentioned the number of units that I was drinking and it was a little bit above the recommended limit. He said 'perhaps you ought to reduce it'...but more in a lighthearted vein then anything else. But it got logged in five words 'advised to reduce alcohol consumption'. And this came back to bite me due to L&G's new policy of a blanket refusal if you have been told to cut down.

A few points of clarification. The Go-Compare website is wrong. There is just the one access to your medical records should you wish to consent. L&G and my doctor's surgery use iGPR from Niche Health. This from an email from L&G..

Regarding the reports that Legal & General request from our customers’ GP surgeries – when done electronically, which it was for your application, then the surgeries and underwriting team both use a system called ‘Niche’. Your surgery was correct in saying that it was all automated, as it’s a simple click of a button and the relevant information is provided for our underwriting team to view the information that’s needed. It may well be that the ‘Niche’ system pulls a patient’s full history of a patient’s records, and then picks out the relevant information that we have asked for, for us to view from there.

The fact remains that you have no control as to what is sent or accessed. L&G\s wording suggests that only limited enquiries are made but the fact remains that with Niche, they can see the lot should they so wish.

The blanket refusal by L&G is definitely in place. I applied using a fictitious name but same age, height and weight and locality. I stated that I'd been advised re alcohol consumption but all other medical questions had a nil response ie perfect health. At the end of the online application process, instant refusal. A customer service agent at L&G also told me the same information.

I guess what sticks in the craw a little is that they are quite happy for you to waste 30-45 minutes of your life answering all the other health questions when their system knows full well it will refuse you. So why not cut the application process immediately after the alcohol question?

 

[Terry - Somerset]

I was recently refused a pay out due to cancellation of a holiday on the basis of an undeclared medical condition - annoying but not life changing loss. Their reason for non-payment was entirely justified but I do have a few observations:

1. The principle priority for all insurance is profits and dividends, not claimants - despite what they may claim
2. They will use any legitimate excuse to avoid pay outs.
3. The law and insurance policies are very complex. Insurance companies are full of lawyers, most of us rely on
incomplete and limited common sense. Guess who usually wins??
4. There are some mandatory and critical insurances eg: car, catastrophic loss - eg house fires.
5. For most household white goods the extended warranty is the most profitable part of the sale - refuse it.

Most of us would probably be better off over time self insuring by putting (say) 1-3% of income into a savings account which would cover all other losses rather than paying insurance that we may never claim on. On an average income of say £30k pa after 5 years without a claim you would have £2-6k saved - more than enough to cover most non-mandatory or catastrophic losses. And you get to write the small print - not an insurance company.

 

[RogerS]

That's an interesting idea, Terry. What would you consider putting into the self-insure category ?

 

[benji81]

its ridiculoud what these companies get away with these days, seems nearly everything is a scam of some sort

 

[Phil Pascoe]

i had a friend years ago who was a retired photography lecturer so had bought over a time some very expensive kit. Every time he bought camera gear, hifi, power tools , white goods et. he asked what the extended guarantee cost and put the cash in a safe. He had done this for many years - when something went wrong, it was paid for out of the safe, and every year or two he took the surplus out, wrote the amount in a book and banked it. He was always very well in pocket.