Recently, my wife and my daughter went overseas, and a few things happened that we are now claiming for against our travel insurance.
One of those was a mishap trying to board the flight back. They've already rejected this claim.
One was the loss of a bag during her travels. This bag unfortunately had a lot of value in it, personal items, jewelry, and some cash. They're asking for receipts and evidence to substantiate everything. We're trying to comply, but how many people here still have the receipt for items of jewelry that were purchased 10 years ago, for example? They're happy to take your premium, but they don't exactly stupulate what evidence is required for each claim..
The third claim was in relation to dental work that needed to be performed with a matter of urgency. They've asked for details of her regular treating dentist in Australia, which is understandable. But then this is the part that shocked me - they've asked for a release of ALL medical information:
Hereby authorise any hospital, physician, medical practitioner or specialist or any other person who has attended me, to release and furnish [company name redacted] or its representatives or agents, any and all information with respect to any illness or injury, medical history, consultation, prescriptions or treatment prescribed or copies of all hospital or medical records as requested, including all Ambulance Records.
So to verify some dental work, they are asking for all of the above. I promptly advised them that they're overreaching, which I know will no doubt lead to a fight. But would you release your entire medical history to a private entity for this purpose?
For example, they would have access to contact our obstetrician and get the full file of my wife's pregnancy a few years back. They might not do this, but if I sign over the rights, they CAN do this if they choose to.
Also note that the declaration does not limit the scope to any timeframe, or to be in relation to any specific matter, nor does it stipulate what they can do with the information.
They could do it in 10 years and sell the information to another party if they like.
I only sent the email yesterday advising that we will not be releasing those kind of rights, so we'll see what they come back with.
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