Saturday, July 24, 2004
AXA PPP Healthcare
Just a small rant here.
Took out a private healthcare policy a year or so ago, there has been some conjecture as to whether I'm covered for a back problem that my doctor told me was not a pre-existing condition but was seemingly unable to fill in the form correctly to indicate that (see the My Doctor rant elsewhere).
This is not the fault of the healthcare company, they have been very helpful on the phone on the two occasions I have spoken to them.
My problem with them is twofold.
Firstly, the length of time it takes to get a claim form to you. Bearing in mind that when you need a claim form you are likely to be in some distress and/or pain you would think that a form would be despatched immediately. But no. On the two occasions I have required forms it has taken about two weeks from requesting the form to receiving it.
I was in severe pain, and although the form itself didn't priovide relief, it was a stage in the process which ultimately delays the final result.
As it happened twice I'm assuming that I haven't just been unlucky, but that this is standard. Whilst I've found the people to be very pleasant to deal with, am I overly cynical to consider that perhaps delaying forms may reduce the number of claims they receive as people may either get better, or die, or just not be bothered?
Secondly, my form was finally submitted (with a note trying to explain about my doctor's apparent difficulty with it) and I waited to see whether they would still cover me.
When I finally got a response it was just a standard letter which said they'd pay up providing I was covered. Well wasn't the whole point of sending the form to them to see if I was covered.
For goodness sake, your people are doing a really good job, they're very polite helpful, etc etc but you let yourselves down because the two things that stick in my mind are those I've mentioned above.
Took out a private healthcare policy a year or so ago, there has been some conjecture as to whether I'm covered for a back problem that my doctor told me was not a pre-existing condition but was seemingly unable to fill in the form correctly to indicate that (see the My Doctor rant elsewhere).
This is not the fault of the healthcare company, they have been very helpful on the phone on the two occasions I have spoken to them.
My problem with them is twofold.
Firstly, the length of time it takes to get a claim form to you. Bearing in mind that when you need a claim form you are likely to be in some distress and/or pain you would think that a form would be despatched immediately. But no. On the two occasions I have required forms it has taken about two weeks from requesting the form to receiving it.
I was in severe pain, and although the form itself didn't priovide relief, it was a stage in the process which ultimately delays the final result.
As it happened twice I'm assuming that I haven't just been unlucky, but that this is standard. Whilst I've found the people to be very pleasant to deal with, am I overly cynical to consider that perhaps delaying forms may reduce the number of claims they receive as people may either get better, or die, or just not be bothered?
Secondly, my form was finally submitted (with a note trying to explain about my doctor's apparent difficulty with it) and I waited to see whether they would still cover me.
When I finally got a response it was just a standard letter which said they'd pay up providing I was covered. Well wasn't the whole point of sending the form to them to see if I was covered.
For goodness sake, your people are doing a really good job, they're very polite helpful, etc etc but you let yourselves down because the two things that stick in my mind are those I've mentioned above.
