[Resolved]  Bajaj Allianz — Medical insurance for overseas travel

My brother took a routine overseas travel medical insurance policy. He left for London and arrived in London and took seriously ill.

He was admitted on an emergency basis to a local hospital. After three days of assessment, they concluded it was pneumonia. He was treated for that for about ten days and then allowed to travel back home. His wife flew to London on an emergency basis to take care and accompany him on the return trip.

The UK medical system is amazingly gracious - they charge nothing if a foreign national has an emergency medical condition.

The travel policy has specific provisions for additional expenses like the travel of spouse in case of illness: exactly what had happened in my brother's case.

Bajaj Allianz has rejected the claim on the grounds that pneumonia was pre-existing. Their contention is pneumonia could not have been contracted on the trip.

Perhaps - but the insured had no way of knowing he was coming down with pneumonia: otherwise why would he travel abroad!

That is akin to saying heart conditions do not build up overnight: so if an insured person suddenly suffers a heart attack the claim is not payable because this is a pre-existing condition.

Bajaj has asked for all sorts of documentation from the London hopsital: beyond the discharge summary and normal medical reports provided: who will pay the cost of all this "back and forth"?

Clearly, here is an insurance company you do NOT want to insure with. And they care two hoots for the fact that we handled the medical emergency in such a way that expenses were minimised.