Hi, I’ve put in a claim to L&G for the above. I have IDC, hormone+, HER2-, grade 2, 13mm, lymph nodes look good on scans, op in two weeks so no further info but aware this can change from pathology results once it’s removed. Current thinking is rads and hormone blockers. I’m wondering if there is any way L&G can get out of paying me my full cover? The money would make such a huge difference and I’m trying to not get my hopes up but I’ve already mentally brought needed items/paid off the credit card/fixed the car/gone on holiday, can’t help myself 
How did you find the claims process and how long did yours take? Thank you 
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Hello, sorry you are going through this.
I was diagnosed last July with bilateral IDC - I had totally forgotten that 23 years earlier as a pregnant mum-to-be I had taken out Critical Illness cover at £26 a month to pay out £70,00 which was the figure of my mortgage at the time.
Fast forward to my diagnosis it suddenly occurred to me that I had this insurance with Scottish Widows and my husband called them and I gave them permission to speak to him throughout.
My husband spoke with them for about an hour and they said it all looked fine (they could send me a £3k advance if I wanted), and they would pass it on to the team who finalises everything.
We needed to send my consultant’s letter and other permissions to access GP records but it was pretty straightforward- he called them a couple of times to move them along, and the payment came through about five/six weeks later. They even refunded the £26 payments between claim and payout along with the interest accrued during those weeks.
Luckily my mortgage was paid off so it is sitting in an account waiting to be used for a nice holiday and a rainy day fund!
Good luck xx
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Mine was also with L+G and although it was a bit of a going on they paid me the full amount I was entitled to. I did wait until I’d finished treatment though and uploaded all my letters and my radiotherapy appointment scheduled as evidence . I was ER/ PR + grade 1 stage 1 tubular and also on the surgery / radiotherapy / blockers pathway .They needed letters from the Oncologist and the Surgeon - I had to chase that up with his secretary . Mine was tied to my mortgage but I had actually paid mine off a bit early so had to get some written proof from my mortgage company to say that I didn’t owe anything otherwise it would have gone to them. The staff at L+G were all nice to deal with it was just getting all the info that was needed together that was a pain. Xx
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@lynnc123 I’m wishing I’d had a higher cover now! I’d not even realised I had it, just went with the mortgage guy sorting stuff and not paying attention, then he told me the other week I had it when I’d enquired about mortgage issues if I needed long term sick.
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@JoanneN it seems L&G are concerned that it must be invasive, then it meets the criteria, that’s what the lady was concerned about. Does tubular necessarily mean invasive (I don’t really understand what that is in this whole new set of vocabulary I am acquiring!)? I sent copies of all my letters so far, I’m hoping that’s enough as I don’t see what else they can learn 
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Hi
I had critical illness with Aviva and they paid out within a few weeks, mine was IDC and I also gave
permission for them to speak with my husband and sort it all out.
I believe tubular is an invasive type of breast cancer.
Good luck with your claim
Xx
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Yes tubular is invasive but very slow growing - it tends to invade the surrounding breast tissue but rarely metastasizes . Mine was very small as well and I wondered if it would count but they said it did. I’m wondering if they were making a distinction between graded breast cancers from 1 upwards and DCIS which is usually graded zero and might not qualify - most unfair in my opinion though it would be still worth applying as some cases of DCIS need quite a lot of treatment .
If you have IDC does that not stand for invasive ductal carcinoma ? If I have that correctly then it’s definitely invasive - if you mentioned the word ductal then they might have been trying to work out if it’s in situ . Yes it’s a steep learning curve sometimes . Xx
I also didn’t realise I had cover - while I was still off sick I decided to try to sort out my finances and found a payment I wasn’t sure about so had a search and found documents i’d forgotten about from when I got my mortgage . Rang up to ask what it was and they told me I was eligible to claim .xx
@JoanneN yes, invasive ductal carcinoma. The lady from L&G said something about it was the invasive bit that I need (although I’m covered at a much lower amount for in situ apparently). I just worry that they will find a reason not to pay on some other basis.
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I’m glad I’m not the only one who has no idea what financial things I have in place 
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Mine was very similar to yours, I had 16mm Idc where the lymph nodes looked clear, her neg hormone positive, after surgery it was found in two out of eight nodes.
I had radiotherapy and now on letrozole for 10 years.
Critical illness paid out very quickly once I had been diagnosed as I’m sure yours will.
Xx
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I had critical illness cover with L&G and they paid the full amount within a few weeks, no questions asked. Mine was invasive non specific type with lobular features. I had the money in my account before I’d even had my surgery. Hopefully you’ll get yours with no issues either. I don’t see why you wouldn’t. They wanted something in writing which I didn’t actually have from my oncologist but I got a printout from the GP which stated invasive cancer. I also gave them the oncologist’s name so I guess they probably contacted them to confirm.
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I’m in the US and as an RN worked as a reviewer for medical claims. most reviewers could deny claims cause they had no experience. they would constantly ask me to deny claims and i had to explain why it was covered. Finally I broke and said ok, i’ll do as you say. i grabbed a note book and started writing and they asked what i was doing and i said I have a license so i’ll do what you want but im keeping record of my review. That was the last time they asked me to change my review. another time they asked me to review a doctors claim, and told the drs wife who was also a doctor that her insurance would not cover the 50,000 charges. i reviewed it and found a rider that would cover it. i told the supervisor it should be covered but she said if she got a lawyer to write a letter they would pay, for now it was cost saving! crazy thing i went to a kiddies party a few weeks later and was introduced to the wife. I had signed a non disclosure so couldn’t tell her anything. so i asked her to come to the side and i wanted to tell her a story, halfway thru she figured it out and got upset and asked me who i knew and who told me. I said I told her Im only telling you a story, don’t know anybody and told her the doctor would get paid if they got a lawyer. Never saw her again, hope she followed up. i finally quit because when i was sitting in a jacuzzi i noticed i had tremors in my hands and told my husband the job was affecting my central nervous system. after I quit the hospital called me and hired me and asked me to open the new hospitals Medical records dept but i quit and became a realestate appraiser. looking a beautiful homes instead of reading about peoples illness. For some claims they always denied the first time the claim is submitted. At another agency i would review claims and approve them but they were all denied, the supervisor never put my review in as they only wanted primary reports. i told her my report was primary cause i interviewed the pt and reviewed the file. so she said ok and ill send the next 10 reviews in with your report too! i was sort of scared. on tuesday morning she ran down the hall with all of the files and said you were right they were all accepted. so that’s a tale of the inside US medical insurance companies.
what is L&G? some kind of British insurance or government plan like medicare?
Thanks for letting me tell mystify!
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Hi @floss2. I had almost identical initial diagnosis and was with AViva. They paid out full amount plus another £500 for hospital travel and car parking within 8 weeks of my operation. It would have been quicker if the hospital.had sent their responses to the insurance company without a billion reminders from the assigned person to deal with my case.
You should have no bother at all. Some companies have clauses about not paying if the diagnosis was in first 3 months or 12 months of the policy. Some pay less for DCIS and more for invasive. Mine only paid out if surgery was needed.
If you find the payment is taking too long, itll be the hospital’s fault…contact the surgeon’s secretary to hurry things along. Good luck with the claim and best wishes for your ongoing treatment.
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Thank you so much everyone, that’s really reassured me. Now I need to decide where to go on holiday when this is all over 
How possible is it to get new critical illness cover and new life cover (claiming on the policy means the whole lot ends) for if and when it comes back?
I was allowed to keep the life aspect of my insurance.
I’m told I can’t get critical illness for 5 years after all clear, and that cancer will be a exemption on policy that I can’t claim on.
I might get income protection instead.
@bluesatsuma was that with the same company or did you try different insurers?
@katt American health insurance sounds a bit scary anyway! L&Q is an insurance company, yes, they do critical illness and life cover but I think they insure petty much everything - sure our house was on it once.
Hi @floss2. I haven’t tried everyone but my broker said it was unlikely I’d get new critical illness without a cancer exemption being put in. Plus my premiums would be higher as once you have cancer, you are classed as disabled even after you’re cured. There are brokers and insurance companies that specialise in helping us. One is called ‘insurance with’.
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Wow that sounds traumatic - so hard to be an ethical person in a system that is self- serving deceitful and bent on not fulfilling it’s obligations. I’m glad you managed to find a job you like better.
I have a friend who doesn’t have any kind of insurance ( I might add that she doesn’t drive ) because she worked in insurance for over 20 years and said they always did their very best not to pay out .
L+G stands for Legal and General - it’s nothing to do with the government it’s a private insurance company . I had mortgage protection with them which I never claimed on . I was actually quite impressed with them as when I rang them I wasn’t entirely sure what the policy was as I had incomplete documentation . It turned out to be critical illness insurance with decreasing cover as I got older . In fact the year that I put in the claim was the last year that I was entitled to claim - the policy ended a few months after. It would have been quite easy for them to fob me off but they didn’t. Having said that as it was decreasing cover it wasn’t a huge amount of money. I tend to go through an insurance broker for everything - I don’t get the very cheapest deals but if there’s a claim they support you and help go through the fine print with you so that you don’t fall foul of loopholes . With car insurance I’ve had two bad experiences now with Aviva but only in regard to car insurance so I wouldn’t have them again - glad to see the positive experience that @bluesatsuma has had.
The delay getting my claim was firstly getting everything together secondly I had to chase up the surgeon via his secretary more than once to complete the documents sent to him
Thirdly I had to prove I had paid off my mortgage - also with L+G but all the contact details had changed and the mortgage had actually been taken over by Virgin Money but I eventually managed to sort this via an online chat . Xx