Insurer responds to claim that it failed to honour client's medical cover abroad

Allcare Insurance has today rebutted accusations that it refused to honour a claim made by a client who required medical assistance abroad after suffering a heart attack.

The claim was levelled against it in an official letter filed yesterday on behalf of Neville Azzopardi, who had suffered what he described as a “massive heart attack” whilst on holiday in the United States last December, requiring hospital treatment costing tens of thousands of dollars.

Azzopardi claims that Allcare Insurance, with whom he had taken out an insurance policy, are refusing to reimburse him for his eye-watering expenditure on medical bills.

However, in a curt reply which was filed in court today by lawyer Christine Calleja, the insurer rebutted the claims, describing them as absolutely unfounded in fact and at law. It explains that the decision to refuse his claim was justified based on the information he had provided and on his own medical reports.

Due to the fact that the US healthcare system requires the hospital be given the patient’s insurance information before any treatment is given, Azzopardi’s partner had contacted the insurance firm who passed her on to its global response office in the UK. 

Azzopardi was released from hospital following a life-saving operation but a short while later, the global response office informed him that All Care Insurance Limited was refusing to accept liability or responsibility for the medical fees. 

After their return to Malta, they had met with the insurers, where they were told that the company had received information from Azzopardi's family doctor which rendered the travel insurance policy null. 

In the original official letter, signed by lawyer Stefano Filletti, Azzopardi is claiming that the family doctor had subsequently held a meeting with the insurance company, in which it emerged that the information held by the insurers was incorrect.

The doctor had allegedly issued a medical report giving Azzopardi a clean bill of health and assuring the insurers that had no prior medical conditions and led a healthy lifestyle. 

Azzopardi claims that in spite of this, the firm had stuck to its refusal to abide by the terms of its contract.