£3,000 bill after holiday illness
An 80-year-old Bridgnorth man was left with a bill of almost £3,000 after falling ill while on holiday because his insurance company refused to pay up.
Dennis Preece, of Woodberry Close, was in a Turkish hospital for nine days. But his insurance company, Mediquote, said they could not pay for treatment because he had failed to disclose an existing medical condition.
Mr Preece's son-in-law, Bill Stewart, had bought the insurance on the internet unaware Mr Preece had hypertension.
He said it was five days after Mr Preece had been in hospital, suffering from an irregular heartbeat, that Mediquote "dropped the bombshell" to say he was not covered.
Mr Stewart said: "We were supposed to come home on October 12, so I had to leave my wife behind.
"It wasn't until the 17th when the insurance company got through to the hospital and dropped the bombshell they were not going to pay anything because the hypertension wasn't disclosed.
"We thought that was extremely unfair. They say hypertension is a high risk factor, but half the population has hypertension, and when controlled it can scarcely be described as high risk," he added.
Sam O'Connor, of Mediquote, said she was sorry for the stress caused to the family but rules were rules. She said: "If you have a medical condition make sure you read the small print and get it covered."