What to do after a serious diagnosis

Emergency: call 112. If anyone is in danger or hurt, or there is a fire, safety and a call to 112 come first; everything else can wait.

What to do now

1. Your health first. Not everything has to be sorted this week. Ask someone you trust to help with the paperwork. It is not weakness; it is sensible.
2. Ask for a written medical report. With the diagnosis, its date and the tests that support it. Insurers almost always ask for it.
3. Find all your policies. Life, critical illness, health, income protection, personal accident, loan cover, group schemes at work. Check too whether any has a waiver of premium.
4. For each policy, ask for the procedure in writing. The claim form, the documents, whether the condition is within the definitions, whether there is a survival or waiting period. Critical illness cover pays when the condition meets the policy’s definition.
5. For sick leave, talk to your employer and Social Insurance. Sickness benefit is paid by Social Insurance, after a few waiting days, if you meet the conditions. Whether your employer keeps paying your salary is set by your contract. Ask how and when to send the medical certificate.
6. If you have income protection, tell the insurer early. It pays after the waiting period you chose. The definition of incapacity (your own job or any job) decides a lot.

Who to call

• Your personal doctor or specialist for the medical reports and certificates.
• Each insurer holding a policy of yours (claims department), and your advisor if you have one.
• Your employer about leave and group schemes, and the Social Insurance Services about sickness benefit.
• The Health Insurance Organisation for questions about GESY.
• The services’ phone numbers and websites, checked on their official pages, are on the Who to contact page.

Documents and details you will need

• Medical reports, test results and the date of the diagnosis.
• Policy numbers or the policies themselves.
• Medical certificates of incapacity for work.
• Payslips or proof of income, for income protection.
• ID and bank account details.

Deadlines

• Tell each insurer within the time its policy sets; if there is a survival period, payment may come after it.
• Keep paying the premiums until the insurer confirms in writing that a waiver applies.

What to avoid

• Do not stop paying any policy now; cover lost now is hard to get again.
• Do not assume the condition is excluded, or that one policy covers everything; ask in writing about each.
• Do not sign a surrender or a settlement in a hurry.

To understand what each one pays: Critical illness: how the cover works, If I fall ill, who pays me? and Income protection: how it works. For a hospital stay: What to do if you go into hospital. Tools: claim readiness and income gap.

Print this page Keep it in the glovebox or with your home papers.

This guide is general information, not legal, medical or insurance advice. Deadlines and documents are set by the terms of each policy and by the services involved.

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