More than two years ago, a Florida couple called up a supplemental insurance provider to take out a disability coverage plan in case the wife became pregnant. Her work doesn’t cover maternity leave, but the policy would help pay the bills while cared for the child. That is, if the insurer had sold them the correct policy.

Unfortunately, the $32/month they were sending to the insurer was actually for accident coverage, something for which the couple already had a policy. So when they finally learned they were having a child, they were surprised to find out that they wouldn’t be receiving any coverage.

The insurance company did apologize for the screw-up and the couple received an apology and a check for the premiums they sent, but they did not get the coverage they thought they had been paying for.

“I’m very disappointed,” she says. “That’s what I was basing the next three months of being able to take care of my daughter.”

The couple has filed an appeal with the insurance company. An attorney specializing in insurance law tells First Coast News that while the blame for situations like these belongs to both the insurer and the insured, consumers should expect that the policy they are being sold is the policy they asked for in the first place.

“We are allowed in the law to rely on experts; certainly we should all read our contract and look at the language,” he explains, “but a lot of us aren’t familiar in contractual language so it is not wrong for the consumer to have relied upon representations of the insurance agent.”

Wrong Insurance Policy Dampens Excitement of Pregnancy [FirstCoastNews.com]

Thanks to darkrose for the tip!

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