TONY HETHERINGTON: Axa backtracked on my husband's treatment
Tony Hetherington is Financial Mail on Sunday's ace investigator, fighting readers corners, revealing the truth that lies behind closed doors and winning victories for those who have been left out-of-pocket. Find out how to contact him below.
![Affected: Margaret Thatcher had Dupuytren's disease in her right hand](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/08/10/12/88380943-13730385-image-m-3_1723289220018.jpg)
Affected: Margaret Thatcher had Dupuytren's disease in her right hand
Ms L.D. writes: My husband has Dupuytren's disease. The Mail on Sunday carried an article recently about clinical trials showing a positive result from radiotherapy, with a consultant commenting that most healthcare providers now cover this treatment.
We rang my husband's insurer, Axa Health, but were told it would not cover treatment costs. We asked it to reconsider, and a week later Nuffield's London Cancer Centre told us it had been authorised by Axa to go ahead.
But after five treatment sessions, and with five more to come, Axa said it made a mistake and would claw back the payment it had already made to the hospital, leaving us to pay for the entire ten treatments ourselves.
Tony Hetherington replies: Dupuytren's is a thickening of tissue in the hands, producing a lump or pulling fingers inwards to the palm. There is no straightforward cure for the condition (Margaret Thatcher was a sufferer), but you were hopeful that radiotherapy would help your husband as it has improved things for other sufferers.
His consultant gave the go-ahead, the private Nuffield centre received approval from Axa for its charges, and everything looked fine. Then, halfway through the treatment, Axa backtracked. It told you it had paid for the treatment 'by mistake' and it was reverting to its original decision not to fund it.
Axa said it would reclaim payment already made to Nuffield, adding: 'We will let you know how much you need to pay and where to send it.' As an apology, Axa offered £100, leaving you facing bills of around £3,500.
Axa takes the view that while the radiotherapy treatment would do no harm, not enough research has been conducted yet to show that it should become a standard treatment for Dupuytren's. This is why it turned down your husband's claim in the first place.
Paying Nuffield was a mistake, it said. But startlingly, Axa suggested it alerted your husband to its mistake 12 days before treatment began, giving him time to cancel unless he decided to foot the bill personally.
This made no sense, so I went back over the exact sequence of events. Your husband's first treatment session was on February 19. On March 9, Axa wrote to him, listing this and subsequent sessions, setting out their costs, and telling him that he owed nothing as Axa had already paid Nuffield. Yet now Axa was telling me it had already discovered its mistake on February 7, a full 12 days before the first treatment session. So why would it write on March 9 – over a month later – confirming it had paid Nuffield and saying that your husband owed nothing?
I put this to Axa, and it backtracked on its backtracking! It told me: 'We appreciate there was miscommunication between Axa Health and the hospital.' And it agreed that Axa would cover the costs for the treatment already carried out.
In fact, Axa has now gone further, and will cover all the costs of your husband's treatment, including radiotherapy sessions still to take place after it uncovered its mistakes. There will be no bill. It was a bit of a struggle getting there, but Axa made the right decision in the end.
If you believe you are the victim of financial wrongdoing, write to Tony Hetherington at Financial Mail, 9 Derry Street, London W8 5HY or email [email protected]. Because of the high volume of enquiries, personal replies cannot be given. Please send only copies of original documents, which we regret cannot be returned.
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