A family is telling people to be careful with their insurance. They made a mistake on a form and their policy was not valid when their daughter got sick on vacation. They had to pay a £100,000 medical bill.
Katya Katalinic, who is 18 years old, from Midhurst, West Sussex, had a bleeding in her brain in South Africa in February.
She remained in Africa after a family trip to Kenya during Christmas.
Axa, their insurance company, said the policy was not valid because the family gave the wrong information.
Miss Katalinic said she woke up in the hospital with strangers around her.
“I couldn’t talk or read anymore, so I felt like a baby when it happened,” she said. “I didn’t know anything. ”
Marsha Katalinic, her mom, made sure the whole family had insurance for their trip to Kenya in 2022.
When her parents went back to the UK in the new year, Miss Katalinic chose to continue with a course to learn how to work on a yacht in South Africa.
Her dad, Roberto Katalinic, got more insurance for her. They tried to use it when she got sick and they rushed to Cape Town.
Mr Katalinic said he told the hospital manager about the policy.
“MrKatalinic looked at the screen and told me, ‘You’re not going to like this email,’”
“Axa told him that they would not pay, so the parents will have to pay for the cost. ”
Axa said the insurance was not valid because Miss Katalinic’s trip to South Africa began in Kenya, not the UK.
Mr Katalinic said that he thought the journey had to start in the UK, and that’s where it did start.
“The journey began here, in Midhurst in the UK. ”
Miss Katalinic is telling people to be prepared for bad things that could happen to them. She says that even though you may hear about bad things happening to others, you might not think it will happen to you. She wants everyone to make sure they have everything they need to be okay in case something bad happens.
Axa said in a statement that when you buy the insurance, you need to confirm that everyone on the policy is going to and coming back from the United Kingdom and that your trip has not started yet.
“On this occasion, the answers given didn’t match Miss Katalinic’s situation and this was only discovered after she made her claim. ” We stopped the policy because we found out it wasn’t valid. We gave Miss Katalinic all her money back.
According to deputy editor Sam Richardson, consumers are given the information they need, but it’s hard to find and requires a lot of effort to discover.
It’s worrisome that 25% of claims aren’t paid. It shows that these products could be improved so people understand them better.
Tag: West Sussex
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Travel insurance alert after £100k bill received by family in UK
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British nationals murdered in Ethiopian air crash
Boeing’s “greed” that prioritised profits over safety “stole” the lives of three British nationals died in a jet disaster, an inquest has found.
On March 10, 2019, six minutes after taking off from Addis Abeba in Ethiopia, flight ET302 crashed, killing all 149 on board as well as eight crew members.
In Horsham, West Sussex, an inquest into the deaths of three British passengers — Joanna Toole, 36; Samuel Pegram, 25; and Oliver Vick, 45 — got under way earlier today.
Their families have called upon the coroner to record a verdict of unlawful killing, saying Boeing played ‘Russian roulette’ with people’s lives.
The ET302 crash happened less than five months after another Boeing 737 Max 8 crashed into the Java Sea in October 2018, killing 189 people.
The two crashes caused a two-year worldwide grounding of the Max 8. The manufacturer was charged with conspiracy to defraud the US in January 2021.
It’s alleged some software was concealed from regulators during the certification process, and that software has since been blamed for both the Ethiopia and Java Sea crashes.
A delay in the publication of the Air Accident Investigations Branch’s (AAIB) report into the crash meant the families have waited more than four years for answers.
The report found there was no fault on behalf of the pilots, no impact to the aircraft from striking birds or any other external event.
Speaking at the inquest, Samuel’s father Mark Pegrim said: ‘How he was lost and that it should have been avoided makes it harder to bear.
‘People who were responsible just carry on with their lives.
‘The dishonesty and deceit they have shown is the complete opposite of Sam’s values.’
Mr Pegrim said they wanted to bring justice for all of the families on board the flight.
‘It was designed with fatal flaws,’ he added. ‘Boeing then continued to fly after the first crash.
‘This should not have happened – too many lives have been lost.
‘I urge you to reach a verdict of unlawful killing. They were not just negligent but broke the law.
‘Boeing lost their way – for profit, corners were cut, warnings were ignored and authorities and airlines were deceived.’
Samuel’s mum Deborah added: ‘Boeing played Russian roulette with people’s lives and they should be held responsible for the deaths.’
Loved ones of Joanna Toole, of Exmouth, Devon, described her as someone who loved animals and ‘really cared and was very passionate about conservation’.
Her dad Adrian Toole said: ‘All her potential was cut short. I am sure evidence will convince you it was no accident.
‘It was a disaster that happened in a faraway place – but shows another crash was inevitable. And another Max 8 could have come down in the UK.’
Joanna was employed to represent the UN and her family said her life’s ambition was to improve the lives of animals.
Mr Toole added: ‘She had a rare combination of empathy for both animals and people.
‘The death of a child is like losing a part of yourself and I started dying on March 10, 2019.
‘The 149 passengers killed were not a typical cross section of travellers.
’22 of the dead were associated with the UN and nine were working in other humanitarian areas.
‘It was a disaster that went beyond personal tragedy and set back all the good work those people were engaged in.’
Oliver Vick’s mother Cheryl, of Wargrave, Berkshire, said the family had flown ‘without fear’ for several generations and always subscribed to the statistics that flying was the safest form of travel.
She added: ‘Boeing betrayed them, four generations of trust. And betrayed everyone on those flights.’
She accused those responsible of ‘deliberately’ putting profit above safety and for causing what she described as a ‘devastating and avoidable crash’.
She said her son was ‘stolen from us by Boeing fraud and a deep betrayal of the world’s flying public’.
Paying tribute, she described Oliver as a devoted father and said his death had left their world ‘a sadder, emptier place’.
She added: ‘He was a sure believer it was possible to make the world a better place to improve the lives of people near and afar.
‘He had an unwavering focus on making the world a better place for as many people as possible.
‘We are so proud of the man our boy became. The grief, shock and horror will always be with us.
‘No day can ever be the same again without my beautiful boy.’
The inquest continues.