Momentum criticised for refusing to pay life policy
Life insurer, Momentum has been criticised after it declined to pay-out an insurance claim to the relatives of a man who died in a botched hijacking - saying he failed to disclose that he had suffered from high blood sugar levels.
Nathan Ganas was shot dead during a botched hijacking in the driveway of his home last year after his wife came under attack.
Years before that, he'd taken out life insurance with Momentum.
After the 42-year-old father's death, the family's claim of R2.4-million was rejected by the company.
The financial services provider issued a statement saying it was because Ganas, who had high blood sugar levels, failed to disclose this when he took out the policy.
Social media users have lambasted the company, questioning Momentum's ethics and alluding that it should pay out because his high blood sugar was not the cause of his death.
However, Momentum has replied by saying before a policy's taken out - a client completes a medical questionnaire which determines whether there are any pre-existing conditions that could lead to a decision not to extend the cover.
Consumer journalist Wendy Knowler from East Coast Radio, sister station of Jacaranda FM, explains that not disclosing a particular condition may jeopardise one's chances for a claim.
"If you fail to disclose a condition to an insurer, it means they have based the entire policy on a risk that is not true. If it's the case that the existing condition would have meant that they wouldn't have taken out the policy for you in the first place, they are within their right to say - now that you are claiming for this - they will repudiate the whole policy."
Read Momentum's statement here.