But what turned out to be a medical nightmare was compounded by the stress of being held hostage to the insurance company’s withholding approval for her treatment.
Prior to her trip Mrs Icke cleared a medical checkup and paid up her insurance. Then 5 days into her holiday her heart missed beats and made her faint headed. A local private clinic said she would have to have a pacemaker implanted urgently.
However her insurance company would not approve the treatment. She went ahead with the operation anyway, fearing a life or death choice.
AXA, the insurance company, badgered by Mrs Icke family at home, agreed four days later to pay, although have not done so at this time, and also declined payment for Ms Ickes travel costs cut short to get back home with an accompanying friend. Emirates Airline waived charges for changing her return ticketing.
Mrs Icke cautioned that travelers should carefully check their health insurance coverage before taking a vacation and be sure you trust the integrity of the company.
A spokesman for AXA said: "When a customer requires medical treatment we need to obtain previous medical history to determine if the condition was pre-existing. In Mrs Icke’s case, there was a delay in receiving this information from her GP. We should have sent a disclaimer for Mrs Icke to sign instead. We always arrange for a customer to be accompanied by a friend or family member if the doctor advises that it is medically necessary. However, Mrs Icke’s doctor did not advise this, which is why such arrangements were not made. Ideally, we encourage our customers to let us know if the costs are going to be high."
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