Travel Insurance?

There will be nothing extra to pay if the condition occurred after the insurace started (or was renewed), or the holiday was booked (whichever was the latest).

Quentin there are a couple of Insurers who recently put in their small print that they can charge / impose underwriting conditions etc if you develop a medical condition after you take cover out / renew it. I personally think this is really unfair as it can penalise policyholders who the foresight to take their cover out before or when they book their holiday.

A lot of the companies that do this offer a refund of the balance of the premium if they do this (Which is not that helpful as the customer then has to rearrange cover with another company with the chances being the premium will be loaded and/or cover restrictions.

The one good thing is the Ombudsman will normally often the customer to cancel the holiday at the Insurers expense subject to normal underwriting conditions.

Tescos are one of the companies that operate on this basis so be warned

I totally agree, I have seen a few other cheap and cheerful policies that do this as well, it seems really unfair on customers prudent enough to have a continuing annual policy or taking cover when they book.

I helped an MSE poster recently who had an annual Tesco Policy and her husband had just developed a heart problem. They were going to America and when they rang Tesco they said no cover for the heart problem. There options were to either travel without cover for any heart problems or cancel cover and insure elsewhere (Obviously the prices with new companies were horrendous).

The Ombudsman will normally allow the client to invoke the cancellation section of a travel policy in these cases if the Insurers revised terms dramatically change the cover.

I totally agree, it would be far better if every insurer used the normal system where if you had no medical conditions when you took out the policy or renewed it then its covered. The new system some of the companies are adopting seems to be all in the Insurers favour

Tesco and some other companies use the second option you mentioned!

I agree the first option is how most companies work and is the fairest for the Insurer and the customer

I agree with your points, however the Tesco policy includes the warranty in their single trip as well under this wording "Your policy operates on the basis that you warrant to that at the time of taking out this insurance and at the time, you commence your journey"

I've seen a few other travel schemes that have a similar wording on them, I even rang and discussed it with an Insurer for someone who came to me for advice after taking a single trip policy out and they then developed a medical condition and the Insurer wanted to charge another £140 to cover the condition (The original premium was only £40!). I argued on the same basis you are and they would not budge as their policy wording allowed them to do this. They even advised me that "The customers material circumstances have changed since the policy commenced" They would not budge and unlike Tescos would not refund the actual premium if the customer was not happy.

I can see a lot of customers not thinking to declare a condition that occurs after they took a single trip policy out and falling foul of this condition. I would not be surprised if the FOS would side with the customer in a lot of these cases.

This is the relevant wording from the Tesco Single Trip Policy

Please read this section carefully. Your policy operates on the basis that you warrant to that at the time of taking out this insurance and at the time, you commence your journey:

• You are not awaiting nor have received medical treatment in the past three months for an illness or injury as a hospital in-patient.
• You are not taking medication and you have not had medication prescribed for an existing medical condition.
• You are not suffering or have suffered from a heart or cancer related condition prior to your taking out a policy with us.

If any of the above apply, you have what is termed an 'existing or pre-existing medical condition' and any claims arising directly or indirectly there from will not be covered.
To check that your medical condition is covered you must call us on 0845 300 99 00.
Medical Conditions

After you have paid for this policy, you must tell us if you are diagnosed with:

• any heart condition, any circulatory condition (problems with blood flow, including high blood pressure) or any breathing condition (including asthma);
• any type of cancer;
• any joint and bone condition;
• any gastrointestinal (stomach) condition; or
• diabetes

We will then decide if we can provide you with cover on your existing terms. We may add special conditions to the policy or exclude cover for that medical condition. If we cannot provide cover for the medical condition diagnosed after you paid for the policy, you can call us on 0845 300 99 00 and make a cancellation claim if you have booked and paid for a journey that you have not yet made. Or, you can cancel your policy and we will send you a pro-rata refund, as long as you have not travelled or made a claim.