travel insurance in early pregnancy

paped

Hello all, strange situation/question, if anyone has any advice.

I am 8 weeks pregant. When I was 5 weeks pregnant, I had some complications in my pregnancy. My doctor has now cleared me of complications.

I am having a difficult time obtaining travel insurance. The insurance companies say that the complication was a pre-existing condition, and therefore I would not be covered if I was to have a miscarriage while away. Some companies will waive that clause for an additional fee, but the insurance must be purchased within 10 days of booking the trip, which is not applicable in my case.

Does anyone have any advice as to what I could do?

Thanks!

Porker

you could try Columbus (https://www.columbusdirect.com) as they also do pre-existing conditions, so if you do fall into that category they should be able to help. Good luck!

HTH!

WelshTust

My wife had the same problem, but with one phone call to Tesco Travel Insurance, (Can't be done on the web) we had the Policy number, and went on holiday the next day, cost about £5 more than normal.

Savvy_Sue

I agree that a phone call is often the way to go because the web just can't cope with this kind of thing!

paped

Thanks all...yeah I've been on the phone with about 8-10 different insurance companies, they all seem to sing the same tune. The pre-existing condition would negate coverage of any medical issue which was pregancy related, so it looks like we're out of luck. :-(

Porker

one last port of call, and they might be expensive, is AllClear (0870 777 9339), they only do medical conditions, so if you havent already tried them it may be worth a go. Good luck.

DaisyLondon

I suppose you are limited to go to Europe on the old E111?

Savvy_Sue

DaisyLondon wrote:

I suppose you are limited to go to Europe on the old E111?

Even if you're 'only' going to Europe, then it's a good idea to have insurance as well as an E111. The E111 means you will get treatment for the same cost as a national of that country, but that's rarely free. For a routine visit to dentist or doctor the lack of insurance might not be too bad, BUT in a worst case, hospitalised-by-a-car-accident kind of scenario life could become very expensive.

However, one other thought: as you see from my signature I'm not without a medical history. Last year I was insured excluding anything relating to my pre-existing brain condition, earlier this year my son was travelling while I was due to be in hospital. Most policies cover you for cancellation if someone close is ill or dies but clearly my son couldn't get that kind of cover. As he didn't need it - cheap trip - we arranged a policy without cancellation cover.

Now, are insurers refusing cover for anything to do with pregnancy? Or can you find one which will cover you for anything pregnancy related except a recurrence of your previous condition which your GP says is now sorted? This is the kind of situation where a broker may be able to help, and certainly phone calls rather than web quotes. I know you say you've phoned various insurers, but it may be a question of knowing what to ask them for. Having said that I wouldn't be surprised if they erred on the cautious side and excluded anything pregnancy related.

I don't know if the National Childbirth Trustwould be able to offer any advice? Or if any similar organisations would be able to help?