Travel Insurance Cost Cutting Tips For Older Travellers/Pre-existing Conditions

Pede9466

I did a price comparison on Confused.com for general annual travel insurance, then followed the link to Flexicover.net, then Flexicover.com, which is where I was able to get a quote for myself and my husband for Annual Insurance cover to Europe for £58. This was after declaring a minor pre-existing condition for my husband, for which there was no extra charge. After ringing them with a further query, I also discovered that by entering "yes" in the discount box, we were entitled to a futher 10% reduction for an online application. Apart from the fact this wasn't made clear at the time, I consider this an excellent deal.

Pede9466

Fluffbag1, have you tried flexicover.com (see my post no 115). I hope you are successful, and it's not too late for my advice.

TomsMom

Has there been a massive hike in travel insurance premiums for pre-existing conditions this year?

For years we have gone with Direct Travel at very reasonable prices with no loading for hubby's conditions. This year they wanted to load an extra £119.46 for pericarditis which he had 11 years ago. Always declared previously but never loaded.

I am now desperately trying to find travel insurance for Australia at a reasonable price.

We have in place a Halifax multi-trip Europe policy which includes medical conditions which was a best buy at £118.34 when we took it out early this year. A couple of days ago we rang and asked what it would cost to extend this to Worldwide as we have just decided to go to Australia for 40 days in November. We were quoted an extra £51.93. Rang today to take up the extra insurance as we booked flights today, only to be told that hubby could not be covered for the previously accepted medical conditions on a worldwide policy despite being told two days ago that he could. They could only offer a new policy costing £678 but it would not cover the medical conditions even for the trip to Europe that is already insured and they had accepted.

We have spent hours today trawling the net and have had quotes ranging from £241.26 to £893.10.

The medical conditions for hubby are old ones with no further problems and no medication - discectomy, umbilical hernia, inguinal hernia and the pericarditis. The only present medical condition is ulcerative colitis with no medication. It is only the pericarditis which causes the loading from what we've been told.

Mine is hypothyroidism which is never loaded.

Does anyone know of a company with reasonable prices for a couple 60/59 which would cover us worldwide?

clemmie

Toms mom suggest you try Colombus Direct 0800 083 9503. they will make an appointment for a medical screening nurse to ring you if the pre exsisting conditions are are not on a list of things they will cover.

We had a quote from them after a long medical screening for my husband
he's 64 with high blood pressure, an operation in february for a bowel resection to remove a cancerous growth, no chemo necessary thankfully,
also enlarged prostate and a past DVT.
I am 63 had non hodgkins lymphoma and a spleenectomy in 1994, all clear since 2000 but my previous insurer insisted on excluding it.

The quote was for £203 worldwide cover including America and Canada trips of up to 60days excess £50. Husband is off to hospital tomorrow for check up
and if thats ok we will except the quote and book a holiday straight away.

Did try Cover my Travels they would cover us but would exclude my husbands operation as they insist on one year from operation.


Hope this helps.

nlwsaint

I was listening to a phone in programme on local radio a few weeks back & they were discussing this topic. A few people rang in to say they had been offered good quotes fromhttp://www.floydsdirect.co.uk/index.php
If you are over 65 I think you have to ring up but otherwise you can do it online.

chrispwilson

Cover My Travels do not cover heart attacks until 2 years have elapsed since the last attack.

TomsMom

clemmie wrote: »

Toms mom suggest you try Colombus Direct 0800 083 9503. they will make an appointment for a medical screening nurse to ring you if the pre exsisting conditions are are not on a list of things they will cover.

Hope this helps.

Clemmie :A , what can I say but a big THANK YOU.

Colombus have quoted £77.82 :T which covers both of us, worldwide, annual multi-trip and medical conditions.

They told us that how they work is they only take into account any occurrences in the last twelve months (so that's the ulcerative colitis covered) and anything previous to that which is declared is made a note of so that those are on file and covered if anything apertaining to them arises (so the others are covered including the pericarditis which was causing a problem elsewhere even though it was 11 years ago).

So we booked straight away, couldn't see anyone bettering that. And it looks like Colombus will be getting our business for the next few years until we reach their age limit!

Thanks again, I'm very very happy to be giving you your first official thanks!

Free_bird_2

I know this is a bit off topic but theres a few people here who know about insurance. Iv'e gone through moneysupermarket to get a flexicover annual multi trip insurance. How many days of actual travel does this cover. Any help greatly appreciated. Thank you

TomsMom

Free_bird wrote: »

I know this is a bit off topic but theres a few people here who know about insurance. Iv'e gone through moneysupermarket to get a flexicover annual multi trip insurance. How many days of actual travel does this cover. Any help greatly appreciated. Thank you

Don't know how old you are Free bird but I've just found this in the Additional Notes section of Flexicover's Supreme Annual Multi Trip policy covering Europe. Appears to be the same for worldwide too.

For ages 1-65, the maximum trip duration is 50 days.
For ages 66-80, the maximum trip duration is 35 days.

Presume that is the policy you have.

Easy enough to double check it by going to the moneysupermarket site and putting your details in again, you'll find it when you click the DETAILS button where you see the quote.

Hope that helps.

daas_2

Can't find the post, but would like to say a massive thanks to the person who pointed me in the direction of the British Moutaineering Council. Lovely, helpful people, no waiting in phone queues.

I'm taking my mum to France for a week, she has a couple of medical conditions which they were quite happy about. The insurance has cost £55.50 - this does include a joining fee, but hey!... Fantastic. I have had quotes of over £200.. You need to phone if there are pre-existing conditions 0161 445 61111 is the no. Would definately recommend.

Regards Dave