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

theloft

Riccallpete wrote:

SmilePlus bank current account pays 3.04% on balances and offers 'free' annual travel insurance and in the small print it says the only age barrier is that you must start the insurance before you are 80 yeras old. As I am 79 can anyone say if I will be still covered when I pass 80?

Ask them !! It won't cost you anything. But be very careful, some 'Free' Bank Travel Insurances are not worth the paper they are printed on. Check the cover and small print etc. very carefully.

visaria

I would be careful with total travel (and everyone else) to ensure that they have recorded your pre-existing conditions correctly and have either accepted or declined cover.

I bought a total travel policy which covered all pre-existing conditions for my mother after informing the medical screen helpline that she had been hospitalized in the last 12 months. The screener asked me the date of admittance and why she had been an in-patient. After telling him, he told me that it wasn't a problem, all pre-existing medical conditions would still be covered and just to give the ref no to the insurance agent, which I duly did when I purchased the policy.

I then decided to call the medical helpline back the next day when I realised the date I had given them was slightly incorrect (just a day out). They said that they had no record that I had ever said that she had ever been in hospital (even though they had asked the date, what she had gone in for etc !!!) and since they now knew, they could no longer cover her for her pre-existing medical conditions. I then rang the insurance broker to ask for a full refund.

tigerlily

I have spent the last couple of weeks searching for pre existing cover for a trip to the USA and had been quoted anything up to £120 for 19 days to just cover the teeth and my hip would be excluded!! I have bad wisdom teeth problems and also a hip problem. I tried Medi-cover and was quoted £49 covering both things. P.S I'm 28 and otherwise healthy!!

Jake'sGran

theloft wrote:

Ask them !! It won't cost you anything. But be very careful, some 'Free' Bank Travel Insurances are not worth the paper they are printed on. Check the cover and small print etc. very carefully.

I am a long time customer of Smile (Co-op) and they are always trying to sell me this "extra" which provides travel insurance etc. If you add up the monthly charge for this extra service which includes things you probably don't need anyway, you would probably find it is just as cheap to just pay for travel insurance with one of the many providers. I have a prosthetic heart valve and a pacemaker. Help the Aged, for the past two years, have provided annual cover for me and my OH for about £140 with my heart covered. This year I followed my usual routine, checked flight times, phoned hotel to see if they had a room available, booked flight on line, phoned Help the Aged and blow me, found they would no longer cover my heart. when I insisted on speaking to a senior person I was told that the underwriters had changed their rules?? I then spent a number of days ringing a lot of different providers and the variation in quotes was surprising. Most would not cover my heart and yet, if they thought logically, I have been treated effectively. More Than
would cover my heart valve but not my pacemaker - go figure? Some would only quote single trip. The highest premium was around £500 which I thought was ridiculous. Another company would cover me but I must pay the first £1000 of any claim. Got fed up in the end and cancelled the flight. One thing I found extremely irritating was that I had to relate all my medical details to young people who didn't know what I was talking about and were just ticking boxes on a screen. Two years ago, when first insured by Help the Aged, I gave the information to trained medical staff. Sorry for the rant.

littlemissfrugal

for those with pre-existing conditions if you are in a union check out the member benefits i was quoted £62.00 by my employers agency including staff discount but halved that using my unions insurance agent

abisnail75

Anniebee wrote:

Try the American Express website for £158 for a basic worldwide policy even for over 80s.

American Express no longer insure over 80's. Have been trying to find insurance for my 85 year old Grandpa for 36 days to Australia with a pre-existing condition (obviously you've clocked up some miles at that age) with no joy. He went with AMEX last year but they don't offer the same policy now. Any suggestions that are under £200? The medi-care suggestion came out at £564 - the flight is only £619! Thanks. A.

wasbrokegettingbetter

MSE_Archna wrote:

This is a special discussion thread to discuss hints and tips for older travellers and those with pre-existing conditions. If you spot a good provider please report please click reply.

For the general Travel Insurance discussion link please click here.

I got very reasonable single trip insurance for my elderly mother (86) from American Express, we never had to claim, thank God, but it was easy and much cheaper than Saga or Age Concern

abisnail75

Hmm. Wonder if American Express have only just changed then. My Grandpa went to Oz last year aged 84 with no problems with them but this year they've turned him down saying no over 80 year olds. Shame.

beverleybeaver

Hi,
My father is 82 years and my mother is 77 and I got travel insurance for the States with All Clear Travel Insurance. My father had 2 mini strokes over 4 years ago and has had a pacemaker inserted to control his irregular heart beat with no problems since he had it put in. The cost of the premium was £1,600-00 --not cheap but it bought us peace of mind.
Does anyone know of any other companies who might assist?
Help the Aged were useless--the minute we mentioned "heart" and "USA they declined cover.

gregory_offer

My Grandmother who is 83 has recently managed to get travel insurance to cover a 3 month trip to Australia for £241.50, an absolute bargain compared to most of the others at £600-700.:j

This was through the British Mountaineering Council. http://www.thebmc.co.uk/default.asp
You have to join which costs £28.50 but is worth it for the very cheap travel insurance rates.
Depending upon your age you pay a percentage higher, but there is no upper limit, and it works out very cheap compared to most of the competitors.
I have copied some of the information from the website below.

This travel policy provides the benefits of medical, travel and baggage insurance without the addtional premium loading of a sports policy.
3 days 5 days 10 days 17 days 24 days 31 days add on week annual option 1 option 2
UK £5.75 £8.75 £12.50 £14.50 £16.50 £18.50 £2.95 £42.50 £112.50 -
Europe £9.00 £13.50 £20.00 £22.25 £30.00 £35.00 £5.95 £76.50 £112.50 £114.50
Worldwide £14.50 £22.50 £37.00 £40.00 £49.00 £56.50 £9.95 £106.50 £112.50 £114.50
Option 1 is the add-on cost of professional cover - (n/a since sports participation is NOT covered under Travel)
Option 2 is the add-on cost of extended period cover, removing the 93 day limit on individual trips for annual policies.

Travellers aged 66 and over
There is no age limit on BMC insurance, but premiums for persons aged 65 and over are increased by the following percentages: Senior (65 - 69) = + 50%, Senior + (70 - 74) = + 70%, and Senior ++ (75 and over) = + 100%.