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

missyjules

We are off to Croatia next week and have just got cover from Travel Insurance Direct, travelcover.co.uk for £32.00 for 2 weeks for both of us. We though this was a pretty good deal as my husband is 68 and suffers from a few ailments i.e. hypertension,hyperthyroidism etc. which were all covered. I have had breast cancer in the last year, and although anything connected with this was not covered, everything else was. The site was very easy to use and gave the option to declare any pre-existing medical conditions during the application. This company is based in Norwich, so no foreign call-centres! Thoroughly recommended:T

Jake'sGran

Just tried All Clear out of curiosity as I spent a lot of time recently trying to get cover for a ten night trip to Spain. They quoted just under £350 which is probably the most expensive yet (full cover). In the end, last week, I settled with Bradford & Bingley for £75 for the two of us but they won't cover my pacemaker which I find a bit odd and have not been able to work out why as it is a state of art implant and I cannot imagine it becoming damaged, unless the whole of the rest of me was damaged? But B&B do cover my heart valve replacement

Porker

there are a lot of places that will let you exclude conditions, and as far as i know allclear will only let you have a 'full cover', hence they always come out expensive. Bradford and bingley, and a reasonable number of building societies (or at least ex building societies) tend to be able to give cover for medical conditions, or they can handle it, rather better than some other firms.

foxglove_3

i have been trying to get medical travel insurance for a trip to the USA and have not had much luck.I have a condition called pulmonary fibrosing alveolitis and no one seems to want to insure me.the best quote i got was from tesco for £496 for both of us.most of the companies will either not insure us or quote ridiculous figures (anything from £800 to £4000).even directtravelinsurance didnt want to know.

transuranic

Hi,
thanks to reading this forum, I called Totaltravelinsurance and obtained full cover for a liver condition diagnosed in 1985. This is the first time I have had this covered; previously cover had this specifically excluded. There was no additional premium for this. Plus it only cost about 50 pence to waive the exclusions - great value and service.

gazmctam

:j I have epilepsy and have found in the past that insurance companies either won't consider covering me or really hike the price to cover me (alternatively they will agree to cover me but not the epilepsy!!). However on my last 2 holidays I have used Nationwide Building Society's Travel Insurance and they have covered me completely as long as I have declared it and at no extra cost! Thought that this might be of interest to others in the same position.

Digby_2

mattp wrote:

For those looking for travel insurance for the elderly and medical conditions, i can recommend a company called Cover My Travels (www.covermytravels.co.uk) - [ formerly Total Travel Insurance ] we went on holiday to spain with a relative who is 73 and is in a wheelchair after suffering a stroke a few years ago, their quote was nearly £50 cheaper than anywhere else (and I tried about 6 companies!)

Certainly worth a call if you are struggling to find a good quote

All the best
Matt

I have just taken out a policy (single trip) to go to America with covermytravels, I tried all Martins recomendations Age concern would not cover, Saga £850, Free Spirit £2450, got cover from covermytravels for £170. My pre conditions are clot 10years ago and RA for 35years.
I spent hours of research before finding this company.
Thanks for your advice.

Arwen

Porker wrote:

there are a lot of places that will let you exclude conditions, and as far as i know allclear will only let you have a 'full cover', hence they always come out expensive. Bradford and bingley, and a reasonable number of building societies (or at least ex building societies) tend to be able to give cover for medical conditions, or they can handle it, rather better than some other firms.

No , All Clear will let you exclude your pre-existing condition.Went to Paris in Septemeber with them, and we declared them,but didnt get covered foor them (would have been dearer than the weekend away)

bernard_brookes

I never realised that travel insurance could be so difficult.

I'm trying to arrange insurance for my parents (75 & 71 with pre-existing medical conditions) and it's a nightmare. I realise that there's a higher risk but it's virtually making holidaying abroad impossibly expensive.

I think it will have to change because we're all used to a having a number of holidays a year, which is easy with my low cost annual policy.

theloft

Digby wrote:

I have just taken out a policy (single trip) to go to America with covermytravels, I tried all Martins recomendations Age concern would not cover, Saga £850, Free Spirit £2450, got cover from covermytravels for £170. My pre conditions are clot 10years ago and RA for 35years.
I spent hours of research before finding this company.
Thanks for your advice.

Could not find the original post by mattp but my friend who is 74 and has heart problems, has got cover for himself and his wife to go with us on a 17-day trip to the USA & Canada next year. The quote from: https://www.covermytravels.co.uk
was lower by about £200 than anyone else. Covered by Lloyds underwriters it looks very good. He is over the moon with this policy. So bernard brookes give them a call. I understand it is an 0800 number so won't cost you anything.