Help!!! Need to know if I can make a claim on my Travel Insurance!!

nicki2626

Hi,

I just wondered if anyone can give me a heads up on our situation before I contact our insurer.

I have never had to amend or cancel a holiday before and this is new territory to me, so any advice would be greatly appreciated.

We are due to go away in 3 weeks. The original party was myself, OH, dad and nanna.

Dad and Nanna now want to withdraw from the holiday.

My brother is 19 and last week he suffered a massive breakdown and had to be hospitalised and sectioned.

He is recovering but we do not have a release date for him, and also he will need family support as part of his aftercare once he has been discharged.

Therefore my dad cannot go on holiday as he needs to care for my brother.

My Nan suffers with ill health (already disclosed in her insurance) which has deteriorated since my brother's illness and she now feels physically unable to travel, and also wants to support my dad.

We are due to fly out on 17/09 to Florida. Disney have offered us 50% refund per person for my Nan and dad.

Is there any advice on what we can expect etc. before I call the insurers?

Me and my OH are still going on the holiday.

Would appreciate any input!

Many thanks!

Nicki

Alikay

Your dad should be covered for the difference between the 50% refund offered and the full price (less whatever the insurance policy excess is) as most policies will pay out if a spouse, child or parent's illness causes you to cancel. Your nan's cover is more tricky, and It depends whether or not her pre-existing condition was fully covered for cancellation in the policy - I'd have a good read through the small print before calling..

dmg24

You may have difficulty because your brother's condition is mental health related, and many policy exclude such conditions. As Alikay suggests, the small print should detail any exclusions.

I hope your brother gets back on his feet soon. Sectioning can be a terrifying experience for the patient and their families, but hopefully it will get him the help he needs.

nicki2626

Alikay wrote: »

Your dad should be covered for the difference between the 50% refund offered and the full price (less whatever the insurance policy excess is) as most policies will pay out if a spouse, child or parent's illness causes you to cancel. Your nan's cover is more tricky, and It depends whether or not her pre-existing condition was fully covered for cancellation in the policy - I'd have a good read through the small print before calling..

Alikay - thank you for the response.

So for my dad - do we mention the 50% refund from Disney and ask if they will cover the remaining 50% - have I understood that correctly?

For my nan - all her medical conditions have been listed and is fully insured - she has a comprehensive policy with her bank to cover everything.

Many thanks for your response.

Nic

nicki2626

dmg24 wrote: »

You may have difficulty because your brother's condition is mental health related, and many policy exclude such conditions. As Alikay suggests, the small print should detail any exclusions.

I hope your brother gets back on his feet soon. Sectioning can be a terrifying experience for the patient and their families, but hopefully it will get him the help he needs.

dmg4,

I didn't realise that mental health was not considered.

Basically from the moment he was sectioned my dad was told to file some form to act as his carer until he is well again.

I think I may need to divulge a bit more information.

Basically his breakdown has come from 2 sources:

1. Grief over our mother's death 4 years ago

2. Drug induced psychosis

He basically had a psychotic episode that was induced from drug-taking and the emotional breakdown has come from his grief.

He HAD to be sectioned because of the state he was in and he went missing for a few hours.

However, as the drugs have left his system, he is no longer psychotic and just requires counselling and therapy although this will have to be done within some form of establishment initially and then it will continue as "after-care" at home.

Now this could happen tomorrow, next week, next month, next year - we don't have a recovery or discharge date for him.

But until he has left hospital he is under my dad's "care" so to speak - so I don't know if this makes him a dependent, etc.

If they do not cover for mental health then that's pretty poor.

Because as you say it's distressing and I wouldn't wish this experience on my worst enemy.

Many thanks for the input.

Nicki

Incapuppy

Sorry to hear of your family troubles.

Has your brother had a history of depression etc before this breakdown that he has received any medical advice/care for?

If yes, then your Dad may be insured to cancel in respect of him providing this information was disclosed to the insurers and cover was approved. If not, then again your Dad may be OK depending on the insurer. As dmg has indicated, some insurers do decline to offer cover for anything mental health related.

The policy wording will need to be checked very carefully as recently there have been cases in the media where insurance cover was denied because of an alcohol related situation; I have no idea whether drugs would be viewed in the same light.

Did your Dad's cover include the declaration of your Nan's conditions? If so, then if all else fails and she is declared unfit to travel by a doctor, he could perhaps cancel because of her illness - this may be a way around it.

Oldernotwiser

Many policies specifically exclude cases where substance abuse is involved.

Alikay

Right....it could be a bit trickier then: It's quite likely that sort of thing won't be covered. Unfortunately the insurers go through the claim with a fine tooth comb and won't stop at a straightforward sick-note from your brother's GP. Their own medical claims people will ask for lots of details from his notes so, unfortunately, if there is history of his problems prior to the booking being made, they will probably cite this as reason to not pay out. Have a good look at the policy documents, just to make sure.

Sorry to hear the details...I'd assumed it was an out-of-the-blue event, but any history means they'll try and avoid paying. Have you actually cancelled the holiday in writing yet , as the clock will be ticking and the amount of refund due will get lower the closer you get to departure.
Good luck and hope your brother and nan get better soon.

dmg24

I agree it is pretty poor. I have bipolar and would not be covered if I was to cancel or need mental health treatment whilst overseas. I could get cover, but it would cost more than the holiday!

Hopefully your policy will not have a MH exclusion. However, even if it does not it may exclude conditions where there is an element of fault involved, which would cover the taking of drugs.

Sorry it all sounds so negative, policies vary so none (or all) of the above may apply to you.

Another alternative is to claim on the basis of Nanna's poor health, and explain that Dad has to care for her.

It may be worth having a chat with your brother's psychiatrist, or your family GP, as they will be asked for confirmation of the patient's condition.

nicki2626

There is no history - this is a one-off (or so we hope) and isolated incident.

He was sectioned because he was psychotic - but the psychosis was induced from cannabis - and this has now left his system and he is no longer psychotic.

Now he just requires stabilising and lots of bereavement counselling.

It never occurred to me to claim via my Nan's insurance.

We all have individual policies. Me and my OH have our own; dad has his and Nan has hers.

Don't know again if this will affect.

dmg24 - I'm really appalled to hear that your bipolar is not covered. Frankly I'm disgusted because that definitely is something that you cannot help.

That is truly shocking.

But as I say, no prior history and as far as we are aware this is a culmination of 4 years of grief which has literally gone off like a bomb, and unfortunately the cannabis has been the trigger.

I feel [EMAIL="!!!!py"]!!!!py[/EMAIL] having to explain all of this on here - it's hardly appropriate nor private but I suppose it's the only way I will get rounded advice.

Many thanks again.

Will have to call the insurers tomorrow.

Thanks.

Nicki

luci

Unfortunately I have to agree with the others. Many insurers won't even provide cover if you have MH problems, others will cover it at a high premium.

If your brother has no previous history of depression then you have a better chance of this episode being covered, but you will have to declare it on an future policy. However being caused by illegal drugs may be a problem.

Which insurance company is your policy with so perhaps one of us can look at the polciy wording?

I truly hope that your brother recovers fully from this as any MH problem is a living nightmare and not the easiest thing to treat, but hopefully he gets all the support and help from the medical profession.

dmg24, have you tried Direct Travel for cover? I know they cover some types of depression at a reasonable cost. Worth a phone call if you haven't tried them before.