Annual travel insurance - pre-existing medical conditions?

JennyP

Hello!
I've asked a few companies for annual travel insurance and been refused as I have anaphylaxis - i.e. a severe and potentially fatal allergy to peanuts and aspirin and a few other things. The fact that I'm careful and haven't had any problems in 22 years doesn't seem to make much difference!
Does anyone know of any company that offers this at a reasonable cost? I looked on covermytravels as that seemed to be recommended on the forums but it looks like they aren't operating any more.
If not, does anyone know who the best people to go to for travel insurance for individual trips?
I have asthma too and a couple of other allergy type problems, all related, and going through trying to get quotes takes hours, only to be told at the end that it's prohibitively expensive!
Thanks.
JEn

spiro

Have you checked the information on this http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/insurance/cheap-travel-insurance page?

Barter

Would you be happy to have these medical conditions excluded; my understanding was that, if you were, the insurance companies would cover you at 'normal' cost for everything else, but you take your chance that you wouldn't have problems with your pre-existing conditions.

Oldernotwiser

Are you looking for cover outside Europe?

pedro123456

http://www.itssoeasytravelinsurance.com/anaphylaxis.html

http://www.anaphylaxis.org.uk/home.aspx

Incapuppy

JennyP wrote: »

only to be told at the end that it's prohibitively expensive!

But what do you call expensive? Its all relative isn't it?

If you are unfortunate enough to have PEMCs then you would be a fool to travel without having the peace of mind that you are covered in case of illness.

Does it have to be an annual policy? Try getting single trip quotes and see what they are like; also if you can exclude areas such as the States and Caribbean then your premium is likely to be lower.

Don't forget that anyone travelling with you will also need to declare your PEMCs to be covered in the event that the trip is cancelled/curtailed if you suffer a related illness.

JennyP

Thank you for all those replies and suggestions.
There is no way I would travel without insurance or have insurance that excluded my medical conditions. Too risky!
I have found one this morning that is really good value from a company called Getmy. In fact, it's such good value that I find myself thinking of the old adage, if it seems too good to be true, it probably is.
One thing that worries me is that it says you must contact them FIRST in a medical emergency. In the unlikely event of me suffering an allergic reaction, my first port of call is getting an ambulance to save my life not contacting an insurance company. That seems strange so I'll call them about it. Has anyone used them? I found one thread about them but nothing about how good they were in an emergency.

greenface

getmy was an option for me before this summer but with a family of four (3 adults with PEMC) it was a mine field and ended up more expensive than allclear insurance which i have used in the past and more transparent web site . It will be cheaper if your not going to usa or caribean or metal detecting in afganistan

daveyjp

Try LV=, you can do a pre screening on line, but call them as well. UK based and have provided excellent service for us with medical conditions to declare.

JennyP

Thank you! LV are almost same price as GetMy but I feel better as I've heard of them before! Now I just need to pluck up the courage to actually go on the trip!

Incapuppy

JennyP - I would say that the best plan of action is to look at the existing thread on here regarding PEMCs and work your way through the list until you find the best option.

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=182730&highlight=pre+existing

Last year I was quoted in excess of £1000 to cover OH and myself for a 2 week single trip; shopping around reduced this to under £200.