travel insurance -pre existing condition

helwarren

I have been diagnosed with cancer less than year ago and taking medication. Am looking to go to Turkey for couple weeks and struggling to find insurance. Am fit to travel and can get quote where I have disclosed condition but cover would not pay for anything related to condition. Unsure wether worth taking or not, had to be admitted to hospital recently for chest infection -now if something like that happened does that count as related to condition? Admitted on precautionary basis to dose up on antibiotics, so not a symptom of the cancer but guess if didn't have the cancer wouldnt have been admitted.

luci

You could try https://www.insurepink.co.uk

Quentin

helwarren wrote: »

.... had to be admitted to hospital recently for chest infection -now if something like that happened does that count as related to condition? .......

This is another pre existing condition which you need to declare as well as the cancer.

pedro123456

helwarren.

I use allclear insurance I phone to speak directly to them.
I haven't had to claim so I aint sure how "good" they are, although I suspect they are the same as most IC's , you know, dont like parting with their cash etc :rotfl:

Anyway have a look here and scroll to the bottom of the page for some IC that may cover you http://cancerhelp.cancerresearchuk.org/coping-with-cancer/coping-practically/money/travel-insurance#list

As Quentin said you will have to declare the "chest infection", it is however very important that you tell the IC if this condition is under "ongoing investigation", because if you are still being investigated for it Insurance will be difficult to get.
If however you were diagnosed as having a chest infection and that treatment cleared it up Insurance may be easier and/or more affordable. Gook luck

diamond_dave

Please disclose ALL visits to docs, hospital, investigations, meds, etc. My DD has Cystic Fibrosis, kidney stones, acne, anaphalaxis, and is on MASSES of meds. When she went to S.America for 3 months recently and told her insurance co. EVERYTHING that she had had done over the past 3 years!It was expensive (£1200 ) but a friend of hers with CF had not bothered with insurance, had to be flown home at her own expense and it was VERY expensive Don't be tempted to keep anything back.Several companies out there who will quote you - and don't forget the charities Cancer Research Trust and many others will help.

Gizasmum

Hi Helwarren, I renewed our Annual European Couples Travel Insurance with Sheilas Wheels two weeks ago. I am 53 and my husband is 58. We paid around £114, which includes cover for our pre-existing medical conditions. It would have been £72 without this cover, but we would have still had to declare our illnesses.

My husband has diverticulitis. I have High Blood Pressure, High Cholestrol, mild Psoriasis & had a chest infection last year which fell within the last 12 months period. I had it when I renewed the policy last year and it didn't cleared up until March 2011 so had to declare it for 2012/13 cover also. Obviously our conditions are pretty minor compared to yours, but I just thought I would pass on the benefit of my experiences in the hope that it will help you even in a small way.

Having shopped around I found that some policies want to know if you have EVER had a chest infection (since they classify it as pneumonia) and whether this was chronic or acute. I didn't have pneumonia, I had a cough that wouldn't clear up due to the doctor not diagnosing it correctly in the first place, not giving me anti-biotics once she did diagnose properly, then it developing straight in to a secondary infection. I didn't get anti-biotics for that either. I did not have to go in to hospital. I explained this to Sheilas Wheels when renewing this year and they dropped the level of severity for it so I paid less. I am not sure what the position would have been if I had went into hospital.

Many online insurance companies are clear from the outset that they don't cover pre-existing conditions. When you find one that does you have to go through a set of online medical screening questions. At that point you get to state the severity of all of your individual conditions and only then will you find out if they will cover you. If you then still have any further queries about individual companies quotes you would be best to phone them before committing further.

The companies that I found to quote (there are more out there but these are the ones that I kept the emailed quotes from) were -

Age UK, Aviva, Axa, Avanti Travel, RIAS, Saga, Staysure, Sainsburys, Sheilas Wheels.

I also found these articles which might help you too. Good luck x

http://cancerhelp.cancerresearchuk.org/coping-with-cancer/coping-practically/travel/travel-insurance

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/columnists/sophiebutler/8133463/Travel-advice-travel-insurance-for-cancer-sufferers.html#disqus_thread

bobthedambuilder

Does anybody else think that this pre-existing condition thing is getting to be a real pain in the neck? I had my appendix out in 1952 (60 years ago! Hells bells!) - should I be declaring that? I'd like to bet that the majority of people do not put EVERYTHING down. My OH fell over and broke her wrist 2 years ago - we went to the A&E and they just put a bandage on it for 4 weeks and that was it. I declared it and the insurance company called it a pre-existing condition and excluded it!

The danger is, knowing how these insurance companies work, is that as soon as you have to make a claim, the investigators are all over your medical history, and if you've not mentioned something you think is trivial, they will use it as an excuse to void the policy, even if your claim is nothing to do with the missed fact. When is there going to be some clarity on this?

helwarren

thank you everyone. Had given up as the cover I found either cost more than the holiday or excluded my condition, and am sure even if broke a leg they would find some way of attributing it to my condition. However might consider going Greece or Spain where holiday might cost a little more but at least if i get an E111 (or whatever it is these days) will have some cover if did take ill.