RBS Royalties Gold - travel insurance

AJL18

I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis 12 years ago and contacted the RBS to check if I was covered under the travel insurance of the Royalties Gold account, and they told me I was, but I have read over the policy again and I dont think I am. It looks like I have been travelling abroad for 12 years without any insurance! Would I have a claim against RBS?

InsideInsurance

Why do you think your dont have cover?

You'd only have a claim if they declined a claim because you hadnt informed them of your having MS

Normally with package bank accounts travel insurance after informing them of a condition they will advise you if they can cover it or not and if they can then if there is a fee or not for it. Assuming they offer cover for a fee you then get the choice of paying the additional fee each year for cover or declining it and having the condition excluded.

Once you've gone through the above its normally backed up by a letter confirming what has been discussed/ agreed as otherwise there is no personalised documentation for these types of policies.

If you dont have that letter, cannot properly recall the conversation then you need to speak to them now and double check everything is correct etc. If they advise you they have no record of the prior conversation and that either they cannot cover you going forward or there is an additional fee you may have grounds for a complaint to them though insurers can reasonably review their underwriting criteria periodically and even if it was acceptable last year doesnt automatically mean its still acceptable next year

Steve_xx

InsideInsurance wrote: »

Why do you think your dont have cover?

You'd only have a claim if they declined a claim because you hadnt informed them of your having MS

Normally with package bank accounts travel insurance after informing them of a condition they will advise you if they can cover it or not and if they can then if there is a fee or not for it. Assuming they offer cover for a fee you then get the choice of paying the additional fee each year for cover or declining it and having the condition excluded.

Once you've gone through the above its normally backed up by a letter confirming what has been discussed/ agreed as otherwise there is no personalised documentation for these types of policies.

If you dont have that letter, cannot properly recall the conversation then you need to speak to them now and double check everything is correct etc. If they advise you they have no record of the prior conversation and that either they cannot cover you going forward or there is an additional fee you may have grounds for a complaint to them though insurers can reasonably review their underwriting criteria periodically and even if it was acceptable last year doesnt automatically mean its still acceptable next year

It's interesting that you mention that it is possible to keep the insurance without paying a possible additional fee, in return for having a condition excluded.

But if one was to do this I wonder if there is a real danger that an insurer would not cover a claim that arose not directly from a given condition but from a condition that could ocur as a result of having the excluded condition, if you see what I mean?

InsideInsurance

Steve_xx wrote: »

if one was to do this I wonder if there is a real danger that an insurer would not cover a claim that arose not directly from a given condition but from a condition that could ocur as a result of having the excluded condition, if you see what I mean?

It would depend on the medical report of the doctors involved on if they relate it back to the original condition or not. If the Dr says the illness was a consequence of the excluded condition then the claim would normally be declined. If its an obvious one, someone with diabetes suddenly having eyesight issues then the insurers will normally explicitly ask if was linked to the pre-existing diabetes or not

I have a very similar situation personally where you could potentially pin any cancers, heart attacks, strokes etc to it. I have absolutely no issues with them not wanting to touch my actual condition, I've had it since birth, never had a day off sick because of it etc etc but its that risk that they decide another condition is a result of my existing one is why I fought tooth and nail to get it covered by my PHI and PMI insurance (travel insurers have never had issues with it oddly)