Pre-existing Travel Insurance Guide Discussion

Lady_Vernon

i
I'd try World First insurance. I have a pre existing condition , and found them extremely good, reasonable, and completely different in approach to the rest. It might be because they are travel insurance specialists, as opposed to doing all types of insurance.
Definitely worth a shot. Best of luck.

supersaver21

Hi,
I too have read the full new guide for getting travel insurance with pre existing conditions and, as usual for MSE, found it really helpful.

Unfortunately I have recently been diagnosed with secondary breast cancer so have informed my current insurer (Nationwide FlexPlus) who told me that they will no longer cover me for this condition, now that it has spread.

I have tried getting insurance elsewhere as currently have a holiday booked to Canada. I need £5000 cancellation cover on an annual worldwide policy. I am on hormone therapy and bone injections but basically doing OK. Still very active and fit. I have only managed to get 2 quotes from World First (£429.68) and AllClear (£2105.89) who are both covering me for my pre-existing condition with cancellation cover. Obviously there is a massive difference between premiums which I'm finding hard to believe. Can anyone shed any light on why they would be so different?

jimbo49

i took out Travel Ins with Virgin, via Insure and Go. i declared my existing conditions of Asthma, COPD (both well controlled with inhalers), High Blood pressure and High Cholesterol (well controlled) and Reinauds Syndrome. went to Canada around September without issue and joined my wife and in-laws in New York with the intention of staying for Xmas, New Year and Chinese New Year. 5 days into the holiday, i contracted pneumonia and was hospitalised in New York for 3 weeks, air-lifted home then in Hospital in the UK for a further 3 weeks. once home, i received a phone call from Ins & go telling me that my Annual Policy, which didn't expire until September 2017 had been cancelled. another phone call later said it was still in force but i had to go through another check and was then told that i no longer have cover for pre-existing conditions. i have never before claimed on a travel insurance and never for a pre-existing condition. i didn't go on holiday with the express purpose of becoming ill at all, let alone with pneumonia! to then be told that because i picked that up, through no fault of my own, i can now either never go abroad on holiday again, or can go if i pay and extortionate amount of money (provided i can get cover!) or dont have insurance at all, taking a chance on not getting sick and if i do, selling my only asset, my house, to pay the bill! all because of something i had no control over and because an insurance company that was happy to take the premium i paid (£200!) but not pleased that a claim was made, costing a lot of money to settle! i find it extremely irritating that i am now in a very awkward position, because of the attitude of an insurance company that, typically, wants peoples money as long as it doesn't have to pay out!! pretty disgusted!!

Doc_N

supersaver21 wrote: »

Hi,
I too have read the full new guide for getting travel insurance with pre existing conditions and, as usual for MSE, found it really helpful.

Unfortunately I have recently been diagnosed with secondary breast cancer so have informed my current insurer (Nationwide FlexPlus) who told me that they will no longer cover me for this condition, now that it has spread.

I have tried getting insurance elsewhere as currently have a holiday booked to Canada. I need £5000 cancellation cover on an annual worldwide policy. I am on hormone therapy and bone injections but basically doing OK. Still very active and fit. I have only managed to get 2 quotes from World First (£429.68) and AllClear (£2105.89) who are both covering me for my pre-existing condition with cancellation cover. Obviously there is a massive difference between premiums which I'm finding hard to believe. Can anyone shed any light on why they would be so different?

Sorry to hear of your current problems, and hope everything goes well for you.

As to the insurance, provided you've made a full declaration (which from your comments I imagine you have), and checked the exact terms of the policy, I think I'd go with the World First quote. I've been looking around myself and they came up with a reasonable price - I couldn't find anything negative about them on a quick check, and it may just be that they've decided there's a market for competitive pricing, rather than the rip-off pricing that seems to be the norm. The MSE 'recommendation' is perhaps a further plus.

Enjoy your holiday - everyone I know who's been to Canada speaks very highly of it.

bigadaj

jimbo49 wrote: »

i took out Travel Ins with Virgin, via Insure and Go. i declared my existing conditions of Asthma, COPD (both well controlled with inhalers), High Blood pressure and High Cholesterol (well controlled) and Reinauds Syndrome. went to Canada around September without issue and joined my wife and in-laws in New York with the intention of staying for Xmas, New Year and Chinese New Year. 5 days into the holiday, i contracted pneumonia and was hospitalised in New York for 3 weeks, air-lifted home then in Hospital in the UK for a further 3 weeks. once home, i received a phone call from Ins & go telling me that my Annual Policy, which didn't expire until September 2017 had been cancelled. another phone call later said it was still in force but i had to go through another check and was then told that i no longer have cover for pre-existing conditions. i have never before claimed on a travel insurance and never for a pre-existing condition. i didn't go on holiday with the express purpose of becoming ill at all, let alone with pneumonia! to then be told that because i picked that up, through no fault of my own, i can now either never go abroad on holiday again, or can go if i pay and extortionate amount of money (provided i can get cover!) or dont have insurance at all, taking a chance on not getting sick and if i do, selling my only asset, my house, to pay the bill! all because of something i had no control over and because an insurance company that was happy to take the premium i paid (£200!) but not pleased that a claim was made, costing a lot of money to settle! i find it extremely irritating that i am now in a very awkward position, because of the attitude of an insurance company that, typically, wants peoples money as long as it doesn't have to pay out!! pretty disgusted!!

You've had a lucky escape really.

The cost of your treatment and travel will have run into many tens of thousands of pounds no doubt, that's the unfortunate truth.

Insurance is risk based and once you've had a large claim then the risk of this happening again is obviously increased, let's say the cost of your care previously was £50000, what do you think a suitable premium would be to cover you in future?

digitaldiver

Last December I took out an annual travel policy for my wife and me with AllClear. I fully declared all pre existing conditions including primary prostate cancer. On the basis of this we arranged two holidays to Europe in March and June this year.
In February I was diagnosed with secondary prostate cancer. As I was due to start chemotherapy on the week after the first holiday which would continue during the dates of the second holiday. We agreed with my consultant that we could go on the first holiday and we arranged for the second holiday to be postponed to September/October.
On contacting AllClear to notify them of my medical changes they said that the policy would have to be cancelled and we would have to make alternative arrangements and receive a refund of around 50% of the premium. I was horrified to hear that we were no longer covered for our first holiday which was due to start in less than one month's time and wrote a letter of complaint to AllClear and eventually found a company who would give me cover, at a price.
When AllClear replied they increased the refund to 70% but still were unable to offer us cover as they reserve the right to cancel cover in the event of a change of health.
I have now referred this matter to the Financial ombudsman and await their response.
This would appear to be another case of unfair conditions in the small print which other people should be aware of.

koru

digitaldiver wrote: »

When AllClear replied they increased the refund to 70% but still were unable to offer us cover as they reserve the right to cancel cover in the event of a change of health.
I have now referred this matter to the Financial ombudsman and await their response.
This would appear to be another case of unfair conditions in the small print which other people should be aware of.

The ombudsman should force insurers to highlight if they have this sort of wording in the policy, making clear that it could mean you are left with just a refund of premium, if your health worsens before you travel, but you still want to travel. I think very few people would buy policies like this if they realised.

MSE should be highlighting this trap, and warn people to check the wording to see what happens if your health worsens from when you book the trip and buy the policy.

jimbo49

to bigadaj
this is the risk the insurance companies take, it's why they are in business. you sound as if you think it's ok to pay for travel insurance as long as nothing happens and claims aren't made. that is not why people take out the insurance but to then be penalised for becoming ill, not with a pre-existing condition but for something else that you are unlucky enough to contract, is hardly fair. i had never had pneumonia before but it is something anyone can get, whether they have a pre-existing condition or not. what i dont know is whether it is something that can recur or whether a person is then susceptible to getting it but to remove cover completely, i think, is uncalled for just as is ramping up the costs to ridiculous levels. bear in mind that i had never claimed on a travel insurance before, in all the years i have traveled, for anything, let alone a 'pre-existing condition', making sure that any and all meds i need are taken, religously, as prescribed.. also bear in mind that i didn't go anywhere with the express intention of getting ill and i have traveled many thousands of miles, all over the world during my 65 years. as is the usual case, insurance companies are happy to take customers money until they have to give some back!

out of curiosity, i filled in the details on the World First website. i was refused cover. it told me there that it knew which company would cover me, but that also refused me. that means, as i said in the above post that, even though i have never claimed on a travel insurance policy for anything before, let alone a pre-existing condition, having had to make a claim for contracting an illness, something i had no control over and definitely didn't want to contract, i am now either unable to travel abroad, can travel without insurance, hoping to not get ill or travel, perhaps get ill and then lose my only asset, my house, to pay any medical bills. all because insurance companies want your money but penalise you when you want theirs!!

bigadaj

jimbo49 wrote: »

to bigadaj
this is the risk the insurance companies take, it's why they are in business. you sound as if you think it's ok to pay for travel insurance as long as nothing happens and claims aren't made. that is not why people take out the insurance but to then be penalised for becoming ill, not with a pre-existing condition but for something else that you are unlucky enough to contract, is hardly fair. i had never had pneumonia before but it is something anyone can get, whether they have a pre-existing condition or not. what i dont know is whether it is something that can recur or whether a person is then susceptible to getting it but to remove cover completely, i think, is uncalled for just as is ramping up the costs to ridiculous levels. bear in mind that i had never claimed on a travel insurance before, in all the years i have traveled, for anything, let alone a 'pre-existing condition', making sure that any and all meds i need are taken, religously, as prescribed.. also bear in mind that i didn't go anywhere with the express intention of getting ill and i have traveled many thousands of miles, all over the world during my 65 years. as is the usual case, insurance companies are happy to take customers money until they have to give some back!

out of curiosity, i filled in the details on the World First website. i was refused cover. it told me there that it knew which company would cover me, but that also refused me. that means, as i said in the above post that, even though i have never claimed on a travel insurance policy for anything before, let alone a pre-existing condition, having had to make a claim for contracting an illness, something i had no control over and definitely didn't want to contract, i am now either unable to travel abroad, can travel without insurance, hoping to not get ill or travel, perhaps get ill and then lose my only asset, my house, to pay any medical bills. all because insurance companies want your money but penalise you when you want theirs!!

Insurance companies are businesses, your £200 premium has bought you seemingly many tens of thousands of insurance cover, so the only logical conclusion is that the insurer has made a loss on you.

This is the same for any form of insurance, it's not only travel but would be the case for house insurance (flooding, subsidence etc), car insurance (personal injury particularly) etc

You would have every right to feel aggrieved kf the insurer had declined your claim but they didn't.

The fact you've had such a claim means you are a higher risk, would you be happy to receive a £200 premium and then pay out £50k for a single claim?

If things are so unfair then it might be worthwhile you starting your own insurance company and see how you get on.

Out of interest what would you consider to be a fair premium in future for your travels, I'd have to put it at the high thousands to low tens of thousands, or do you think you have a right to pay a nominal premium with a risk running into six or seven figures?

supersaver21

Doc_N wrote: »

Sorry to hear of your current problems, and hope everything goes well for you.

As to the insurance, provided you've made a full declaration (which from your comments I imagine you have), and checked the exact terms of the policy, I think I'd go with the World First quote. I've been looking around myself and they came up with a reasonable price - I couldn't find anything negative about them on a quick check, and it may just be that they've decided there's a market for competitive pricing, rather than the rip-off pricing that seems to be the norm. The MSE 'recommendation' is perhaps a further plus.

Enjoy your holiday - everyone I know who's been to Canada speaks very highly of it.

Thanks for your response. Upon further investigation into both the All Clear Policy Wording and the World First Policy Wording, I am extremely worried that, in the event that my health changes between now and the start of my holiday, and I declare this change to them and they decide to no longer cover me for my condition then I am left with a holiday that I would have to cancel (as I couldn't afford to take the risk of going to a country where I didn't have travel insurance). If this were the case, then I don't believe either company would pay out any cancellation costs based on their policy wording. I really don't want to end up paying for an insurance policy, however expensive or cheap, if the policy ends up being null and void and I can't even use the policy to get back any costs of my holiday already paid for. This whole scenario seems crazy and I can't believe travel insurance companies can get away with this.

Does anyone have any experience of the sort of thing I am talking about? Perhaps you know of a company whose policy wording does allow you to cancel your holiday and get back your costs, should the insurance company decide to no longer cover your condition?

Any help on this matter would be greatly appreciated.