Travel insurance with cancer patient

ITtim

Hi All, i need some advice on how best to deal with our travel insurance.

My wife was diagnosed with Melanoma at the beginning of the year, we want to travel to Canada next June and i'd like to book my tickets in the next couple of weeks.

Obviously there is a possibility that come next June we'll not be able to travel so i'd need cover to enable us to claim back the flight costs and also ideally medical cover for when we are out there. How can I do this?

Thanks in advance

huckster

Unfortunately, you will need to do some phoning around. If you look at some of the cancer charity websites, they do offer advice about Travel Insurance with suggested companies to try. There are companies that specialise in providing cover for medical issues, but they can be very expensive. Sometimes companies that don't advertise themselves as specialist can offer lower premiums.

Be prepared for a long list of medical questions, by having all the information about condition, dates, treatments etc. See what they ask, write it down, to help with further phone calls. Because you are travelling together, you would still need to declare, as the trip is reliant on both travelling. So getting individual policies is not a solution.

I could suggest companies, but my knowledge is not up to date. Worth searching online for Travel Insurance with cancer or medical conditions, as a starting point.

ITtim

Thanks Huckster, presumably to insure ourselves against the loss of the tickets we would need insurance before we purchase the tickets?

would there be any benefit to getting insurance just before departure if we're happy to risk loosing the flight money?

huckster

You can get quotes for single trip without exact trip dates, but to get an accurate premium, number of days for trip is needed.

Before a single trip policy can be issued, they would need the exact dates. If they can provide cancellation cover, it will be from the date you took out the policy.

So get quotes first. If you are happy, then book tickets, then take out the policy.

Nb. Not sure about annual Travel multi trip Insurance in this situation. You can ask, but it might not be available.

jacci45

I am a cancer patient in remission and travelwith are excellent so it is worth getting a quote from them online. In fact we are using them for an Alaskan cruise and a week in Vancouver next year!

mufi

ITtim wrote: »

My wife was diagnosed with Melanoma at the beginning of the year, we want to travel to Canada next June and i'd like to book my tickets in the next couple of weeks.

My OH was diagnosed with same thing 11 months ago. He has travel insurance with Explorer, who will cover all his pre-existings including melanoma. However, he had no spread and all his tests have come back clear.


Considering his age and medical history, price wasn't bad (single trip - can't get annual cover) and they are a Which? best buy.

ITtim

Thanks for the replies, she has been on a clinical trial which has now ended as the melanoma returned, its possible that it has spread elsewhere as well (not sure at 100% at the moment) so I presume that would have an impact. What sort of price should we be expecting?

Thanks

mufi

This is where I looked: http://www.moneysupermarket.com/travel-insurance/pre-existing-medical-conditions/


All the very best for the future.

ITtim

Doesn't look like we're insurable

mufi

I fear you are correct; once the outlook is clearer, and depending on what it is, you may have more success. US, Canada and the Caribbean are likely to be prohibitively expensive, though, so Europe may be a more do-able proposition long-term.


Sorry it's not better news.

jacci45

Did you try a quote with insurewith? I will be honest I used them about 6 months after diagnosis but my cancer had not spread but other companies would not cover me but they did. This time ( 3 years on) I got 3 quotes, £2100, £1700 and £600 with insurewith.
Good luck.