Travel insurance / medical screening

oldladyjo

Holiday travel insurance over 65 years old. I always go through medical screening to declare a couple of major conditions. I also have a few other conditions that I don’t declare as I have never had to receive medical attention for. My question is if I had a fall and needed medical attention it would be covered as part of the declared condition but can the insurance company obtain my GP records and not payout as I have not declared an unrelated condition.

elsien

It depends if what's happened can be linked to the unrelated condition. So if you're diabetic (undeclared) , go a bit wobbly, fall and break your hip they wouldn't pay because the fall is related to diabetes.

Similarly if you have an operation and complications arise due to an undeclared condition that would be disputed even if the need for the original operation was nothing to do it.

Plus according to the Financial Ombudsman Service, an insurer can reasonably reject a claim that has nothing to do with a pre-existing condition if they can show that they would not have allowed the policy to be taken out in the first place had the condition been disclosed

I'd always say why take the chance?

littlereddevil

If you make a claim they usually for doctor's records

pollypenny

You must be mad! Declare everything! Not worth the risk.

LadyDee

My understanding is that if you have, say, a kidney problem undeclared, but happen to break your leg they won't pay out even though it might be totally medically unconnected. Not worth the risk as they'll find out about the kidney problem from your doctor and void the policy.

oldladyjo

Thanks all for your advice full disclosure and twice the price it is then

michele-p

You can declare a condition so they know, but not cover it. We do this for my husband, he has epilepsy which is medicated and controlled and no issues for over 10 years. We tell them, some will cover with no extra, another time we could exclude it from the cover, but they had it on record.

NoodleDoodleMan

I hope I'm reading this correctly.

You have an undeclared condition(s) and have never sought medical attention for it/them previously ?

Therefore it can't be on your medical records - therefore the insurance company have no evidence on which to deny cover should you (God forbid) have need for treatment abroad.

Maybe somebody with greater knowledge can confirm or refute that.

However, that apart, you should always declare all medical conditions for obvious reasons.