Travel insurance and a possible ectopic pregnancy

zx_31

Hi,

My fianc!e and I are in a really awkward situation of which there's probably no solution... but if anyone has any ideas we'd be really appreciative.

We have an all-inclusive holiday booked for departure on Sunday. It's quite an expensive holiday and one we've been looking forward to for a while.

A couple of weeks ago my fianc!e suffered from miscarriage symptoms following about 7 weeks of pregnancy. Long story short, after a GP visit and ultrasound referral we are in the position where she might have an ectopic pregnancy and that blood tests are being taken to monitor hormone levels over time. We are currently awaiting results of a second blood test, which will give us a better idea of whether it is or not. Obviously, if it is, we wont be going on holiday as it's a serious condition. If we're "not sure", we probably still wont be able to risk it.

In terms of insurance, we unfortunately have none at this point. We were planning to use our bank account travel cover, but have only just realised that since downgrading our current account the cover is now only for European destinations, not worldwide. I'd planned to review this and take additional cover before departure - obviously not expecting the recent events to mess with this plan.

Basically, I'm thinking there's no solution here. Given the uncertainty of the condition, I can't see how any insurer will take the risk in the current situation, and if we have to cancel, we're going to have to write-off the money we've spent. Which is of course, painful - particularly if the condition isn't officially diganosed, and may quite likely not be an ectopic pregnancy.

Any advice appreciated.

agrinnall

Are you expecting the results before Sunday? If so I'd wait, if all is fine then get travel insurance then and go on holiday. If the tests show there is a problem then you probably won't want to risk travelling anyway and will just have to write off the cost. If you aren't getting the results in time then you could get insurance excluding cover for the ectopic pregnancy risk, but if you travel and there is a medical issue relating to that then the cost of resolving it could be very, very high, so you'll have to decide whether to accept that risk or cancel the holiday.

zx_31

agrinnall wrote: »

Are you expecting the results before Sunday? If so I'd wait, if all is fine then get travel insurance then and go on holiday. If the tests show there is a problem then you probably won't want to risk travelling anyway and will just have to write off the cost. If you aren't getting the results in time then you could get insurance excluding cover for the ectopic pregnancy risk, but if you travel and there is a medical issue relating to that then the cost of resolving it could be very, very high, so you'll have to decide whether to accept that risk or cancel the holiday.

We will get some results tomorrow (Friday) which will tell us whether HCG levels have gone up or down. If they've gone up, they may diagnose it officially at that point, but I'm not 100% sure what is required. If they've gone down, then we'll be in a situation where they probably can't tell us for sure we're in the clear. We'd probably then have further blood tests on Sunday morning (i.e. cutting it very fine) but again I'm not sure at what point we could be given the full "all clear".

So unfortunately I can't see us having a definitive answer before Sunday, but I guess there's a glimmer of hope. Thanks for the advice though, I definitely agree with you. It's painful writing off the holiday but it's a reminder to us to be more vigilant when it comes to insurance, I guess.

lisyloo

Yep this is why you should get insurance when you book.
You could look to transfer the holiday to someone else - you’ll have to offer a significant discount at short notice, but it might be worth contacting your travel agent to see if they can offer it at 50%?

sheramber

Ask the travel company if you can change the dates of the holiday to later in the year.

You may be able to then get insurance once you know the situation.