Travel insurance with medical conditions .

alfmurph

After many years of getting annual worldwide travel insurance  including usa very cheap through a perk at my wife's job we are now retiring and  insurance company will not let us continue.
So after many searches we have found an adequate quote by travel insurance saver . They are new to market and the cheapest i could find for the cover we needed .
What i liked about their quote of £242 was the break down . £108 for cover approx  . £80 for me having high blood pressure and £50 for my wife having crohns disease.
Does anyone know company that can do better . MoneySupermarket search here and companies are quoting £700 and more .
I read somewhere you can get insurance without your medical conditions covered as long as you disclose them .
I have had high blood pressure for 20 years and my wife has had crohns for 15 years without incident as long as we take our dailly medicine .
I am thinking of paying travel insurance saver the £108 and taking our chances . Risky i know .
Any thoughts or names of insurance companies that can do cheaper appreciated .

alfmurph

defaqto rating is 3 stars for this cover .
same company offers one with defaqto rating of 5 star for £349 .

Shedman

The potential issue with not covering any pre existing conditions is that most policies then exclude anything 'directly or indirectly' associated with the pre existing conditions but how they would determine what was an associated medical issue is not clear.  As an example with your wife having Crohns then if she say suffered any form of stomach complaint needing treatment they'd probably try and disallow a claim (by the way I'm a fellow Crohns sufferer who similar to your wife doesn't suffer...thanks to the regular infusions.  I'm somewhat frustrated that the changes to the medical screening questions for Crohns over last couple of years to add questions about regular injections or infusions now means that whereas before, when I was actually suffering, I hardly had any extra loading I now generally find that the extra premiums are pretty steep even though I'm actually far less likely to need to claim!).

We now get our annual worldwide travel insurance through our joint Nationwide FlexPlus account.  It costs £13 a month (but also gives car breakdown and mobile insurance) and I've just been quoted £40 for 12 months to cover my Crohns (plus £40 for the optional extra cruise cover which given Coronavirus and risk of cabin confinement has suddenly become a bit more relevant).  The good thing about the pre existing medical options on Nationwide is that they only require you to declare if you have suffered from the usual heart, HBP, diabetes, breathing, gastrointestinal, cancer conditions in last 12 months (not 'have you ever' like a lot of insurers ask) or if any other condition has required medication / treatment in last 12 months.

alfmurph

I asked halifax about upgrading to this account . They are with axa who are expensive . Halifax said i need to make appointment to upgrade and then they would phone axa and ask the question. Axa were not helpful either . £17 a month to upgrade .

alfmurph

Is it legal to book travel insurance and not declare medical conditions . For example if our elderly relative died or we lost our baggage would our claim for cancellation or lost be disqualified .

luci

alfmurph said:

Is it legal to book travel insurance and not declare medical conditions . For example if our elderly relative died or we lost our baggage would our claim for cancellation or lost be disqualified .

.Although it may seem money saving not to cover existing conditions, if may be false economy if you suffered a heart attack or stroke, especially in the US.  There have been cases of people with well managed HBP becoming seriously ill on holiday.

Regarding whether it is "legal", you must answer all questions honestly.  If you are asked if you have a medical condition and say no, it could be regarded as fraudulently obtaining a cheaper quote than you should have and the company reserve the right to void the whole policy.

Regarding your elderly relative, search the policy wording of any you are considering for "Close Relatives".  Some have very onerous terms such as not covering anything if they have been on medication in the past 3 or 6 months.  Staysure had that clause which I found surprising and disappointing considering they are aimed at people over 50 who are likely to have elderly parents. Direct Travel would cover as long as there was no reason known for cancelling.  
 
The best I have found is via the Nationwide / UK Insurance.  Last time I checked their only exclusion was that they hadn't been an inpatient in the past 12 months. 

You would need to check the current wordings for the above as it is a couple of years since I last checked.

I would strongly suggest that you avoid any company in the tifgroup / Travel Insurance Facilities group.  Search this forum for previous discussion about them

Concerned75

I chose Get Going. They were doing a phone call interview on my local radio station last year and they specifically dealt with medical conditions, without rocketing the price like mainstream insurers do. I have an LTHC and going to the Carribean this year for my wedding, so I wanted every eventuality covered. I found they were reasonable and I  chose no excess. Check them out, might be useful.

luci

Concerned75 said:

I chose Get Going.

See my comment above re tifgroup / Travel Insurance Facilities group

desnee

We had free insurance cove with our bank until my husband turned 70. He has well controlled diabetes type 2 and takes 1 tablet for it. He is prescribed blood pressure tablets, not because he has high blood pressure, but because of the diabetes. I took an annual insurance with Staysure for him, covering the diabetes costing £79.00.  3 days after his 70th birthday and 3 days into the policy he had a unexpected minor cardiac event ( a heart attack to everybody else) in this country,  They fitted a stent and pronounced him fit to travel by air or by sea, (we travel to Geneva in 5 weeks). He was home in 3 days and restarted his walking regime, Staysure have charged me an extra £270 to cover this heart condition ( it should have been £50 more, but they made a mistake in the paperwork and waived the extra cost). Shouldnt the original policy of £79 cover his heart attack, I feel it is unfair that they have changed the goalposts because of this totally unexpected event. A heart attack or a stroke is more common in diabetics, so why should we be penalised for something unexpected, isnt that what insurance is for? ( my husband says being 70 sucks!!!!!)

luci

desnee said:

We had free insurance cove with our bank until my husband turned 70. He has well controlled diabetes type 2 and takes 1 tablet for it. He is prescribed blood pressure tablets, not because he has high blood pressure, but because of the diabetes. I took an annual insurance with Staysure for him, covering the diabetes costing £79.00.  3 days after his 70th birthday and 3 days into the policy he had a unexpected minor cardiac event ( a heart attack to everybody else) in this country,  They fitted a stent and pronounced him fit to travel by air or by sea, (we travel to Geneva in 5 weeks). He was home in 3 days and restarted his walking regime, Staysure have charged me an extra £270 to cover this heart condition ( it should have been £50 more, but they made a mistake in the paperwork and waived the extra cost). Shouldnt the original policy of £79 cover his heart attack, I feel it is unfair that they have changed the goalposts because of this totally unexpected event. A heart attack or a stroke is more common in diabetics, so why should we be penalised for something unexpected, isnt that what insurance is for? ( my husband says being 70 sucks!!!!!)

What do the T&Cs / policy wording say about changes in health after the policy has started?

desnee said:

He is prescribed blood pressure tablets, not because he has high blood pressure, but because of the diabetes. I took an annual insurance with Staysure for him, covering the diabetes costing £79.00.

Did you declare his blood pressure tablets when you were asked if he had been prescribed any medication?

BigBelly

Is it possible to get good and affordable travel insurance for serious medical conditions if you agree to pay a high excess, say £10,000?  My partner has recently had breast cancer which has been treated successfully but quotes are around £1,000.  I can live with a high excess.  My main concern is avoiding being bankrupted by a £100,000+ bill.