Travel Insurance .

alfmurph

Got quotes for a couple annual world wide insurance including usa .
Cheapest was around £300 but for decent cover they were mostly around £400 .
£200 for usual stuff and £100 for my high blood pressure and £100 for my wife's crohns .
Our medical conditions have been under control for years now by taking pills .
My high blood pressure is normal when i take medicine so have i really got high blood pressure .

Sandtree

Great statement of fact and well done on the blood pressure... did you have a question?

alfmurph

Question - Can i say i do not have high blood pressure as my readings are normal when taking medication .

user1977

What's the wording of the relevant question(s) asked by the insurers? I doubt they'll have not covered the possibility of your blood pressure only being kept under control by medication.

Sandtree

alfmurph said:

Question - Can i say i do not have high blood pressure as my readings are normal when taking medication .

No because you are taking the medication... any more a diabetic can say they are fine because they take insulin or schizophrenic because they take risperidone etc... you have the condition still.

With some insurers its possible to choose to have the condition excluded rather than pay the extra for cover but with high blood pressure you'd be excluding the potential consequences too like a heart attack.

Les1_2

January 2020 my wife took out travel insurance for USA aged 75 years. Due to covid she has not been able to travel. Initially they offered to extend the time to take up this cover for 18 months having to take the travel by July 2021. Now they say they overlooked the point that she is now 77 years of age & they only cover people up to 75 so have withdrawn the offer of cover. I feel that this should be a binding contract & they should honour it. Any advice would be very helpfull. Over the past 18 months we have many ups & downs with these people & the shift the goalposts at each event should they be allowed to?

TELLIT01

Don't try to play games with insurers or you will quickly find your cover void if you claim.  Your blood pressure is only 'normal' because you are taking medication so you do suffer from hypertension. 

Sandtree

They didn't shift the goalposts... you bought a policy to cover a trip in 2020. If you had simply decided not to travel rather than there being a global pandemic then you would have simply wouldn't have gotten a refund nor be able to reschedule it.

The terms and conditions of the policy haven't changed and undoubtably doesn't have a term that says a global pandemic means you can reschedule it. Ultimately many companies, including insurers, have shown flexibility beyond their T&Cs require them so that they rather than their customers take the brunt of the impact. That flexibility can only go so far.

Ultimately if you think they aren't treating you fairly then register a complaint and escalate to the Ombudsman if you aren't happy with their response