Does failure to declare pre-existing medical condition on travel insurance invalidate entire policy?

Nubley

I'm shopping around for family travel insurance and getting the usual questions about pre-existing medical conditions. My teenage daughter has had an eating disorder but after a lot of therapy is pretty well over it and almost set to be discharged by the NHS.
However, when I declare her condition while seeking a travel insurance quote, it increases the premium massively.
Given that her recent eating disorder is not going to be a problem when we go away, my question is this: If I fail to declare it, could this mean we are not covered for other medical incidents (eg, being injured in a fall, car crash, being hospitalised due to an unrelated illness etc) or indeed anything else normally covered by the policy?
Or does it just mean there would be no cover for my daughter's eating disorder? I've done lots of Googling but can't find any answers on this.

elsien

Can you not just get a policy with the eating disorder excluded, rather than going down the failure to disclose route?  You probably need to talk to the insurer rather than doing it online. 

Nubley

That's what I'm wondering. Does not declaring the eating disorder invalidate the policy more widely than just excluding cover for the eating disorder itself? You're probably right. It would perhaps be best to speak to the prospective insurers.

marcia_

Nubley said:

That's what I'm wondering. Does not declaring the eating disorder invalidate the policy more widely than just excluding cover for the eating disorder itself? You're probably right. It would perhaps be best to speak to the prospective insurers.

 Yes if you make a claim and they see from medical records you've not declared your insurance wont be valid and claims rejected. 

 If you don't want it covered speak to the insurers 

elsien

I don’t think there’s a definitive answer. It’s probably a decision that the insurer would make at the time of any claim as to how relevant it was. 

It’s also about whether any claim can be linked back to the condition. So (as an example) someone who’d had severe anorexia may have lower bone density so an accident leading to a break could potentially not be covered if there was a reasonable chance that the anorexia impacted on the outcome of the accident. 

soolin

I have to declare medical conditions for myself  and some insurers will quote for cover with the condition (even though it is likely to have no impact on my holiday and rarely ever affects my day to day life) and others will say they will cover me but not for anything arising from that condition. However all the quotes I have ever had have stated clearly that I must declare everything and failure to do so would invalidate my insurance.

I have always opted to be covered as I suspect anything at all could be linked back to my condition if they chose to be difficult , and I suspect that an eating disorder would be linked back to many issues like stomach issues,  bones , fainting issues etc - so best to be covered. I agree with the above though, speak directly to the insurer rather than try and fill out comparison quotes online. 

Sandtree

Nubley said:

I'm shopping around for family travel insurance and getting the usual questions about pre-existing medical conditions. My teenage daughter has had an eating disorder but after a lot of therapy is pretty well over it and almost set to be discharged by the NHS.
However, when I declare her condition while seeking a travel insurance quote, it increases the premium massively.
Given that her recent eating disorder is not going to be a problem when we go away, my question is this: If I fail to declare it, could this mean we are not covered for other medical incidents (eg, being injured in a fall, car crash, being hospitalised due to an unrelated illness etc) or indeed anything else normally covered by the policy?
Or does it just mean there would be no cover for my daughter's eating disorder? I've done lots of Googling but can't find any answers on this.

Under the law of CIDRA then an insurer can void a policy and avoid all claims if they can show the customer made intentional or reckless non-disclosure of material facts even if it is totally unrelated to the claim.  If its careless rather than reckless then they can reduce the claim by the percentage of premium increase that would have been applied had it been declared, ie if the premium would have doubled all claims will be settled at 50%.

Are you doing the medical screening online or over the phone? Certainly when doing the later many insurers have given the option of simply excluding the condition rather than pay the premium increase. The risk will be the "or related conditions" that is always added on excluded conditions. If they have an eating disorder it is possible any gastro type issues may be questioned as a possible consequence of the problem (obv not a doctor so may be totally wrong but know a friend who was anorexic claimed she had gastro issues for some time after)

heatherw_01

You can often declare but exclude the condition with many suppliers so you can tell them about it but not cover it.

You always need to declare conditions though as they can void claims.
Always declare. But you can choose not to cover it with many companies. You can do this online or offline, but not all insurers do it.

Get some quotes from a few different suppliers and when you do the medical declaration, you will see some let you declare but not cover the condition.