Travel Insurance - can travel be refused without it? Medical conditions too expensive

DullGreyGuy

jimi_man said:
In the OPs case, I think they will have to suck it up. If I was them, taking into account the risks, I'd probably go for the cheapest (£160) to satisfy the conditions.

The cheapest doesn't satisfy the conditions, as it excludes the pre-existing conditions whereas the cruise company says all conditions must be covered.

jimi_man

DullGreyGuy said:

jimi_man said:
In the OPs case, I think they will have to suck it up. If I was them, taking into account the risks, I'd probably go for the cheapest (£160) to satisfy the conditions.

The cheapest doesn't satisfy the conditions, as it excludes the pre-existing conditions whereas the cruise company says all conditions must be covered.

The OP said that these were covered by her home/private medical insurance.

DullGreyGuy

jimi_man said:

DullGreyGuy said:

jimi_man said:
In the OPs case, I think they will have to suck it up. If I was them, taking into account the risks, I'd probably go for the cheapest (£160) to satisfy the conditions.

The cheapest doesn't satisfy the conditions, as it excludes the pre-existing conditions whereas the cruise company says all conditions must be covered.

The OP said that these were covered by her home/private medical insurance.

They said they have home insurance and PMI... home insurance is totally irrelevant for medical emergencies and PMI will only cover them in the UK and then not the likes of things that send you to A&E/ambulance as in the UK those are always dealt with by the NHS though you may subsequently transfer to private once stabilised.

martindow

And a GHIC card is of no use if you are at sea and need to be helicoptered off.  Although the cheap policy might get the OP on the ship, if the worst happened the costs could be ruinous.  Insurance cover to cover cruises involves an added premium for a reason.

jimi_man

martindow said:

And a GHIC card is of no use if you are at sea and need to be helicoptered off.  Although the cheap policy might get the OP on the ship, if the worst happened the costs could be ruinous.  Insurance cover to cover cruises involves an added premium for a reason.

I don't think the OP mentioned a GHIC card, and I doubt that would hold much weight in these circumstances tbh.

You may be right about the added premium. Despite all the cliches, cruises are for the 'older person' and with the average age is 55 or so, there are probably increased chances of medical risks attached to having that cohort of customer. There is also a 'money making' aspect to it - I'm sure Cunard would rather you purchased their (no doubt exorbitant) own product. 

Still if the OP needs to do that sort of trip then they have to pay the money. Or go and do another holiday where you don't need travel insurance.  

DullGreyGuy

jimi_man said:

martindow said:

And a GHIC card is of no use if you are at sea and need to be helicoptered off.  Although the cheap policy might get the OP on the ship, if the worst happened the costs could be ruinous.  Insurance cover to cover cruises involves an added premium for a reason.

I don't think the OP mentioned a GHIC card, and I doubt that would hold much weight in these circumstances tbh.

You may be right about the added premium. Despite all the cliches, cruises are for the 'older person' and with the average age is 55 or so, there are probably increased chances of medical risks attached to having that cohort of customer. There is also a 'money making' aspect to it - I'm sure Cunard would rather you purchased their (no doubt exorbitant) own product. 

Cunard don't sell travel insurance, they just refer you to Travel Extras for which they get tiny commission compared to directly selling. Also not sure what percentage of people book direct -v- via an agent where the agent is likely to have their own insurance referral.

The increase in premium is due to 1) the price of medical treatment on a boat tends to be very high and 2) anything serious required a MedEvac... slip at the pool in your hotel and they get an ambulance, slip on the beach and they get an ambulance, slip on a cruise ship and they may need to reroute the ship and get a MedEvac helicopter to airlift you off the boat. They are vastly more expensive than a road ambulance.

jimi_man

DullGreyGuy said:

jimi_man said:

martindow said:

And a GHIC card is of no use if you are at sea and need to be helicoptered off.  Although the cheap policy might get the OP on the ship, if the worst happened the costs could be ruinous.  Insurance cover to cover cruises involves an added premium for a reason.

I don't think the OP mentioned a GHIC card, and I doubt that would hold much weight in these circumstances tbh.

You may be right about the added premium. Despite all the cliches, cruises are for the 'older person' and with the average age is 55 or so, there are probably increased chances of medical risks attached to having that cohort of customer. There is also a 'money making' aspect to it - I'm sure Cunard would rather you purchased their (no doubt exorbitant) own product. 

Cunard don't sell travel insurance, they just refer you to Travel Extras for which they get tiny commission compared to directly selling. Also not sure what percentage of people book direct -v- via an agent where the agent is likely to have their own insurance referral.

The increase in premium is due to 1) the price of medical treatment on a boat tends to be very high and 2) anything serious required a MedEvac... slip at the pool in your hotel and they get an ambulance, slip on the beach and they get an ambulance, slip on a cruise ship and they may need to reroute the ship and get a MedEvac helicopter to airlift you off the boat. They are vastly more expensive than a road ambulance.

Yes I realise that but that's not what I was saying. The point I was making was that older people tend to be more at risk of medical issues (no doubt as well as the costs you've described), which must also impact on the premiums. If there is more risk of something happening then the premiums go up, that's why it's more expensive to insure your car in your garage as opposed to your driveway. Insurance is a combination of a multiple of risks not just one or two.

But yes, sounds an expensive ordeal for the OP. 

debsy42

I cruised with MSC back in February and yep, we had to show evidence of travel insurance when checking in that also included covid cover, we were not allowed to board without some form of insurance.

DullGreyGuy

jimi_man said:

DullGreyGuy said:

jimi_man said:

martindow said:

And a GHIC card is of no use if you are at sea and need to be helicoptered off.  Although the cheap policy might get the OP on the ship, if the worst happened the costs could be ruinous.  Insurance cover to cover cruises involves an added premium for a reason.

I don't think the OP mentioned a GHIC card, and I doubt that would hold much weight in these circumstances tbh.

You may be right about the added premium. Despite all the cliches, cruises are for the 'older person' and with the average age is 55 or so, there are probably increased chances of medical risks attached to having that cohort of customer. There is also a 'money making' aspect to it - I'm sure Cunard would rather you purchased their (no doubt exorbitant) own product. 

Cunard don't sell travel insurance, they just refer you to Travel Extras for which they get tiny commission compared to directly selling. Also not sure what percentage of people book direct -v- via an agent where the agent is likely to have their own insurance referral.

The increase in premium is due to 1) the price of medical treatment on a boat tends to be very high and 2) anything serious required a MedEvac... slip at the pool in your hotel and they get an ambulance, slip on the beach and they get an ambulance, slip on a cruise ship and they may need to reroute the ship and get a MedEvac helicopter to airlift you off the boat. They are vastly more expensive than a road ambulance.

Yes I realise that but that's not what I was saying. The point I was making was that older people tend to be more at risk of medical issues (no doubt as well as the costs you've described), which must also impact on the premiums. If there is more risk of something happening then the premiums go up, that's why it's more expensive to insure your car in your garage as opposed to your driveway. Insurance is a combination of a multiple of risks not just one or two.

But yes, sounds an expensive ordeal for the OP. 

Many rating engines deal with risk factors as a percentage so going on a cruise will add 10% to the premium... being 80 will have already added 300% to the premium and so you have a compound 330% impact.

Mass market insurance is based on statistics rather than logic and so insurers will look at their claims experience and make adjustments based on that rather than sitting around and head scratching if the reduce level of thefts from having a car in the garage offsets or not the number of people that hit their own garages when driving in.

The second issue obviously is that many who declare they use their garage dont, in fact in one survey (which will have been slightly skewed) over 20% of those that declared their car kept in a garage overnight didn't even have a garage. A former client actually removed where do you keep your car as a rating factor because the declared answers had so little correlation to claims experience that having 1 less question to ask online or in the call centre more than offset the slight increase in premium accuracy. 

NoodleDoodleMan

"Yeah, that was partly because package companies used to offer discounts, but only if you took up their (usually horrifically priced) insurance. It was a con and as I recall didn't last too long. Do people still do package holidays? I just wouldn't even think about doing one now."

I don't ever remember being obliged to take TUI (or Thomsons as was) "own brand" travel insurance as part of a discounted package - and I'm talking MANY years of taking their holidays, either booked in store or online.

The tick the box job was an administrative exercise from TUI to cover them from any subsequent responsibility if you had no insurance cover but had indicated otherwise.

As for package holidays - yes people still take package holidays. We've done a few DIY - but found there was little if any financial or other benefits.