Holiday cancellation dilemma due to illness

Phildave

I have a holiday booked for Turkey departing 24th January. My current insurance policy expires on the 23rd January and I obviously intend(ed) to renew prior to that date.
Unfortunately, a kidney stone (that I declared on the policy) has decided to start its outward journey and I am in a lot of pain and been advised by doc (in writing)  not to travel.
My dilemma- Kidney stones have a habit of passing. With 3 weeks to go  do I cancel holiday straight away and advise insurance company and claim or do I hold on with the hope that it will pass and would my decision have any impact on my insurance claim should I need to. Finally does the fact that my current policy expires on 23rd have any impact as I will be claiming under that one (travelling 24th)

heatherw_01

If your insurance expires before the trip starts, you are not covered for cancellations etc.

twopenny

Exasperating -  but I've had something similar happen in a different context.

No, you won't be able to claim because you are not covered for the flight or holiday  but it's worth giving them a ring and updating them on the situation.  You just never know until you've tried that there may be a hairs bredth of a chance there may be some sort of refund.

When you rang to tell them of your kidney stones did they mention that you weren't covered for the flights etc? Usually they leave it to the purchaser to know what they are doing.

Is it an automatic renewal on the insurance? Showing that you were going to continue the policy for your trip? A heck of a long shot but ........hope you're feeling better soon.

zagfles

Why wouldn't OP be covered? The event that caused the need to cancel occured while the existing travel insurance was valid.

See https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/experts/article-4603020/Can-cancel-August-trip-insurance-ends-July.html which seem to contradict advice above.

SiliconChip

When you say "that I declared on the policy" do you mean that you declared it at the time of taking out the current policy? If so then it's surely a pre-existing condition and won't be covered unless the insurer agreed that it would be, which is unlikely. If it's not covered then cancelling because of it also wouldn't be covered. I had to cancel a holiday due to being hospitalised for gall stones and being unsure whether it would happen again (or when my gallbladder would be removed) but that happened after the policy started so I was able to claim successfully.

Phildave

SiliconChip said:

When you say "that I declared on the policy" do you mean that you declared it at the time of taking out the current policy? If so then it's surely a pre-existing condition and won't be covered unless the insurer agreed that it would be, which is unlikely. If it's not covered then cancelling because of it also wouldn't be covered. I had to cancel a holiday due to being hospitalised for gall stones and being unsure whether it would happen again (or when my gallbladder would be removed) but that happened after the policy started so I was able to claim successfully.

Yes, I declared my stones when taking out my policy and on the policy it states “This letter confirms that the travel insurance policy you have purchased will cover the medical condition (s) that have been declared by you“. On the declaration it states Kidney Stones - Accepted.

Alfrescodave

zagfles said:

Why wouldn't OP be covered? The event that caused the need to cancel occured while the existing travel insurance was valid.

See https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/experts/article-4603020/Can-cancel-August-trip-insurance-ends-July.html which seem to contradict advice above.

Interested to hear other peoples thoughts on this but my understanding is that the OP is not covered. Surely the policy only covers a holiday taken during the timescale of the policy?

Yes OP can cancel the holiday and possibly get back some of the cost from the travel company but not from the insurance.

GrumpyDil

I've never thought about this but it makes sense the existing policy would cover to me.

If they took out a new policy starting on the expiry date of the existing policy then the new one would not cover them for the time before it starts. If they started a new policy before the old one runs out then there would be arguments over double insurance and which insurer would be liable.

OP needs to talk to the insurer to check but I would expect this to be covered. 

zagfles

Alfrescodave said:

zagfles said:

Why wouldn't OP be covered? The event that caused the need to cancel occured while the existing travel insurance was valid.

See https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/experts/article-4603020/Can-cancel-August-trip-insurance-ends-July.html which seem to contradict advice above.

Interested to hear other peoples thoughts on this but my understanding is that the OP is not covered. Surely the policy only covers a holiday taken during the timescale of the policy?

Yes OP can cancel the holiday and possibly get back some of the cost from the travel company but not from the insurance.

Where do you get that "understanding" from? I've just quoted an article with quotes from 3 insurers who say it'd be covered.

Do people not understand how annual travel insurance works? If someone books a holiday 6 months in advance, as many do, and their annual travel policy is due for renewal in the 6 months between booking and the holiday being taken, what are they supposed to do? Take out a separate policy?

zagfles

GrumpyDil said:

I've never thought about this but it makes sense the existing policy would cover to me.

If they took out a new policy starting on the expiry date of the existing policy then the new one would not cover them for the time before it starts. If they started a new policy before the old one runs out then there would be arguments over double insurance and which insurer would be liable.

OP needs to talk to the insurer to check but I would expect this to be covered. 

Indeed - otherwise annual travel insurance policies wouldn't be much use for people who book well in advance. Of course check your policy, but any decent travel insurance should cover you for cancellation due to a (covered) event that occurs while the insurance is valid even if the trip itself was after the renewal date.

Phildave

zagfles said:

Why wouldn't OP be covered? The event that caused the need to cancel occured while the existing travel insurance was valid.

See https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/experts/article-4603020/Can-cancel-August-trip-insurance-ends-July.html which seem to contradict advice above.

Hi, many thanks for this very useful article. Reading through it it’s implying that I am covered as the event occurred whilst the policy was still in force. 

A little bit more positive but still not holding out too much hope.