Travel Insurance - Medical Question

saintscouple

Would welcome any advice please.

We have our travel insurance through our Lloyds bank account - both have declared pre existing medical conditions we had to pay extra for. 
My wife had a pacemaker fitted last week. 
I phoned the insurance to declare this as we already had a holiday booked in the Uk in 2 weeks time, and a cruise in Jan.
I was told as the pacemaker was fitted after our medical declaration, and after we had booked the holidays it would be covered - only on future bookings would it need to be declared (which means refunding pro rota any extra paid for pre existing medical conditions, and a new medical declaration done - which could mean they will reject cover, and we would have to look elsewhere. 

My reason for posting is today we have booked another cruise for April, couldn´t resist the price. 

I´m thinking would there be a problem if we only informed the insurance company of the new cruise after the January cruise, or does it have to be done immediately? 

My concern is if i tell them of the new booking now, they could pull cover for our Jan cruise.  
As long as i inform them prior to the April cruise, but after the Jan cruise, there can´t be a problem can there?

Thanks for any advice, and thanks for taking the time to read through. 

prettyandfluffy

If you haven't declared it and something happens in the meantime that means you can't go on the cruise, you won't be covered for cancellation etc.  If it gets pricey you might be better taking out a policy with a different insurer who specialises in pre-existing conditions.

sheramber

saintscouple said:

Would welcome any advice please.

We have our travel insurance through our Lloyds bank account - both have declared pre existing medical conditions we had to pay extra for. 
My wife had a pacemaker fitted last week. 
I phoned the insurance to declare this as we already had a holiday booked in the Uk in 2 weeks time, and a cruise in Jan.
I was told as the pacemaker was fitted after our medical declaration, and after we had booked the holidays it would be covered - only on future bookings would it need to be declared (which means refunding pro rota any extra paid for pre existing medical conditions, and a new medical declaration done - which could mean they will reject cover, and we would have to look elsewhere. 

My reason for posting is today we have booked another cruise for April, couldn´t resist the price. 

I´m thinking would there be a problem if we only informed the insurance company of the new cruise after the January cruise, or does it have to be done immediately? 

My concern is if i tell them of the new booking now, they could pull cover for our Jan cruise.  
As long as i inform them prior to the April cruise, but after the Jan cruise, there can´t be a problem can there?

Thanks for any advice, and thanks for taking the time to read through. 

I was told as the pacemaker was fitted after our medical declaration, and after we had booked the holidays it would be covered - only on future bookings would it need to be declared 

As the pacemaker has been fitted before booking the April cruise it does not qualify as fitted after booking the holiday.

saintscouple

We have only paid a small deposit for the April cruise, and the balance isn´t due till after the January cruise... worse case scenario i think is we would only lose the deposit if something goes wrong, if we don´t declare it till after Jan.

NoodleDoodleMan

I can think of one travel company where the small deposit is not the final deposit they require if the customer cancels.

Probably not relevant here though.

silvercar

You have two options, either tell them now and they will offer a price that you can choose to accept or reject. Accept means that your April holiday is covered, reject it and you continue with the current insurance that will cover the cruise already booked but you won’t be covered for heart related conditions for the April cruise.

Or wait until after the January cruise and then get a price for adding on the pacemaker. Again you decide whether to accept it or you could go elsewhere for insurance for that cruise. This does mean you won’t be covered for heart related stuff for the April cruise until you declare it. Some will say that you won’t be covered for anything, but I think the ombudsman has ruled that the only issue would be stuff related to your heart, though that could be subject to interpretation.

saintscouple

silvercar said:

You have two options, either tell them now and they will offer a price that you can choose to accept or reject. Accept means that your April holiday is covered, reject it and you continue with the current insurance that will cover the cruise already booked but you won’t be covered for heart related conditions for the April cruise.

Or wait until after the January cruise and then get a price for adding on the pacemaker. Again you decide whether to accept it or you could go elsewhere for insurance for that cruise. This does mean you won’t be covered for heart related stuff for the April cruise until you declare it. Some will say that you won’t be covered for anything, but I think the ombudsman has ruled that the only issue would be stuff related to your heart, though that could be subject to interpretation.

Thank you so much, you have made that very clear, i understand fully now. Thank you

TELLIT01

NoodleDoodleMan said:

I can think of one travel company where the small deposit is not the final deposit they require if the customer cancels.

Probably not relevant here though.

There is certainly more than one travel company which takes a very small initial deposit but would still require the full deposit to be paid in the event of the customer cancelling the holiday.  The OP needs to check the T&C for this tour operator to clarify.

saintscouple

TELLIT01 said:

NoodleDoodleMan said:

I can think of one travel company where the small deposit is not the final deposit they require if the customer cancels.

Probably not relevant here though.

There is certainly more than one travel company which takes a very small initial deposit but would still require the full deposit to be paid in the event of the customer cancelling the holiday.  The OP needs to check the T&C for this tour operator to clarify.

We booked direct with P&O cruises, small, but full deposit paid. 

Update - I decided to inform Allianz of the additional diagnosis for my wife - they then declined cover. 

So situation is we are both fully covered for our cruise in January, but after that we will have to look elsewhere - will also downgrade the bank account, as the travel insurance was the main factor of us upgrading. 

Ideally want an annual policy, which seems most insurance companies will only give a start date of within 3 months - ideal for after our January cruise. 

Can anyone recommend reasonable insurance covering a pacemaker? 

Thank you

NoodleDoodleMan

TELLIT01 said:

NoodleDoodleMan said:

I can think of one travel company where the small deposit is not the final deposit they require if the customer cancels.

Probably not relevant here though.

There is certainly more than one travel company which takes a very small initial deposit but would still require the full deposit to be paid in the event of the customer cancelling the holiday.  The OP needs to check the T&C for this tour operator to clarify.

Indeed - I should have included at least in the text.