Travel Insurance but excluding pre-existing medical conditions.

mikrt

I have a few European trips coming up, but have had my anual insurance cancelled (pro-rata premium repaid) due to awaiting retest of bloods in 12 weeks for lupus.

I am 62, and I do have a few conditions, previously suffered pericarditis episodes (linked to lupus diagnosis), obstructive sleep apnoea, & acid reflux due to hiatus hernia. Have also suffered high blood pressure (has been OK for years, not on medication).

The thing is, I don't see these as a problem, and would be very happy & confident to have insurance that excludes current conditions, but would cover cancellation for other reasons and accidents etc.

I have tried looking, but failed to find a provider (apart from Ryanair as an add-on (I think)).

Are there any more please?

DullGreyGuy

If you do medical screening over the phone rather than online it's more often possible to exclude conditions if you dont want to pay the additional premium. Note that when excluding a condition you will also be excluding linked conditions, so for example excluding high blood pressure would normally mean a claim for a heart attack would be excluded. 

Further examples of linked conditions can be found at https://www.jsinsurance.co.uk/travel_insurance/medical-conditions-travel-insurance.html#section4 they do also over non-coverage of pre-existing conditions. 

Mark_d

The travel insurance you get with packaged bank account/credit cards sometimes excludes pre-existing conditions. But sometimes they do ask you to call them.  It's one avenue worth exploring

TELLIT01

I'm guessing that the problem is that the results of the blood tests aren't available therefore it is being treated as an undiagnosed condition.  Insurers don't like undiagnosed conditions for obvious reasons.

mikrt

Thank you all for your comments. Yes, it's when I told them I was awaiting blood tests they decided to Cancel. 

I will call another insurer and see where it gets me. 

DullGreyGuy

TELLIT01 said:

I'm guessing that the problem is that the results of the blood tests aren't available therefore it is being treated as an undiagnosed condition.  Insurers don't like undiagnosed conditions for obvious reasons.

It really depends on what the blood tests are for... for one of my conditions the NHS wastes my time every 6 months for a blood test that has never changed in 43 years since diagnosis. For other conditions they take blood test every 6 months but not at the same time as the others because the medication can cause liver or kidney issues, again for one of them no test result changes in 10 years, the other med is new.

I've always managed to get cover despite the outstanding tests as these are just monitoring, the OP seems to already have a diagnosis but they'd really need to clarify 

NormalforNorfolk

My husband has a similar problem - was diagnosed 20yrs ago with a condition which results in high blood pressure.  It has been controlled with medication ever since, he has never actually felt ill with it and we’ve had no issues declaring it and getting travel insurance.  However last year during a routine annual check up there appeared to be a change in his blood test so had an appointment with the consultant who arranged a scan and fully expected to find something which would require a small operation and would result in him no longer having the condition (treatment having evolved in the 20yrs).  However the results of the scan flummoxed the consultant who said he was expecting to see something specific but that didn’t show and it was possible my husband didn’t have the condition he was originally diagnosed with.  He suggested the other option was a different condition but with exactly the same symptoms and treatment but it’s a genetic condition which falls under a different specialism.  So he had to be referred again, initial tests weren’t conclusive and they said they thought he might actually have the original diagnosed condition so they arranged some more extensive blood tests at the beginning of May and he is STILL waiting for the results, despite trying to chase the hospital,  We are going on holiday at the end of September and had held off sorting insurance because of the situation waiting for the blood test results but we really didn’t think we would still be waiting for them.  The irony is that both departments are saying that whichever condition it is, won’t result in any difference in his medication and won’t prevent him from travelling.  For obvious reasons we cannot get travel insurance quotes online - can anyone recommend a good company to deal with on the phone

mikrt

Thanks for all the help.

I have had recurring episodes of pericarditis which GPs have been unable to figure out why I keep getting them - about annually. Insurance was happy with this.

After finally being referred, they carried out lupus blood testing, 1st of which came back positive, still waiting for confirmation 2nd blood test - which is the issue, and caused insurance to be cancelled.

I bit the bullet and bought my flight extra insurance, which stated it does not cover current conditions (which is fine by me, I just wanted cover for cancellation, accidents etc.) 

mikrt

Bringing this thread back to life....

So Ryanair (who I bought & paid my flights and insurance policy with) have significantly rescheduled my flights.

I cancelled & rebooked with another airline and have been refunded for flights, but not the insurance.

They say I need to contact the 3rd party (XCover) insurance company for refund. I have been in contact but no reply.

I have asked both companies to confirm whether the annual policy is still valid if Ryanair flight has been refunded (I would be happy if this were the case)... Ryanair say to ask XCover. XCover haven't replied. When I log in to XCover, the policy is still live till September 2025. 

I understand it's the holiday period, but my issue is that If not still valid, and no refund forthcoming, I only have a week to claim a chargeback back from Paypal.

Attachment  below shows receipt from Ryanair for the whole amount, including insurance, so I don't agree with them saying I need to claim from 3rd party.

My main question is, Would the policy stay valid without original Ryanair flights? Of course, being an annual policy there may well be other airlines being used anyway during the 12 months

[Image removed by Forum Team]

TELLIT01

The insurance was in place from the time you booked the flight so any refund, if any at all, is likely to be very limited as there will be an admin fee to deduct from the insurance cost.

mikrt

Thanks @TELLIT01   so does that mean if not refunded, the policy is still valid? (Still no answer from Ryanair or XCover)