Admiral travel insurance - additional expenses after death of family member

clairecarter79

Hi,
I am really trying to get some support and advice and awareness for an issue with Admiral insurance. I paid for a policy to cover my pre existing conditions as I have breast cancer that spread to my brain luckily currently I have no evidence of disease but declare all this on my insurance. We were on holiday in November in the Maldives (a holiday of a lifetime that we saved for for many years). 4 days into our holiday my father in law passed away. He had medical issues, he was 81 years old. However, he wasn’t in hospital and had a heart attack at a dog groomers. We had spoken to him on FaceTime only hours before it happened. As soon as we heard the news we booked return flights. The resort we were at didn’t help us at all but that’s another story. My travel insurance now won’t cover our additional expenses and have refused the whole claim as my father in law had heart problems in the past. The terms and conditions mention pre existing conditions but only asked for details of the policy holders not family members. We are now dealing with a complaints process when in all honesty we are already dealing with a lot. I just cannot believe this isn’t covered. We now feel like there is no point having insurance. We feel like they are saying we knew he might die and we certainly did not or we would not have gone away. We still have my mother in law and my parents alive so it seems we shouldn’t go on holiday while they are still alive as we wouldn’t be covered if we have to come home. They are obviously all at age where they have illnesses. I feel at the very least I was mis sold this policy as yes there is some wording around this but no specific details were asked for and the day we went away he was given “a wonder drug, that could add years to his life” so at no point were we at an end of life situation. The form to his doctors just had a couple of very leading questions. I really don’t know what to do. 

DullGreyGuy

clairecarter79 said:

Hi,
I am really trying to get some support and advice and awareness for an issue with Admiral insurance. I paid for a policy to cover my pre existing conditions as I have breast cancer that spread to my brain luckily currently I have no evidence of disease but declare all this on my insurance. We were on holiday in November in the Maldives (a holiday of a lifetime that we saved for for many years). 4 days into our holiday my father in law passed away. He had medical issues, he was 81 years old. However, he wasn’t in hospital and had a heart attack at a dog groomers. We had spoken to him on FaceTime only hours before it happened. As soon as we heard the news we booked return flights. The resort we were at didn’t help us at all but that’s another story. My travel insurance now won’t cover our additional expenses and have refused the whole claim as my father in law had heart problems in the past. The terms and conditions mention pre existing conditions but only asked for details of the policy holders not family members. We are now dealing with a complaints process when in all honesty we are already dealing with a lot. I just cannot believe this isn’t covered. We now feel like there is no point having insurance. We feel like they are saying we knew he might die and we certainly did not or we would not have gone away. We still have my mother in law and my parents alive so it seems we shouldn’t go on holiday while they are still alive as we wouldn’t be covered if we have to come home. They are obviously all at age where they have illnesses. I feel at the very least I was mis sold this policy as yes there is some wording around this but no specific details were asked for and the day we went away he was given “a wonder drug, that could add years to his life” so at no point were we at an end of life situation. The form to his doctors just had a couple of very leading questions. I really don’t know what to do. 

Ultimately you need to read the policy terms. 

It is the norm that insurers dont give you the option to declare the pre-existing conditions of anyone that isnt travelling with you. The tighter policies will exclude any pre-existing conditions of close family, the best policies (in this aspect anyway) have wording around if the deterioration is reasonably expectable or not and so may cover some events that a normal policy won't. 

Having a look at Admiral's current single trip policy, not knowing which version you have, they have the most restrictive terms possible with "pre-existing conditions" not having any time limits and a blanket ban on any Close Relative's pre-existing


Unfortunately the Ombudsman doesn't consider these types of terms unreasonable, for example https://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/decision/DRN-3751160.pdf is very similar to your case. 

sheramber

Were you told  close relatives would be covered regardless of pre existing conditions?

If not, you were not miss sold the policy.
You chose the policy .

Before buying any policy you need to read the policy document carefully to be sure you are  buying the cover you need. 

If not sure, then contact the insurer and check.