Travel Insurance - death or serious illness of relative

nyck

Myself and wife  are due to Go on Holiday in 4 weeks.

My father in law who has COPD was taken into hospital with racing heart and breathing difficulties 2 weeks ago .Its not good as its been discovered he now has  stage 4 lung cancer (small cell ) that was blocking the archery to his heart , a stent was put in but it was  also found  in his spine , lymph nodes etc.

He was given 6-12months with  chemotherapy (if well enough to have it ) and maybe 3-6m with out it .In the last 2 weeks hes completely deteriorated From walking upstairs to not being able to get up to use the bathroom.He had to be rushed back into hospital again a few days ago with breathing difficulties again and low heart rate, so chemo is probably not a option now.

We have decided we want to cancel the holiday as we think his time is near and defiantly wouldn't want to be away if it did happen .

I can get 1/2 of the holiday refunded but 1/2 is non-refundable , ie a few flights and accommodation.  

When they say  serious illness of relative , would you think we would be covered ??

I would like a few opinions before i call them up

 

This is the policy wording below.

thanks

 

 

cw8825

Was this a new diagnosis?

nyck

cw8825 said:

Was this a new diagnosis?

Hes had the COPD many years but the cancer is a new diagnosis only discovered 2 weeks ago

DullGreyGuy

nyck said:

Myself and wife  are due to Go on Holiday in 4 weeks.

My father in law who has COPD was taken into hospital with racing heart and breathing difficulties 2 weeks ago .Its not good as its been discovered he now has  stage 4 lung cancer (small cell ) that was blocking the archery to his heart , a stent was put in but it was  also found  in his spine , lymph nodes etc.

He was given 6-12months with  chemotherapy (if well enough to have it ) and maybe 3-6m with out it .In the last 2 weeks hes completely deteriorated From walking upstairs to not being able to get up to use the bathroom.He had to be rushed back into hospital again a few days ago with breathing difficulties again and low heart rate, so chemo is probably not a option now.

We have decided we want to cancel the holiday as we think his time is near and defiantly wouldn't want to be away if it did happen .

I can get 1/2 of the holiday refunded but 1/2 is non-refundable , ie a few flights and accommodation.  

When they say  serious illness of relative , would you think we would be covered ??

I would like a few opinions before i call them up

 

This is the policy wording below.

You need to look at other parts of the wordings, there will be an exclusions part to this section, general exclusions and you will also need to look up specified terms definitions like "pre-existing condition". 

Presumably you are both covered under the same policy? If not you will need to check yours on the definition of Close Relative to see if in-laws are included. 

A terminal diagnosis in 3-6 months is certainly a serious condition however the risk is that they will say it falls foul of it being a related condition of the pre-existing COPD and therefore excluded. The initial screening will come down to how you present the case, if you start the conversation saying they have been diagnosed with metastasized stage 4 cancer in spine, lymph nodes, lungs and deemed to ill for treatment with a 3-6 month prognosis you're less likely to get an instant rejection than if you point out he has a lung condition already, went to hospital with a lung condition and now has a diagnosis of another lung condition. 

COPD is a term that covers a number of different conditions, do you have a more accurate diagnosis? 

elsien

This has cropped up before, because people have been rejected for not informing the insurance company although there may be nothing on the floor asking the question in the first place. And you may not always be fully acquainted with the details of a close relatives health.
I think it’s a case of applying and then pursuing it further if you get rejected.

Aretnap

elsien said:

This has cropped up before, because people have been rejected for not informing the insurance company although there may be nothing on the floor asking the question in the first place. And you may not always be fully acquainted with the details of a close relatives health.

That's not how it works. Travel insurers won't generally ask about the health of non-travelling relatives at all at the commencement of the policy. It's not practical to tailor the policy according to a detailed health profile of every relative of every traveller, or to expect the customer to know the detailed medical history of all their relatives. So they just apply a blanket exclusion to cancellation due to illness of a close relative which was already known about at the time of inception and/or the time the holiday was booked (the exact wording will vary from policy to policy).

So if it gets rejected it will be because they think it was due to a pre-existing condition, not because they weren't informed about the pre-existing condition.