Changing Annual Travel Insurance

indiekidadam

We've had an annual platinum policy policy with Admiral for a few years now. In April, my wife was referred to a cardiologist by our GP following a routine blood pressure check as part of an appointment for something else, and she received loads of tests and scans. The good news is that the cardiologist found she had very healthy arteries and no heart issues, but that she had a fast pulse which was not in itself a problem and could be controlled with medication. She was discharged. As we had a holiday booked, I contacted Admiral and reported it as a pre-existing condition. Their agent said he would have to refer it to the underwriter and said this would make the policy inactive until they got an answer, even for any claim totally unconnected with the medical condition, such as if the airline cancelled the flight or the hotel went bust, or I had a medical issue. On complaining I was told that this is their normal policy. Is the normal practice? If so it makes annual policies highly risky or it is likely to make people hide new conditions. Can anyone recommend an annual policy that is less risky?

DullGreyGuy

Did they give a timescale for a referral? Its one thing if its going to be next working day and a very different thing if its a 28 day SLA

indiekidadam

DullGreyGuy said:

Did they give a timescale for a referral? Its one thing if its going to be next working day and a very different thing if its a 28 day SLA

Up to 3 days. 3 days the week before we were due to leave on holiday. We would have had no coverage if the flight had been cancelled during those 3 days and we had lost our hotel reservation. I thought insurance was there to mitigate risk, but to stop the whole policy while they assess one change is awful. Ironically, if my wife had been seriously ill and we had had to cancel they would have paid up.

35har1old

indiekidadam said:

DullGreyGuy said:

Did they give a timescale for a referral? Its one thing if its going to be next working day and a very different thing if its a 28 day SLA

Up to 3 days. 3 days the week before we were due to leave on holiday. We would have had no coverage if the flight had been cancelled during those 3 days and we had lost our hotel reservation. I thought insurance was there to mitigate risk, but to stop the whole policy while they assess one change is awful. Ironically, if my wife had been seriously ill and we had had to cancel they would have paid up.

It's normally only if you proceed to go on the trip you are not covered for medical issues but still have cover for cancelled flights.
If they comeback and say that they can't cover you then you should be able to claim cancellation costs.
It wasn't a pre existing condition.  You where reporting a medical referral and if you have a diagnose they should be able to do a risk assessment immediately