Travel insurance and medical conditions

david_goodwin

I note an earlier thread about to lack of travel insurance options that exclude medical cover, and can see that it might be too small a market. What I would like is market in policies that exclude pre-existing conditions. This is common practice for health policies, yet doesn't seem to exist for travel. So you are covered for a car accident or heart attack but not for the high blood pressure you have had for years.

MyRealNameToo

david_goodwin said:

I note an earlier thread about to lack of travel insurance options that exclude medical cover, and can see that it might be too small a market. What I would like is market in policies that exclude pre-existing conditions. This is common practice for health policies, yet doesn't seem to exist for travel. So you are covered for a car accident or heart attack but not for the high blood pressure you have had for years.

There are some with blanket exclusions, the packaged insurance with an AmEx card is one example but there are others (not a recommendation but an example https://www.jsinsurance.co.uk/travel_insurance/medical-conditions-travel-insurance.html#section4). With some you have to do screening but you get the choice of paying the extra £300 or having the condition excluded - only known it done with on the phone screening but in principle it could be done online too. 

However you have inadvertently hit the nail on the head... the claims process is much longer is one of the main problems. Exclusion isnt just for pre-existing conditions but also for related so if you exclude high blood pressure its likely a claim for a heart attack would be declined as the two main consequences of high blood pressure are heart attacks and strokes. 

If there is no medical screening because all pre-existing conditions are simply excluded then you need to gather the details of the conditions and work out if the illness is related (eg did they have a heart attack which is why they crashed the car) before you can confirm cover etc. In the meantime someone is going to have to convince the hospital in the US that you can afford the $10,000/day for your high dependency bed whilst you recover from both the heart attack and car crash injuries. 

sheramber

My huband was offered accident only cover , when  the company were unwilling  to provide medical cover  as  he had a hospital investigation due after we returned.

luci

david_goodwin said:

I note an earlier thread about to lack of travel insurance options that exclude medical cover, and can see that it might be too small a market. What I would like is market in policies that exclude pre-existing conditions. This is common practice for health policies, yet doesn't seem to exist for travel. So you are covered for a car accident or heart attack but not for the high blood pressure you have had for years.

Pre-internet days, when you had to phone for travel insurance, I asked if I could exclude PEMCs, but not others. I was told I couldn't "cherry pick", it was all or nothing. 

As @MyRealNameToo said, you can't guarantee that a claim for a new condition wouldn't be declined when I could be linked to an existing condition. Another argument I've seen, is people on HBP medication either not declaring it, or arguing that they no longer have it, due to it now being normal due to medication.

I have two condition that I don't take medication for and are not monitored. One of them was found during a brain MRI to investigate the cause of the other one. That one is potentially very serious and is the reason no-one would insure me.

I have recently struggled to get any company to insure my PEMCs. I eventually found two specialist medical insurance companies that would, at a high cost, but there is no way I would ever travel without insurance.