Travel insurance with pre-existing med conditions

imcdonald5

We have just changed our Nationwide Flex account to a FlexPlus account. It costs £216 a year but includes Worldwide travel Insurance. We have several medical conditions but the additional cover costs for that were £364 for full cover.

Compared to regular Travel quotes this is very good - some insurers wouldn't look at us and all the rest were into the high hundreds of pounds. Also get free AA home start and European cover for both cars saving £100 on our current cover and it comes with phone insurance too.

So net cost is £580. Haven't previously considered this but having just retired and looking at probable multi-trips it is worth a look if you have pre-existing medical issues and want to travel.

MyRealNameToo

imcdonald5 said:

We have just changed our Nationwide Flex account to a FlexPlus account. It costs £216 a year but includes Worldwide travel Insurance. We have several medical conditions but the additional cover costs for that were £364 for full cover.

Compared to regular Travel quotes this is very good - some insurers wouldn't look at us and all the rest were into the high hundreds of pounds. Also get free AA home start and European cover for both cars saving £100 on our current cover and it comes with phone insurance too.

So net cost is £580. Haven't previously considered this but having just retired and looking at probable multi-trips it is worth a look if you have pre-existing medical issues and want to travel.

Because many get insurance etc bundled with other financial products and never use it the banks are charged much less than you or I would be to buy a stand alone policy. I know another large breakdown company would charge the same to a bank if they wanted to give either the full fat UK only cover or to add European cover yet one bank I knew offering it gave UK only to standard customers and EU to their Premier account holders despite no price difference. 

Fee incurring credit cards can be similar, sometimes the benefits are worth the extra cost. You just need to ensure that you keep using the benefits and switch to another product once you stop. A friend used to buy Priority Pass for him and his wife and then pay for the (adult) kids to go into the lounges when they were with them. I pointed him to a credit card which had a "free" Priority Pass for 2 people with each being able to bring a guest and the annual fee for the card was less than just the cost of the passes he was paying (he flies every other week)

blindman

I hope you compared other banking packages.

We found CoOp were far better for us, Mrs B medical conditions cost £50 extra (as opposed to NW £280) and their insurance has NO excess.

Max trip is 45 days and only cover up to 80, which at the moments suits us.

friolento

I find the packaged account travel insurances are great for UK and European holidays and flights only, but of limited use for most of my longhaul trips because they only cover up to £5k.

mta999

Also don't forget if you're traveling to Europe there is the EHIC card which covers quite a lot of things including pre-existing conditions

HillStreetBlues

friolento said:

I find the packaged account travel insurances are great for UK and European holidays and flights only, but of limited use for most of my longhaul trips because they only cover up to £5k.

Cover what?  there are many aspects of travel insurance.

Nebulous2

HillStreetBlues said:

friolento said:

I find the packaged account travel insurances are great for UK and European holidays and flights only, but of limited use for most of my longhaul trips because they only cover up to £5k.

Cover what?  there are many aspects of travel insurance.

£5k for cancellation or curtailment. Buying something like this is always going to involve some compromises, and it is one I am willing to take, as I'm saving quite a bit with the packaged policy - my main concern is a massive health claim. We don't have any expensive long haul holidays planned at the moment, and we are not intending to take one this year. 

blindman

Nebulous2 said:

HillStreetBlues said:

friolento said:

I find the packaged account travel insurances are great for UK and European holidays and flights only, but of limited use for most of my longhaul trips because they only cover up to £5k.

Cover what?  there are many aspects of travel insurance.

£5k for cancellation or curtailment. Buying something like this is always going to involve some compromises, and it is one I am willing to take, as I'm saving quite a bit with the packaged policy - my main concern is a massive health claim. We don't have any expensive long haul holidays planned at the moment, and we are not intending to take one this year. 

CoOp (as I assume most ) is unlimited cover for heath.

Cancellation\curtailment is £5K but if it's on health grounds...

SevenOfNine

We had FlexPlus for years (multi trip worldwide, including everywhere), with a few medical issues & limited extra cost. That went up a bit over the years but was still better than anywhere else & really came good when I had to have a minor emergency operation when on holiday in Jamaica.

For the first year after N/W switched insurance company to Aviva, the 'extra' add on for medical issues had gone up quite a lot, but still competitive enough given the other cover the account comes with (car, electronic kit).

BUT, by renewal on the second year the honeymoon period through N/W with Aviva was OVER. An absolute flat refusal to cover ANY medical declarations AT ALL, cover would be for cancellation (not on medical grounds) & any other trivial losses. Only covered physically if I got run over by a bus or some other accident abroad NOT connected to an existing medical condition.

In addition, where the previous N/W insurance provider only wanted all new & ongoing medical declarations for the previous year, Aviva forms in some areas say "have you ever", & they mean EVER! 

Same thing has happened to a friend, year one with N/W Aviva was fine, year 2 a flat out "NO". I had 2 holidays booked (Caribbean & Malta), so had to be quick finding alternative, decided on single trip with AgeUK, but friend had more time & has booked annual multi trip using InsureWith.

Nebulous2

blindman said:

Nebulous2 said:

HillStreetBlues said:

friolento said:

I find the packaged account travel insurances are great for UK and European holidays and flights only, but of limited use for most of my longhaul trips because they only cover up to £5k.

Cover what?  there are many aspects of travel insurance.

£5k for cancellation or curtailment. Buying something like this is always going to involve some compromises, and it is one I am willing to take, as I'm saving quite a bit with the packaged policy - my main concern is a massive health claim. We don't have any expensive long haul holidays planned at the moment, and we are not intending to take one this year. 

CoOp (as I assume most ) is unlimited cover for heath.

Cancellation\curtailment is £5K but if it's on health grounds...

I don't think you can depend on that:- 

"We will pay you, up to the amount shown in the Benefit Schedule, for any irrecoverable unused travel and accommodation costs....... if: you trip is curtailed before completion as a result of any of the following changes of circumstances ...........  1. Unforeseen illness, injury or death of you......... 

I've cut some bits out, but its on page 26 of the booklet they sent me.  Basically health refers to healthcare treatment costs abroad being unlimited, with the curtailment limits still applying to having to cancel. 

Some of the other insurances I looked at had a £10 million limit, though I can't remember which ones offhand. 

badger09

We have Worldwide annual cover with Nationwide Flexplus account. Mid/late 70s, each with multiple health conditions. Cancellation cover is £5k pp but we have ‘upgraded’ to £7.5k in the past and £10k for our next trip. Cover is also limited to 31 nights so we have to ‘upgrade’ that as well. 

We think it’s still good value.