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Travel Insurance - Medical Questions
Our annual travel insurance is soon due for renewal, so as ever I looked on a comparison site to see what's on offer and as ever wanted to give an accurate picture of any medical conditions. But, as ever, I'm not entirely convinced that the questions asked necessarily lead to an entirely accurate picture.
Let me explain, first I'm asked have any travellers visited the doctor or A&E in the past two years. If the answer is yes, it does not ask why - was it for something minor which has been cured or something more?
Second, in asking about medical conditions, how far back do I go? Some things are easy, e.g. have you ever had raised cholesterol - a straight yes or no? What about illnesses from the distant past, e.g. if had, say, heart bypass many years ago? Would probably declare that but do I need to?
Linked to first point, if visit to doctor months ago was for, say, eye infection which a course of antibiotics has cleared or routine tests which revealed nothing was wrong, do I declare? Or if a visit to A&E was for sprained ankle which is now completely healed?
Finally, if sprained ankle was while overseas on holiday and necessitated a claim, there is no question asking if any claims have been made.
Somewhat hypothetical, but entirely possible, circumstances. Just don't want to be caught out by either declaring something unnecessarily or, innocently, missing something that should be declared
Comments
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What exactly are the questions you're having trouble with? If it's "have you ever had [a condition]" then yes that means your lifetime, there's no implied cut-off period.
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The insurance comparison sites (for travel and for other products like home and motor) are there to service the majority or "normal" part of the market and sacrifice nuance and detail in order to offer a cheap product to the masses.
If you feel that your circumstances are not able to be catered for by the rather simplistic questioning of the usual sites then you might be better using a specialist broker. The quotes that are offered are unlikely to be cheaper than the Meerkats'.
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You dont say which site you were looking at so have to go on generalities but normally insurers ask a couple of questions up front that determines if you need to declare any medical conditions, this is normally some questions about cancer or heart attacks that they want to know about if they have ever happened and then about anything the last X years.
They ask all those questions first and then loop back round and ask for the details of all the items that caused you to declare yes to the filtering questions. Some conditions could be put against multiple Qs and they dont want the same info multiple times.
It somewhat happens in the subsequent condition questions because various things they may ask about high cholesterol or hypertension if you declare you have had a myocardial infarction but they normally tell you not to repeat yourself if you have already declared these as independent conditions
There are two main providers of medical screening and one insurer has created their own thing. Its why they all fee so similar as the flow doesnt change but they just apply their styling to make the tool fit with their website.
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Price comparison sites can only give you a rough guide to prices when medical conditions are involved. Use the comparison site as a start point, but always go directly to the insurer site when providing detail. Some ask for GP visits in the past 6 months, others in past 2 years (for example). Each will also have their own list of conditions which don't need to be declared, those will also differ.
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As said in OP, the "ever" questions are easy, it's the more vague ones, e.g. how far back to go with declaring an operation (I'm still putting down one from over 15 years ago because it was fairly major even though not specifically asked) or, again as in examples originally given, should one declare a recent minor infection or A&E visit for a sprain, even though fully recovered. Even insurers websites, I don't remember as being much different in what they ask.
Surprised never asked whether have made claim in recent years, similar to what car insurers ask
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What is the wrding of the question that means you are not sure whether to declare the operstion?
If i ask have you had any operationa then that means ever, so you would declare it.
If it ask for information for operations in the last 2, 4 or X years then if it outside the time line then you do not need to declare it. If it is inside that time line then you need to declare it.
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As I recall, the questions are usually, "have you ever" or "have you in the past x years". I've seen some as long as 5 years and others as short as one year.
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Where it asks for any medical conditions without stating any timeline rather than "ever" or "in last x years"
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Which company is asking that without clarifying ‘ever’ or giving a time line?
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Most. They simply ask if you have any medical conditions to declare. Some things, such as high blood pressure or cholesterol, they will ask "ever"
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