help . if i dont declare a pre existing condition on insurance

Hiya
I am in a quandry
I buy annual travel insurance each yr for 4 of us and declare my astham and anxiety. Wouldnt need to declare the anxiety as it doesnt affect me on holiday but these companies seem to say you cant dislude one you have to have cover for all or none.
I wouldnt not want to risk not having cover for asthma even tho it is mild because if i was to get a bad cold, I could end up having an asthma attack and even tho i take steroids with me, I am 55 and think what if i developed pneumonia and ended up in hospital? theyd blame the asthma and id end up with a massive bill. Not likely but as its only a £5 to add the asthma on, not worth not doing.

So here is my dilemma. Insurance is due for renewal.I am now awaiting an MRI scan on my knee. My cartilage has been torn twice previously and has been repaired. There is nothing you cna ever do for this other than repair it using keyhole under anaesthetic.
I would not need any cover. Even if my knee buckled and i could hardly walk, id drag myself to the airport, and nothing could be done until the op as the first time this went, i could hardly walk for 2 weeks and just had to it up with it.

One insurance company, I noticed, said if you do not declare PEMC you will not be covered for that condition.
Now thats fine; i dont NEED cover for my knee.
You can declare illnesses and decline cover but cant say I will keep the asthma and decline the knee.

So I am inclined to just not mention the knee and carry on as usual.
But I have seen some things that say if the insurance could prove they would not have insured you if they'd known about the condition they could refuse ANY claim. However I dont think they could say that about a cartilage injury.
Also i have used online tools to get a quote for said condition and they would insure me for it; at a premium!

I really do not need insurance for my knee. I was skiing for years with a torn cartilage and didnt know as they kept x raying it rather than mriing it and saying they couldnt see anything. It was only when it suddenly "went" and i couldnt walk that they MRI'd it and found the tear. So i was holidaying for years anyway with a tear i didnt know about.

Does anyone have any solid knowledge about this. Would they still have to pay out if i got pneumonia or if i fell down a step and broke my leg etc?
i dont want to have to pay inflated premiums for soemthign that nothing could be done about abroad anyway but dont want to leave myself uninsured.

Its about time this was changed where you can select which conditions you want insuring and which you can leave.
I can be brown I can be blue I can be violet and sky. I can be hurtful I can be purple I can be anything you like..Gotta be green gotta be mean gotta be everything more...
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Comments

  • stevie11
    stevie11 Posts: 682 Forumite
    IMO best policy is to be honest. If you have pre existing or are due to have tests or an operation etc. The insurance company may ask further questions and risk analysis of your stated conditions but that does not always mean there will be a big price increase.

    I would rather know before I travel where I stood in the event of any potential claim than be stranded or have to struggle without treatment for the rest of the trip.
  • pattycake
    pattycake Posts: 1,576
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    In your example, you say if I fell down a step and broke a leg, well the insurers could easily and possibly correctly say it was due to your unstable knee.

    Declare everything. A few extra £££s now could save many thousands if something went wrong.
  • Discodee
    Discodee Posts: 2,062
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    well as i said there is no treatment for a torn cartilage other than an operation ( or you can have physio, but nothing that could be done abroad if it suddenly gave me gyp.
    Id just like to know if they cannot refuse to pay out if i had an asthma attack just because i didnt declare my knee, so that doesn't really answer my question! lol

    The system really does need looking at.
    My daughter suffered depression in her late teens. i used to declare it for her but decline cover. On an annual policy for 4 costing £80, id have had to pay a £78 premium to cover her for depression!!! Now luckily that was all she had so we could decline it.however if shed had say mild asthma, id have had to have stumped upo the £78 premium for the depression to ensure she was covered for asthma which is a £5 premium . Its a massive con. We should be able to declare them but select which we want cover for. you cna select to have or not have flight disruption, winter sports, cancellation/money etc Why not be able choose which condition you want cover for? really annoys me!
    Thanks for your help. I hope someone can come along and answer the question!
    I can be brown I can be blue I can be violet and sky. I can be hurtful I can be purple I can be anything you like..Gotta be green gotta be mean gotta be everything more...
  • stevie11
    stevie11 Posts: 682 Forumite
    OP, why don't you contact your insurance company and check to be sure. Insurance companies may have different rules on the subject you are querying.
  • peachyprice
    peachyprice Posts: 22,346
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    Discodee wrote: »
    well as i said there is no treatment for a torn cartilage other than an operation ( or you can have physio, but nothing that could be done abroad if it suddenly gave me gyp.
    Id just like to know if they cannot refuse to pay out if i had an asthma attack just because i didnt declare my knee, so that doesn't really answer my question! lol

    The system really does need looking at.
    My daughter suffered depression in her late teens. i used to declare it for her but decline cover. On an annual policy for 4 costing £80, id have had to pay a £78 premium to cover her for depression!!! Now luckily that was all she had so we could decline it.however if shed had say mild asthma, id have had to have stumped upo the £78 premium for the depression to ensure she was covered for asthma which is a £5 premium . Its a massive con. We should be able to declare them but select which we want cover for. you cna select to have or not have flight disruption, winter sports, cancellation/money etc Why not be able choose which condition you want cover for? really annoys me!
    Thanks for your help. I hope someone can come along and answer the question!

    You're missing one important point.

    Travel insurance isn't just to cover you while you're abroad, it's to cover you should you need to cancel before your travel date.

    Say you book your holiday, your cartilage gets so bad you need an op 2 weeks before you planned holiday, you would want to claim for cancellation. If you don't declare your knee they won't pay out.

    If you have an asthma attack the day before you travel and end up in hospital they won't pay out for missed departure.

    There's also a good chance that should you need to cancel or need hospital care whilst abroad for any UNRELATED illness they will look at your medical records and refuse to pay out because you didn't declare your known medical conditions, meaning they were not given an accurate picture of your health when they calculated the premium, thus making your policy void.
    Accept your past without regret, handle your present with confidence and face your future without fear
  • sheramber
    sheramber Posts: 18,869
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    What if your knee went and you fell down and cracked your skull resulting on a fractured skull or worse requiring a long stay in hospital, enable to fly home?

    You may also find you will not get insurance if you are awaiting an MRI as the insurance company do not know what the result will be.

    It is better to be honest and avoid problems pater on.
  • jpsartre
    jpsartre Posts: 4,085
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    Discodee wrote: »
    The system really does need looking at.


    Why? If you declare everything you won't have a problem. The fact that you don't like the prices you are qouted is neither here nor there and certainly no reason why anything needs looking at.
  • hollydays
    hollydays Posts: 19,812
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    Why bother to buy insurance and lie. Just don't bother buying any . Deliberately leaving out information could invalidate your whole policy
  • koalakoala
    koalakoala Posts: 747
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    Seems you can't sort greed ......
  • Discodee
    Discodee Posts: 2,062
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    edited 7 August 2018 at 9:02PM
    You're missing one important point.

    Travel insurance isn't just to cover you while you're abroad, it's to cover you should you need to cancel before your travel date.

    Say you book your holiday, your cartilage gets so bad you need an op 2 weeks before you planned holiday, you would want to claim for cancellation. If you don't declare your knee they won't pay out.

    If you have an asthma attack the day before you travel and end up in hospital they won't pay out for missed departure.

    There's also a good chance that should you need to cancel or need hospital care whilst abroad for any UNRELATED illness they will look at your medical records and refuse to pay out because you didn't declare your known medical conditions, meaning they were not given an accurate picture of your health when they calculated the premium, thus making your policy void.

    Honestly that wont happen lol. I have lived with a torn cartilage for 10 ys. Only found out about when i became so i could barely walk. This resulted in an mri after yrs of x rays showing nothing. I was in agony and in fact went to A&E and out of hours twice whilst waiting for it and all they said was take painkillers. The knee does not get worse so it "needs an op earlier" lol. I wouldnt not go abroad because of that. The knee eventually settled done pre op and i found out that what had happened was the cartilage "flipped" which causes the worst pain it can. I once went on a city break to Madrid before having my first op ( I didnt know about declaring these things then lol) and walked miles every day. I also ski ied a little bit just during lunch as my daughter is same height/weight as me. That was maybe a bit daft. I have never fallen because of my cartilage! I do see what youre saying but it isnt likely to happen.
    regarding " you didnt declare so the policy could be null and void" thats EXACTLY what I am trying to establish

    As I see it they can only do that if you didn't declare something THEY WOULD REFUSE TO INSURE YOU FOR. Otherwise youre just not insured for the condition you didnt declare
    Thats what I was trying to establish, which is true. No-one would refuse insurance for a cartilage tear people have them and dont even know. As i said i had one for years. i skied for years and years with it!!

    Someone suggested asking insurance company but if i ask them, then choose to not declare theyre going to ask why! I just do it online where it doesnt ask about that whereas if you ring it des ask you so youre lying whereas if you inadvertently miss it off a form, it isnt lying as such.

    Bit of a thought provoker! Thanks all for your advice, I shall definitely think about it.

    btw the person who commented above my LASt comment, you must have posted as I was as I have only just seen it! Sorry
    I can be brown I can be blue I can be violet and sky. I can be hurtful I can be purple I can be anything you like..Gotta be green gotta be mean gotta be everything more...
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