Travel insurance - pregnancy

[FlightofFancy]

Hi all,
A bit of advice please - have just checked my travel insurance and it doesn't cover me for anything pregnancy-related (and if you read it pessimistically, anything at all) once you're past 20 weeks. We're off to France for a week when I'm 22 weeks - and normally I wouldn't worry, but wondered if I should do anything about it?

It's an annual policy, so I'm not hugely keen to shell out for another policy just to cover this (not planning any more trips until junior arrives). Do other insurers offer cover for longer (this is a really cheap company), or does nobody cover any medical risks when you're up the duff? Just felt that 20 weeks is ridiculously early...

I'm going to email them to check the wording (they won't win any plain english awards) to make sure it's just medical stuff (as I don't quite see how me being pregnant could affect me, say, getting my luggage stolen), and wanted to know what my options were...

[amyboo]

If you're from the EU you don't need additional medical insurance for travel to France. Just make sure you get an EHIC card (European Health Insurance Card) from the NHS and you're covered: www.ehic.org.uk/Internet/home.do

[FlightofFancy]

Though the EHIC card only covered you for treatment (and then only at the rate the locals pay not FOC) - not if you needed to be transported home or similar?

Anyway, am researching other insurance companies as seems most others do cover you (you really do get what you pay for!)

[amyboo]

Ah, that' true. It'll cover you for any treatment, but not for repatriation.

[cakeaddict]

Hi,
I've just been looking into travel insurance as I'm travelling to Spain between 27-29 weeks.

I was told that the law had recently changed (I think I read on another thread somewhere on here that it was since December) and that they now had to cover pregnant women by law, so there were no restrictions on dates etc. I bought my travel insurance policy through AA travel insurance who told me this - though it might be worth phoning your current provider to check the details with them first.

Hope that helps!

[HelenofSparta]

Hello, with Aviva and am going 26/27 weeks and I am covered up to 8 weeks before latest EDD.
Am also getting a fit to flight letter from docs even though the airline says from 28 weeks, better to be safe than sorry...
Would defo ring up/check/ask them to send you full policy wording
x

[bubblesincambridge]

I got some from M&S

[Fonzman]

You do not need to declare pregnancy on a travel insurance policy.

As of December 21 2008, the EU has issued a new gender directive that makes it unlawful to subject either a man or woman to less favourable treatment because of his or her gender.

In relation to the Financial Services industry, discrimination on the basis of pregnancy, maternity and gender reassignment in calculating premiums and paying benefits is now prohibited.

Provided that your doctor / medical practitioner has not declared you unfit to travel, you would be covered as standard on most decent policies for any complications relating to your pregnancy. This includes your full term, provided that you are not travelling with the specific intent of delivering abroad.

It is however also worth checking the individual transportation provider?s terms and conditions regarding pregnancy prior to booking.

A helpful site for information regarding this matter is:
insurance.essentialtravel.co.uk/pregnant-travel-insurance.asp

[beautifulgirls]

We have an annual insurance with Direct Line and called them to let them know I was pregnant before a holiday in May (assuming we needed to disclose all "relevant" facts before the journey) They advised us that we would still have full cover and would not be making any notes that we had called either as it would be discrimination and that is not allowed. Definately worth finding out more about the EU directive that is mentioned in earlier posts as it would seem that is in your favour but how it applies to specifics in your policy about weeks may require accurate interpretation of course - I would also call them to clarify as you cant actually lose out by talking to them - if they won't cover then they wont cover (assuming they are operating within the legal EU rules too)

[FlightofFancy]

Thanks all - that's really interesting! Have had confirmation that they'll cover me for any non-pregnancy-related medical cover and anything else from the policy, but just not for anything related to the pregnancy. To be fair, it sounds like I've got scope to challenge that if I needed to after the event.

As it's only France for a week, and we're going by train rather than flying, I'll take my chances, but glad I checked.

[logical1966]

Hi all,

I was struggling to find travel insurance with being 33 weeks pregnant when travelling. My current insurance through the bank would only cover up to 28 weeks. After looking through a number of discussion forums (you know what that's like! ) I found that this link kept cropping up mamatob.co.uk

After looking at the policy and calling the company (as I wanted to make sure I would definitely be covered) it seemed to be just what the midwife ordered! lol. I would definitely recommend!!

[Bloemfonten]

Hi logical1966 - thanks for the link to Mama2b. I'm travelling to Portugal for a fortnight in a couple of weeks and will be 34/35 weeks on the return date (depending on whether you go by last period or scan date). I've spend AGES researching travel insurance companies that provide a good level of cover (including emergency/early birth, cancellation, early return and repatriation etc.) for a reasonable fee. This seems easy enough to do until you read all the horror stories about how these insurance companies become very difficult to deal with as soon as you make a claim! They are charging somewhere between £20 and £30 for a policy, so when Mama2b came back at over £50 I was a bit disappointed :-( and I can't find any reviews about them.

So... does anyone have any experience of purchasing travel insurance for later in (single) pregnancy, paying a reasonable premium and then making a successful claim? If so, PLEASE can you tell me who you got insurance with as I'm going round in circles here! Thank you SOOOOO much! x

[logical1966]

Hi Bloemfonten, when I was looking around I found some cheap quotes but none with the cover that i wanted (most places would cover any emergencies but not if I went into normal labour). When I rang the Mama2b company they explained it was for pregnancy travel and would cover both emergencies and routine birth which is what I wanted so I wasn't really bothered about the cost!

[Bloemfonten]

Hi logical1966 - thanks again for the info. I've been doing more research since my last post and utterly agree with you about the limitations of the cover provided by other companies. Should the worst happen, I'm hardly going to care about having spent another few quid! Best wishes :-)