To think travel insurance is an utter scam?

with insurance you get what you pay for go elsewhere and be prepared to pay

Basically any medication for a condition that you take needs to be included, no matter how small. I phoned ins Co to inform them about an abscess I had which was treated fine, but obs a new condition, they charged £50 to add condition and another £40 to issue new policy. My friend is trying to get money back from a cancelled holiday to Spain as she had Covid and was too ill to travel. Ins Co wants all her records, proof of Covid, GP letter, who are in no hurry issuing, she feels like giving up trying to claim.

I worry about this with Dd who has a list of health conditions inc.

previous pulmonary embolism now on blood thinners
ehler Danlos syndrome which is a connective tissue disorder
endometriosis
coeliac disease
POTS which is a neurological disorder affecting bp and heart rate, can cause fainting
fibromyalgia.

we obviously declare everything and pay a fortune (£200 for two weeks last time). But the insurance states anything connected to those conditions isn’t covered.

well seeing as her conditions cover connective tissue which is present in every body system, then coeliac which is the digestive system, endometriosis which covers everything gynae and the blood thinners, clotting issue which covers all her vascular system I’m not sure what is left to be covered. Car accidents and broken bones maybe??? They could link anything to her health issues if they wanted. Whether they would or not I have no idea.

Menopause is not a disease.
Heavens.

HRT isn't unusual no but I'm guessing it has side effects/contraindications? And it'll be those that they're worried about rather than the menopause itself.

There's always going to be the odd few who mention something small just because they're there, and whilst a little unfair for those people as a benchmark for what's considered pre-exsisting it's not a bad one.

I think the assumption that if it's bad enough to go to the gp for then it should be considered pre-exsisting is far enough tbh.

After all, most people don't go to the gp for "normal" piles or the occasional headache or menopause with no symptoms. They treat with otc meds at home

Yes that’s my point. He didn’t do this so I was giving another example to everyone asking why OP declared things like menopause.

@Merro I use insurancewith. Bear in mind depending on the condition they may not be particularly cheap compared to your current quote either - but they are required by law to refer you to other insurers if their price is high so you can get other quotes. They did for us but ironically they turned out to be the most sensible coverage vs cost wise for us as a family. The comparison list was helpful as it told you which medical screening database each provider uses - there's one I much prefer over another!

I have worked in insurance long enough so know that you

1. declare everything. Anything you take tablets for, anything you are waiting for an appt for and consider every question as if they have your medical records in front of them
2. in reality you should view it as should the worst happen, it will cover medical and repatriation.
3. Thank god my dad took it out the day before he travelled to the state, 10 days in intensive care plus repatriation was the best part of 250k, 20 years ago.

If you are on any medication, you need to tell them - that includes HRT. Any doctor or hospital visits need to be mentioned. I’ve had breast cancer twice, am ongoing drug treatment, take statins for high cholesterol and take anti-anxiety medications. Husband has had cancer twice. All declared and covered by Staysure.

@scissy would you mind telling me which insurer you use?

I have multiple conditions which means I pay a very high premium.

I can't believe how many people don't know that you have to tell your insurer about ANYTHING which is on your medical records. Failure to do so, gives them a get out, which could literally cost you THOUSANDS of £'s. This has been covered on TV many times, on programs like 'Rip Off Britain'. So, be warned, it's easier to tell them EVERYTHING, than to raise thousands when you're abroad, in hospital, and need to be flown home, but don't have the money.

I travelled with someone who’d had a serious stroke. Whilst away they had their first seizure. We were fully covered for a week in hospital and repatriation, total bill £5k.

Sounds like Staysure are the issue here OP. Due to family circumstances we have to use a more specialist travel insurer for our annual cover and have done from multiple years. DH had a new diagnosis partway through the year. Our insurer was happy to add it to the policy (although due to the new risk we did have to pay an additional amount for the rest of the policy validity). I had also forgotten to declare DD's hayfever, but that was added at no extra cost.
Both have been agreed despite being new or previously undeclared by accident.
Although so far we haven't had to claim...

Thank you, that's really helpful.

I flew home in an air ambulance with a parent
That was not a scam either.
Neither was the hospital stay or the mri and pet scans that preceded it

They don't specifically ask about medical conditions but you'll find somewhere there's a clause you accept that says you have declared any. I would ring them and declare now, you'll probably have a bit extra to pay but not much. It's the big stuff like heart, cancer history that really bumps the cost up.

As to which company is better. They're only tested when you need to claim and it's very hard to find reviews of claims. These big companies are very proactive on inviting reviews from people who have purchased policies, usually all good which gives a false impression.
When you make a claim it's not staysure or Aviva or whoever who deal with it, it's all outsourced to a couple of claims handling companies.

Considering that my travel insurance recently paid over £1000 when I needed medical care in Turkey, I wouldn’t call it a scam.

There is a stronger one but you can usually buy it over the counter, not necessarily have it prescribed.