To think travel insurance is an utter scam?

If you have seen a doctor for puberty then you would need to declare it.

Indeed. Sounds very much like discrimination onthe grounds of sex to me.

Bear in mind that call handlers at insurance companies do make mistakes. For example, we were told by our pet insurer all of a sudden (during a call.about a claim) that they would no longer insure our dog as she was an American bulldog cross and they'd be cancelling the policy.

Calling back and speaking to another handler we were told this was incorrect, they apologised for upsetting us and we got £75 for our trouble.

Challenge this sexist nonsense!

yes, you have to declare anything you have seen a medical professional for and is therefore in your medical records.

My piles appeared one day so I do not understand how they can say that they don't just appear. They do.

You have to declare it if you have seen a medical professional about it.

You need to declare anything that will be in your medical records.

I remember a case where someone went to see their GP about headaches and didn't delare it and their claim was refused.

I've always declared absolutely everything when we've taken out travel insurance. We use a specialist company because we've both got pre existing conditions, and find their premiums quite reasonable.

Thankfully we've never had to make a major claim, but I hate to think what would have happened to my sister in law if she and my brother hadn't been insured a few years back. They had just arrived at a small airport in Bolivia when my brother had a major ruptured aneurysm in the arrivals lounge. After three days in a private clinic in a relatively small Bolivian town, he was moved by private plane to a larger hospital in Chile, where he was in intensive care for three weeks. During this time there was a volcanic ash cloud which affected much of the southern hemisphere, which prevented him from being moved. Although he was brain dead, the hospital wouldn't turn his life support off, and he was finally flown back to Australia in a small chartered medical evacuation plane. I can't imagine what the cost would have been if they hadn't been adequately insured.

Why bother taking out insurance at all? If anything happens they won't pay up because you have not fully disclosed your health conditions. Even if the medical emergency was completely unrelated to the three conditions you have they wouldn''t cover you as you have not been honest. They insist on access to health records before they pay unless it's a very small claim.
It doesn't matter whether you take medication or not, the fact that you have, for example, osteoporosis, increases your risk of needing hospital care and would therefore increase your premium.

Lots of health conditions don't increase the premium but many do. I have 11 conditions declared and my insurance is £££. In spite of having annual cover I can't book a holiday at the moment as I am awaiting test results for something trivial.

If I have to declare menopause, then I'm gonna declare my 10 year olds verrucas (individually), my 13 year olds puberty and resulting dandruff, the little bit of flaky skin on my face that I saw a dermatologist about and he just said to get some salicylic acid cream for, my occasional athletes foot etc.

Declaring menopause.. pah!

A family member was staying with relatives abroad and then going on to another destination a week later.
The relative who lived abroad died in a tragic accident the first week of the holiday so family member cancelled on going plans and asked insurance to fly them home after the funeral.
The insurance company said it was their decision to cut the holiday short and refused to pay out.
It took 2 years of fighting with insurance company until the ombudsman told the insurance that they were being ridiculous and must pay out.

Just to add for context, trip of a lifetime was cancelled due to a heart attack

Yeah staysure are crap

I had to file a claim for a cancellation and they refused, even though we had medical evidence for cancellation etc etc.

So I looked into it and had to claim with their subsidiary/ underwriters, Davies group, instead.

Claim was refunded with them.

This is absolutely correct! (Retired senior travel specialist here.)

Having spent weeks with a relative in intensive care after a heart attack while he was on holiday- I saw first hand how the insurance definitely tried to get out of paying for repatriation to the UK, despite the doctors in the hospital saying it was his only chance of survival as the surgery he needed was not available in their country. The insurance tried everything to get out of paying- the insurance company dr was insistent he stay where he was (incidentally the insurance company dr had previously been struck off by the gmc before being reinstated)
anyone who thinks the conditions are not serious enough to consider declaring, or for some other reason should not declare them is completely misunderstanding how insurance will work in the case of an accident/illness- you want the insurance company to resolve the situation as soon as they can, your relative’s life can literally depend on it- you don’t want anything that will muddy the waters, or cause any delay whatsoever.
My relative had comprehensive travel insurance and it was a nightmare- we ended up paying for medical repatriation ourselves and claiming back from the insurance company once back. Not everyone can afford £50k though- we were extremely lucky.
my advice would be to be as honest as you can be, give them chapter and verse and go over the top with the information you provide.

they said don't just emerge suddenly so I must have known about the piles for some time and hadn't told them.

WTF? Of course piles can emerge suddenly. That very thing happened to me on holiday last year! I went to the loo, wiped, and it felt odd, and by the end of the day I couldn't sit down. No build up to it at all. It was fun trying to source cream/suppositories for it in one of the poorest countries in sub-saharan Africa, I tell you.
Such ignorance from whoever you spoke to.

It really isn't a scam. It's so necessary. Used it with DS when away and had gastroenteritis, needed a drip for a few days because of dehydration. Missed our flights. Insurance covered the hospital cost and the new flights. Worth every penny.

They don't all ask, but one of the first things they will do when you need treatment abroad is request your medical records from your GP. If you've never spoken to your GP about menopause or gotten medication for it, then for you it's not an existing condition, but for other women it might be a medicated condition that needs declaring.

They can also deny any claim if you fail to notify them as soon as possible when you fall ill. I create a whatsapp group with DH with the insurers emergency number to call, and attach the policy documents. I also do the same with the hotel and flights details, just in case of emergency.

@ragingruby

I don't know about other insurance companies though but I won't be insuring with Staysure again. They didn't even call back when they were supposed to and I had to chase them.

Most insurers are just "fronts" or trading names, and are little more than "agents" for a very small number of proper insurance firms operating in the background.

Yes, they're trading as different names, have different websites, have different branding on letters/claim forms, etc., but when you phone them to, say, make a claim, you're talking to the "back office" firms who answer the phone as "ABC" or "XYZ" according to what number you called them on, which flags you up as a customer of ABC or XYZ on their phone/monitor when they take your call.

I don't know the exact details as to whether Staysure are genuinely a complete insurance firm, or whether they're a "front" for another firm, but you may well find yourself dealing with the same background firm if you think you're going with a different insurer.

There may be a few dozen firms on comparison sites etc., but less than a dozen "real" insurers sitting behind them!

That's part of the reason why you should be careful if making a number of different applications, i.e. disclosing a hospital stay on the quotation request with ABC, but not declaring it on the quotation request for XYZ - it may well be the same firm behind both who'll be able to see other applications/quotation requests using the same name/dob etc. They do the same when it comes to motor insurance and likewise can cross check applications/quote requests using the same car registration number, driver name/dob etc etc.

Attached is the standard preamble from a comparison site. If you click on the image to view it in full it says you have to list any reason you've seen a GP in the last 12 months. It includes examples such as headaches or water infections. I've found with most of the insurers when you actually go in to get a quote it specifies 2 years rather than 12 months.

It's not about severity of the condition. It's about the likelihood of you costing them money.

A basic overnight stay in a hospital in the US costs an average of upwards of $3,000 dollars. Some countries are cheaper of course, but if your insurer feels that you lied or lied by omission on your declaration you are on the hook for that money. They will pay, but they'll send debt collectors after you when you get home.

You tell them what drugs you are taking. Absolutely. But that’s not the same as labelling it a ‘medical condition’.

If you've honestly answered the questions, ticked the boxes, read the small print as to what has to be declared, etc., then you're absolutely fine.

That's why it's so important to actually read the T&Cs, small print, questionnaires, declarations, etc.

That includes checking what they mean by "pre existing conditions" which will be defined/confirmed in the details somewhere. You can't just make your own criteria as to what you deem to be "pre existing conditions". You have to follow what they deem them to be.

I’ve never filled out a travel insurance form which has asked about GP consultations , they’ve always just been declare existing conditions and any unfinished / awaiting hospital treatment . I would not list menopause because it’s not an illness .