To think travel insurance is an utter scam?

@Peridot1 You have to declare anything that requires prescribed medication over the previous year even if it was short term. Was told this by the Post Office travel insurance agent.

Same. It’s absolutely bonkers to declare minor ailments.

It's very handy, unless the public system is shit in the destination country then you'll really wish that you had the travel insurance for a private hospital.

Travel Insurance would also cover things like an interpreter, or extended accommodation for a partner or re-arranging missed flights / medicalised equipment or assistance on flights due to that hospital stay that the GHIC wont cover.

Yes you have to declare everything or the insurance becomes void.. even if you end up needing treatment for something else like a fall or something you caught on holiday.
Read all the small print.

You have to declare every reason you've visited a GP in the last two years. Some are completely irrelevant but insurers have access to your medical records and can (and will) avoid paying out for the most spurious of reasons.

I wouldn't have declared any of those things as medical conditions for travel insurance. They are nowhere near serious enough .

Anything you saw your GP for and anything they prescribed medications or treatment for, it's prudent to declare it.

If, to take an example the lady above who has lung disease but not on medication, if she ended up hospitalised with any sort of breathing illness, her travel insurance would not cover her as it was diagnosed by a GP and she didn't declare it, medication or not.

The OP is not going to land in hospital with insomnia, but the medications she's taking might say, be a crucial factor in any driving accident if that drug was proven to cause impairment. Or if her menopause meds have known side effects that could result in hospital care, that's where those small things can become an expensive problem.

There's also the flip side that many hospitals abroad LOVE to see an insured person coming. I got a UTI on a two week package holiday once. I went to a local GP who insisted I go to the hospital. All I needed was an antibiotics prescription but the hospital was insistent on admitting me and putting me on a drip and "it's ok because you have insurance". They will do a full (expensive) work up for things you never needed and not care that you might get rebilled by the insurer when you get home.

When I travel I set up a whatsapp group with DH and add in the flight & hotel details and documents, travel insurance documents and the emergency number for the insurer all in it so it's on us at all times. Pictures of passports as well.

The most important thing to remember in any medical emergency is to call the emergency travel insurance line immediately so that they can coordinate the best care you need and prevent hospital from artificially inflating the bill.

But if you've seen a GP for it or are on drugs for it, it HAS to be declared. You have to answer the questions honestly. And one of the questions asks whether you've consulted a GP - regardless of why, the answer is YES!

I'd also add that the GHIC card is good. We didn't have to pay hospital costs as it was an emergency (Europe).

We were on the phone to Staysure for over two hours trying to get insurance. Because two of us were waiting for tests for minor conditions, we had all pre existing excluded. Unfortunately in the two weeks we were away, dh had a problem necessitating hospital treatment with knock on costs, missed flights, hotel etc. We will claim but have little hope of the claim being successful ( we have never claimed on insurance before).

Menopause isn’t a medical condition. Neither is insomnia (unless a symptom of something). Piles, yes, but being covered or not for them is neither here nor there.

Again, it's about answering the questions. If you went to the GP for a cold, then you'd declare the GP consultation. If you bought a bottle of Benylin from Asda, then you wouldn't as there isn't a question for that!

They don't have access to them, but if you claim for medical reasons they will request your full medical history. You can refuse this obviously, but you won't progress your claim and will get stuck with your medical bills abroad.

If you make a claim, part of the claim is signing to agree for them to have your medical records. If you don't sign that agreement, you can't make a claim. They can't access your medical records without your agreement.

I would never have thought to even mention those conditions, especially menopause and piles. It would be like mentioning you have a cold! Insomnia maybe I would’ve mentioned if I was on long-term medication for it. Still though, the likelihood of you needing medical treatment abroad for any of these conditions is very slim.

It's all about answering the questions. If you've been to the GP about piles or the menopause, then it has to be declared, because they specifically ask about consultations with GPs.

If there's a question asking whether you've ever bought over the counter cream for piles, then you'd have to answer yes. If there isn't such a question, then you don't need to declare. Except if there's another question somewhere asking whether you've had piles, or whether you've bought over the counter cream (which there isn't!).

It's all about answering the questions honestly. Not making your own decision about what they need to know!

Do insurance companies have unfettered access to your medical records?? This is very surprising. What has happened to doctor/patient confidentiality? (I'm not in the UK, may be different there)

@LuckysDadsHat

Insurance will try and get out of paying for anything.

They really don't. They "try and get out" paying for unsubstantiated claims and where there has been negligence or failure to disclose.

We've made numerous insurance claims over the past 40 years. One, for example was when our family business was robbed of cash at knifepoint. Another was car insurance when a neighbour didn't put his handbrake on and their car rolled into ours writing it off, another car one was when I was hit by a flying cow (I kid you not, it was first hit by a lorry coming in the other direction which made it temporarily airborne), we've claimed for a tree falling into our garden causing damage during a storm, we've claimed for our house being burgled, we've claimed for two holidays which we had to cancel due to health conditions meaning we couldn't travel, I've claimed for loss of passport, driving licence, cash and cards when I was pick-pocketed in Rome, we've made claims under tradesmens/suppliers insurance when they've caused damage to our house. No problems at all with any of the claims. Yes, it's a pain in the arse filling in the claim forms, providing invoices for proof of purchase of stolen items, providing proof of loss, providing proof of medical conditions requiring holiday cancellation, providing photos of damage etc etc., and of course generally the pain in the arse of having to keep phoning them due to them being slow and incompetent, but at the end of the day, every single claim we've made has been paid out.

By contrast, my brother was most put out when his suitcase was lost on a flight and the insurance firm wouldn't pay out for his lost Rolex watch, designer sunglasses, expensive camera equipment, etc. Not that he ever had those items, he thought he'd get away with claiming for them anyway! Inevitably they asked for proof of purchase, which he couldn't supply as he'd never bought them! Funny thing was that they refused to pay out for the stuff he did genuinely lose as they refused the whole claim because of the fraud he tried to commit!

Menopause isn't an illness? Piles, you can buy the cream from any pharmacy. Though I do know how painful it can be. I guess you could need a mobility scooter or something if they were so bad you couldn't walk. Insomnia, again I'd say that's not worth mentioning.
But they are notorious for dropping you in it if you withhold even the trivial.