Travel insurance whilst awaiting medical investigation

[Rarewaxwing]

Has anyone been able to get travel insurance whilst awaiting medical investigation? I've just updated my travel insurance with Admiral because I've been put on the two-week pathway for suspected gynaecological cancer (unexplained bleeding which I'm pretty sure is caused by new HRT). Admiral now won't insure me and I can't get any quotes from GoCompare.

Has anyone found a travel company who insured them in a similar situation? I'm going away on Monday.

Worth trying Staysure
You'll have to phone them and they go through loads of questions.
I got full insurance through them while on waiting list for treatment, my annual insurance through the bank wouldn't cover me (I was already awaiting treatment when I booked the holiday)

Did you already have the admiral insurance in place before you booked the trip and before the symptoms started ? I thought they had to continue to cover you for any new conditions, surely that's the whole point of insurance?

Thanks! I was with Staysure last time I went away, funnily enough, so I'll try them.

Admiral just said they wouldn't cover me now and would refund my payment 😔. Brutal.

And yes, the insurance with Admiral was booked earlier this year.

AllClear have covered me and DH in the past while awaiting test results BUT:

• you aren't covered for anything that might be related to the condition being investigated, which might worry you;
• you can only get the cover by phone, not online;
• you mustn't be travelling against medical advice or to receive medical treatment

That's terrible! Has definitely put me off Admiral.

My friend has annual insurance through her bank and recently developed a heart condition, been referred to hospital. She's got holiday booked in July so she contacted the bank and they said yes they would continue to cover her while she was away, or cover her trip cost if she preferred to cancel the holiday, as she didn't have the heart problem when she booked the holiday.
That's the whole point of insurance!

Surely if the insurance company won't cover you to travel, then they'll need to cover you for the cancellation of the holiday. Not the solution you want I'm sure, but isn't that the whole point of insurance?

I had this with admiral. Declared a condition that was subsequently changed and needed surgery. They'll cover me if my holiday is cancelled due to the surgery but not for any issues encountered because of it while I'm away.

Yes, their attitude has put me right off them. Imagine what they'd be like if you had to make a claim!

But they didn't refuse to cover you at all? I would have stayed with Admiral if they had only refused to cover issues arising from the new condition, but they didn't give me a choice.

I wonder what their position would have been if I'd asked for compensation as a result of their withdrawal of cover 🤔.

I won't be using them again, that's for sure.

Thanks, @GuppytheCat. This is exactly what happened - and I had to phone, as you say.

All insurers will do this. You ARE covered - so if you ill or waiting for medical investigations which might confirm you are ill you would be pretty stupid to go away knowing you were much more likely to have a heart attack or need urgent treatment for something. Similarly an insurer would be pretty stupid to take the risk that you will get ill in the US for example and require £100k worth of medical treatment for £200 policy.

You would sensibly cancel and the insurer will pay the cancellation costs. That's what insurance is for.

And if they don't want to cover you at all before you've booked they should refund the unused premiums. Different insurers have different attitudes to risk - Staysure and All Clear target the older/ less well market so worth a shot.

PS - I hope it is nothing OP and you're given a clean bill of health.

I rang Staysure, who were lovely and helpful, and I now have travel insurance in place - but not for anything arising as a result of my declared conditions or anything related to the current investigations. That's fine with me - I'm just so thankful I have cover before my holiday on Monday. I don't want to end up stranded abroad like those people you read about who either don't have travel insurance or don't declare all their conditions.

Just shows how much more expensive and difficult travel gets as you get older and accumulate medical conditions, unfortunately.

That's really good news OP - enjoy your trip!

You won’t be covered for anything undiagnosed

I had this with a preexisting annual policy. I don't think anyone will cover conditions under investigation but you may be able to get insurance for anything not related to that. It's really frustrating. I was lucky and managed to get a diagnosis before I actually travelled but even then my original provider wouldn't cover me. I don't know if they'd have covered my cancellation costs if I had decided not to travel because I couldn't get insurance cover. Anyway I found another company (Puffin I think) that would cover me.

@whoneedssixteen - thank you. The GP said there's only a 3% chance that there's a malignancy, so I'm focusing on the 97% chance of positive news and looking forward to my holiday 😊.

What does this even mean? If you don't know you've got something and it flares up whilst away then surely that's what travel insurance is for? You won't be covered for something that IS diagnosed. So what are you covered for?

No you won’t be covered if you travel before a diagnosis - so if you don’t know anything is wrong that’s fine, but this poster does and is travelling so if anything happens relating to the condition not yet diagnosed not covered

Drainthebath -- in my case, I'd been sick (very very sick) the week before we were to travel, and needed antinausea tablets from the GP. So, I updated my insurer that I'd had a gp trip, they asked what had caused the nausea, and as I didn't know, they said my cover was no longer valid and they cancelled it. AllClear then said they would cover all known/declared conditions, but not anything relating to nausea, digestion or balance as the cause was unknown.

Staysure said they would cover me, but not for any preexisting conditions at all -- a slightly different issue.

Does that help?

I've no idea how good any of these guys are at paying up if you do need them, by the way.