travel insurance for peanut allergy

[Madeyemoodysmum]

Just wondering if you guys tell your insurers about allergies when you go away and get holiday insurance.

My dd has peanut and almond allergy but has never (touch wood) had a severe reaction, we have a epipen as precausion though.

Do you recommend any travel insurance company at all? Travelling to the US and sking in the next 2 years, well hoping too, all being well.

Never been asked, though it is a company policy so that might be the reason. What does it say on the application form? If it doesn't ask specifically then I suppose you don't need to tell them.

You must declare it, especially as she has epipens otherwise you won't be covered. Insurance companies will always look for any excuse not to pay out and will not cover you for anything, even if it's unrelated, if you don't declare a pre-existing medical condition. We get 'free' family travel insurance with our bank account but have to pay an extra premium due to DS's allergies & asthma, DD's coeliac disease and DH's asthma - still works out cheaper for us than buying a policy as many of them wanted to charge ridiculous amounts because DS has epipens. Sorry can't recommend any insurance companies but I think the Anaphylaxis Campaign probably can.

Yesterday I bought travel insurance for the family through the post office. My dd has a peanut allergy. I rang them up to check that this was OK. They said it was fine.

Never been asked about allergies. Both dh and ds have nut and seed allergies but ds 16 only recently got an epipen.

This is something that has come up. DD had CMP, nut and egg allergies. The CMP is now fine. The Egg allergy now on food challenges. The nut is next! My DH and I travel a lot for work and have annual insurance. To be 100% we don't carry an epipen, just Piriton, but it cost £8 (or there about) for each of her allergies.

Disclose it. If you don't and something happens you do not want to be paying full price for US medical treatment.

Have a great trip.

Just because they don't specifically ask doesn't mean you shouldn't declare it. ANY pre-existing medical condition MUST be disclosed, however trivial it may seem. You're even supposed to tell them if you're on a waiting list to see a specialist - this can catch people out because waiting lists for non-urgent conditions are so long that many forget they're even on the list!

Yes, my MIL had problems when she forgot to declare that she was on a waiting list to see a specialist (nothing to do with allergies). She wasn't specifically asked about this, but was told afterwards that she should have declared it.

I'm glad you asked, OP, because I've never thought to declare it before - not because I don't want to but because I've never been specifically asked. But I've called my travel insurer this morning and they've put a note on our files. It didn't increase the premiums at all but I'm glad I've let them know, just in case ...

Yes, you must declare it. We insured through Columbus. They wouldn't sell us an annual policy as DS had been hospitalised with asthma recently and they added about an extra £20 to the cost of the policy.

Thanks will mention it then. Not worth taking the risk to save a few quid.

I have severe allergies and have struggled to find anywhere that would either a) insure me or b) insure me at a reasonable price. I have recently booked to go abroad and found the post office was very reasonable. They asked me questions about my allergies - have I ever been admitted, I answered no but I had been seen at A and E a few times....I was then told, I asked if u had been admitted, you answered no so therefore u match criteria. That was the question not if u had visited the hospital! I was impressed they had such common sense.

I took out travel insurance last week.
One company asked about allergies, but only wanted an extra £7.50

I went with Tesco, their policy wording is this

"1.Has anyone been admitted to hospital overnight or treated as a day-patient in the last 12 months?

1. Has anyone ever been diagnosed with or received treatment for any heart/cardiac problem, stroke, TIA, diabetes, blood clots or circulatory condition (including high blood pressure, unless stable and controlled by no more than one prescribed medication)?

Declaration 5

1. Does anyone have a breathing condition for which they take more than 2 prescribed medications, or which has, in the last 5 years, required the use of supplementary oxygen or the use of a nebuliser?

1. Has anyone with a breathing or circulatory condition had their medication changed in the last 6 months?

1. Has anyone been diagnosed with or had any treatment in the last 5 years for any type of cancer, leukaemia or brain tumour?

1. Has anyone ever had an organ transplant, been on kidney dialysis, dementia or any other psychiatric or psychological illness?"

None of this would apply to allergies except maybe the first one, if you had a severe reaction and went to a&e

I did work in Insurance for many years and I can't see how they deny an allergy claim with this wording.

Most travel insurance companies state somewhere in the small print that if you have ANY pre-existing medical condition you must declare it. It doesn't mean that they will necessarily charge any extra for it but you have to declare it. Maybe Tesco only care about the ones stated in the question I just know that all the ones I looked into said somewhere that you had to let them know aobout existing medical conditions.

bruffin....many do tho. When I mention allergies they ask if i have been admitted and I say no but I have attended A and E then most ask if I am at any risk of anaphylaxis to which I can not deny. I might be at risk but by the same token it has never happened yet! And as I don't have an epi pen I am deemed as more of a risk! The minute they know it could happen and/or they know the allergens they deem me too much of a risk to cover or say yeah we can cover you....it will be £300 pls! Not a chance!

Always, always mention it. I used to have a lot to do with insurance claims in a previous job and they will use any excuse not to payout. Doesn't matter if you are claiming for something entirely unrelated to an allergy (eg broken leg, cancelled flight) they will void the policy based on you not being honest.

We used to use Flexicover but I got sick of the incompetence of their medical screening: 'has anyone in your family had surgery in the last 2 years?' Me: yes DH had a vasectomy. Flexicover: what were the symptoms which gave rise to the need for the surgery? .

For the last 2 years we've used Staysure which came recommended for anyone with a more complext than usual medical history. It prices up no more than £20 more than standard off the shelf insurance I reckon which is well worth it for peace of mind in my view and between us we've had a lot of stuff in the last few years.

I've said before on here but it's always worth repeating: whenever you are buying insurance please double check that 'yes we'll cover someone with allergies' does include covering a serious allergic reaction. We've had a few experiences when searching out insurance where people were more than happy to cover DS but with any allergic reaction excluded. That's utterly pointless in my view - I always suspect the most likely thing to happen would be an allergic reaction.