To think travel insurance is an utter scam?

[ragingruby]

Before taking out annual travel insurance, declared health conditions of menopause and insomnia - both managed by medication. Have had some issues recently with piles. Got anusol from GP to manage.

About to travel later this week. Rang to advise of Insurance company, Staysure, re new condition (as their documentation notes you have to). They said they will continue cover but not for the pre-existing conditions and neither for the recent condition, the latter of which they said don't just emerge suddenly so I must have known about the piles for some time and hadn't told them.

I'm like 'what???'. I've just told you!

They wouldn't budge.

So, despite previously insuring the conditions of insomnia and menopause, both of which are being managed, they've decided now not to. Apparently I'm covered if I die and need repatriation or for medical aid if in a car crash though I suspect they will say if I was driving, I was likely not to have had enough sleep!

Not going to renew my cover with them next year. Renaming Staysure as 'StayAway'. What's the point?

🤣 maybe

willstarttomorrow · Today 18:28

I have had annual cover with Staysure for a good few years, they are highly rated

^

Ever claimed with them???

I had a similar response from Staysure also. Because I have outstanding investigations, they won’t insure me for anything, even the breast cancer which was over ten years ago. I phoned them because they advertise pre-evicting conditions.

I have just checked the travel insurance I took out for a holiday in Italy next month. I wasn't asked about pre-existing medical conditions and the policy says it won't pay out for 'claims related to pre-existing medical conditions'.

I am menopausal, a bit insomniac and have had long covid, all of which are on my medical records. I have also had my blood pressure checked and found to be okay in the past couple of years.

I am happy to pay more to have these things covered but can't quite see how they would be relevant. What should I do?

If you claim for any medical condition the insurers will look at your last 2 years of GP records and probably refuse to pay out at that point if it's even vaguely related. So they will find out if you claim. They normally ask if you've been to the GP or have any existing conditions or are waiting for a referral or diagnosis - whether you are on medication is not the only thing they ask

The statistics aren't lies though. Someone who made a claim is more likely to make another. Health conditions don't occur at random - they are usually related to either behaviour, lifestyle choices or genetics.

Are there different strengths of Anusol? The GP gave you this when you can just buy it at B and M? Did you not try this first?
Sorry if that's a daft question but if I can just buy something in a discount shop I'm not going to the GP.

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

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

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.

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

Thank you, that's really helpful.

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...

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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.

@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!

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.

Staysure said they had a blanket policy of excluding everything that was pre-existing when I told them about the new condition of piles. They wouldn't accept piles were a new condition as apparently they emerge over time and 'don't just suddenly appear'. At that point, I was so fed up with them I asked what exactly were they covering me for. Broken leg - fine; repatriation if I died - fine... as long as these things were not related directly or INDIRECTLY (wtf!) to a fracture or being dead

Can you say which one? It'd be really useful.

Erm ... nope, I'm not. Have you read the full thread by any chance and seen what others have said about the importance of declaring everything?

@Puzzledandpissedoff

*sorry, meant to say not INDIRECTLY related to insomnia, menopause or piles