Travel insurance - undiagnosed condition

[picklespark]

Hi,

Has anyone recently had success at getting travel insurance with several pre-existing conditions while awaiting a diagnosis? I'm halfway through a 43 week wait to see a gynae after years of painful periods and other symptoms that point to endometriosis. These symptoms are unpleasant but I have ways to manage them and they have never prevented me travelling or cut short a trip - I'm currently on the minipill to help with the symptoms.

My current issue is that even travel insurers who will cover me (have tried AllClear, InsureWith, GoodtoGo, Avanti, Staysure and some other specialist providers) will only cover me for luggage, cancellation and will exclude ALL my pre-existing medical conditions, not just this one and medical issues relating to it. One of these is brittle bone disease (osteogenesis imperfecta) so I really can't go without cover in case I break a bone on holiday.

Has anyone managed to get an insurer to exclude an undiagnosed condition/related things but to cover them for other unrelated medical conditions? Getting a bit desperate here :(. I usually get travel insurance no prob and not too expensive, but this undiagnosed thing has caught me out.

I had the same issue a few months ago. With two sets of long haul air tickets booked.

I'd had some spells of lightheadedness, and my GP decided to go ' belt and braces' in checking it out. He referred me for a head MRI and a 24 hour ECG and expected them both to be done within six weeks. The MRI was, but I got a letter from the cardiology Department saying that I was in 14 month waiting list!

My surgery could do nothing about it. My lightheaded spells had abated, but like you, not a single insurer would cover me.

In the end, I had no other option than to get the consultation and test done privately. One of the relatives I was supposed to be traveling to see on the other side of the world had Alzheimer's, and would not even know me if I cancelled and waited 14 months.

Of course, both tests showed nothing of concern (as the second GP expected, and who clearly thought his colleague had gone over the top) so cancelling both trips would have been maddening.

Personally I'd contact the consultant you saw and ask if he can give you a provisional diagnosis. And good luck. It's infuriating.

Thank you for the reply and the advice, definitely worth contacting cardiology. I will look into the cost of a CT scan but I fear it’ll be beyond our budget.

I will give that a try on Monday. Thank you. 😊

In my case, I discovered that the cost of seeing the exact same consultant at the private clinic of my local NHS hospital was less than two thirds of the price of seeing him at the local private hospital. So do look into that. I also felt better about it as any profits from that clinic are fed into the hospital's NHS work.

You'll need a consultation as well as the scan, to satisfy the insurers.
All in all, it didn't cost nearly as much as I feared for the consultation and test. And it was well worth it.

Gosh! I will definitely investigate that. You’ve been really helpful. Thank you.

Happy to help. And good luck.

@JanieMary whatever you don't rely on an EHIC card. It may cover the medical side but if he did have heart issues there you are potentially having to look at 10 days extended hotel / doctor flying out to escort you home etc. none of that is covered and is very pricey.

Thank you, it’s good for the bigger picture to be shown to me.

I have had some great advice from member @saraclara regarding going privately through the NHS for a CT scan for husbands coronary angiogram. Can anyone advise how to go about this? We’re NHS Scotland. Thanks

Hello, My girlfriend is in the exact same situation as you were and it feels like we’ve tried and exhausted all the insurance companies to the point where we might have to cancel the trip :(

We’ve tried to get a quote through the Bateman group but they said all travel enquiries have to go through the website and if it says on there that they can’t offer a quote then we’ll have to try find another provider, they wasn’t really willing to help with it at all even though I described what her situation was and that we’ve heard good things about them.

Did you manage to find any other solutions?

Many thanks :)

Hi was just wondering if you had any luck on getting insurance. I'm currently waiting for a diagnosis and struggling to find anything 😔. Hope you did 😁

I’m stuck in a similar situation, with waiting lists taking years, I might never go away again…😞
Any insurance suggestions would be welcome.

Hi - I found the same issue (positive FIT result but I don't want the recommended colonoscopy so I am 'undiagnosed'). But AllClear did cover me but with the wording "We are unable to offer cover for your as yet undiagnosed condition(s)" after I spoke to the adviser - and it was about the same cost as my previous DirectLine policy from the year before. Luckily I took out life cover though 10 years ago as the broker I use said it would be difficult with an undiagnosed condition due to the perceived increased risk. Good luck!

Well done on getting life insurance and it’s good all clear covered you but i don’t think it’s possible to know what is good insurance until you need it and have to test it out. I always read the small print in detail but sadly still don’t have confidence in the insurance. I did read that there was a law that said travel insurance couldn’t refuse claims unrelated to a pre - existing condition whether you had told them about the pre existing stuff or not. However it still leaves you with various things uncovered - not ideal since what you already have symptoms for is the thing most likely to cause you problems.
As for colonoscopies, I would say go ahead and have one. I have to have them repeated every five years ( not related to my other undiagnosed stuff). They are not so bad and I always opt for sedation so I’m “away with the fairies”! Good luck if you ever decide to get it done. But it’s a difficult position if insurance won’t cover you because you refuse the investigation - seems they rule your life as well as taking your money.