Pre-existing conditions

[loveisagirlnameddaisy]

I'm trying to book travel insurance for a trip later in the year and was hoping to do it online this evening (call centres now closed). I noticed that on the medical declaration it says 'i have not visited a medical professional in the last 2 years' - well DH has, for his piles.

Is this really the sort of thing I need to discuss with them before I go ahead and buy a policy?

[CeeceeBloomingdale]

Yes. There are policies you can buy online and declare medical conditions. Some don’t increase the cost but not declaring can mean they refuse a claim. Try the comparison sites and say you have pre existing conditions, it’ll quote online

[loveisagirlnameddaisy]

For piles? They'd refuse a claim? If it wasn't piles related?

[Georgyporky]

Afraid so.
Non-disclosure could cause them to refuse payment in the event of a claim. If you've got the time/patience, try to get quotes with/out disclosure - might not be any difference.

You probably know insurance companies are bastards, & could claim that his piles caused him to step into the road & get hit by a bus.

There was an example on MN recently where previous cancer treatment was blamed on someone breaking their leg when pushed off of a coach.

[loveisagirlnameddaisy]

Thanks for replying, by the way. I'm just slightly bemused.

[CeeceeBloomingdale]

One of the questions is if you have seen a medical professional in the last two years. If your answer is no and that’s a lie they can declined your claim, even for just piles. They will look for reasons to not pay out, don’t give them a reason. I’m fairly sure telling them won’t cost a lot but not telling them could cost you heavily.

[loveisagirlnameddaisy]

So I've included the information about the piles and it's pushed the premium up by about 50%. Absolute joke.

[CeeceeBloomingdale]

So try another company, the comparisons sites like money supermarket, compare the market, go compare etc allow you to put in the medical condition and they give you the prices including the condition for all the companies on their books. 50% of what anyway? if the original quote was £10 that would be reasonable but if it was £500 less so.

[loveisagirlnameddaisy]

130 up to 190. That was with Holidaysafe who I liked because of their Covid extension.

Staysure premium was same with or without piles so they are clearly less worried about DH being able to travel because his arse suddenly falls out of his pants.

[girlywhirly]

Try Avanti. I have high blood pressure and raised cholesterol, both conditions controlled by medication. You can get a quote online or by phone.

[CeeceeBloomingdale]

What is it you're actually buying? Single trip or annual, short or long haul? Will you have ABTA protection or not? Think about what aspect of covid protection you will need remembering policies will usually not cover changes to government advice and will never cover disinclination to travel. A package provider might well allow changes or vouchers for the former and even the latter.

I work in travel an normally book single trip policies rather than annual. If you buy a policy and medical circumstances change you need to inform the insurer. With an annual policy they will need at then reprice the cover to take it into account. With single trip they normally honour the price and cover the new condition. My DH had a very sudden and serious illness with lots of side effects that the policy fully covered but for the next 2 years the policy was 10 times the price and is still double what it used to be despite being completely resolved and very unlikely to happen again.

www.moneysavingexpert.com/insurance/cheap-travel-insurance-tool/ has some useful advice.

[loveisagirlnameddaisy]

Thanks, I went with Staysure in the end, lost the will to live after a while. The Covid extension with Holidaysafe looked great at first glance but the cover wasn't that significant so unlikely to cover all potential costs.