Travel insurance while waiting for a mole to be checked!

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A wwyd really. I've booked a holiday for March and need to pay the balance and book a flight. The balance is due a few days before I'm getting a mole biopsied next month. The company I usually get travel insurance have a web page that says they can't give insurance while I'm waiting for a diagnosis. It's not beyond the realms of possibility it's very minor skin cancer. However I don't want to get to March and suddenly need urgent treatment... Is that likely to happen? I can't not have insurance at all. But the basic costs of the holiday are around £3k. I also can't afford to lose that money. What would you do? Go ahead and book everything which I need to do now? Not book? Get travel insurance that wouldn't cover the mole?! Help.

It's not beyond the realms of possibility it's very minor skin cancer.

”very minor skin cancer” isn’t something i’m aware about.

Thanks really helpful 👍

If you set up the insurance and then need to claim for a cancelled holiday due to a diagnosis I can guarantee the company will want proof of dates etc and will refuse to pay and cancel your policy which is never a good thing

Some skin cancers are pretty minor and highly unlikely to spread.

Try www.insurancewith.com - it was set up by a woman who had cancer. You may have the same problem there, but worth a go.

What on earth is wrong with you? You keep sniping on different threads. Honestly if you haven't got anything useful to say, just jog on.

Might be cheaper to get it excised privately, as you've left it too late to take out insurance to cover you for cancellation or medical expenses if it all goes horribly wrong for you.

Could your bank account have free insurance built in?

Thank you! Called them, also won't insure! Fair enough

Thank you, looked at private treatment but given its a wait for an appointment, then a nurse does a photo they then say if it's likely, then you go back... Might only be a few days in it!

Basal cell carcinoma

I just spoke to the holiday company. While I need to pay full balance by mid December, just before the biopsy on 20th, if I need to change the dates I can do this up to mid January and not lose money.

So I could book flight now or after biopsy and risk is lower of losing money!

Basically if the hospital comes back between 20th December and mid January saying it is cancer I'll shift my holiday if I need to.

Does anyone know how long it will take for biospy results to come back?

Yes basal cell and squamous cell skin cancers aren't as dangerous as melanomas and can usually wait for a holiday especially if they're small and you've had an excision biopsy.

I also can't afford to lose that money.

Technically you can afford because you won't 'go without' if you go on holiday, holidays are luxuries.
Morally I imagine feeling ok if I lied on the form about investigations, and would not claim if the biopsy came up with a result that meant I couldn't go on holiday (not sure that could happen, anyway...but would claim if something else prevented my travel)

Sounds like you have a solution? Treatment is unlikely to interfere with travel, especially if you're waiting for 20th before they biopsy.

Not declaring that you're waiting for the results of an investigation could well invalidate the entire insurance policy. I'd definitely read the small print in a situation like that.

Not helpful here but you should always book travel insurance at the same time as you book the holiday. It doesn't cost any more and in this case they would have covered any loss.
No travel insurer will give cover if you are awaiting diagnosis. They won't even exclude that thing and cover you for anything else. Last year DH was waiting for referral and then results of a mole removal. I had to delay booking the holiday until he got the diagnosis.
I am awaiting diagnosis of a minor thing. They've ruled out anything serious but not actually diagnosed yet. I have a lot of other pre existing conditions which are all stable but can't book a holiday because my travel insurer won't cover anything at all until I have this other thing sorted out. Very frustrating.

Sorry you are waiting for a diagnosis OP. Always book travel insurance as soon as you book your trip, the cancellation cover is so important. Unfortunately, insurance is designed to cover the unexpected, travelling uninsured is very risky. An insurance underwriter may chose to exclude cover while you are waiting dx. How long were you planning on travelling away for? And where are you travelling too? Good luck, I hope you get good news and have a lovely holiday.

Thanks all. I've been waiting for this appointment since I went to the GP in June! I only just paid the deposit hence looking into insurance. I don't think it's going to be a big deal even if it is cancer... We'll see!

Once you have had your biopsy and got the results it will be diagnosed so you can get insurance, I had BCC and my biopsy took about 5 weeks for results so end of January if your appointment is 20th, though it will be over Christmas hols so maybe a delay there, I was told it could be up to 6 weeks for results. Where is it and how big, after I had a BCC cut out on my thigh I had to be careful for about a month as I had 14 stitches and wouldn't have wanted to go on holiday while it was healing

Staysure provided us with travel insurance whilst we were waiting for potential diagnosis of a heart condition for DS. 3 return visits to the consultant were cancelled in a row, and in the end we didn't the consultant until after we came.

I would try and get insurance that excludes the mole, it is not the sort of thing that you are suddenly going to keel over on holiday and be hospitalised or can't get home like some conditions might be. What are they thinking it is, I was told mine was most likely BCC at my first appointment with the consultant, I had 2, one excised and one I treated with cream, BCCs are not usually treated with much urgency. Melanoma is much more urgent as they can spread.

How do I do this? Companies say they just won't do the insurance if I'm waiting for a diagnosis, full stop. Would happily take insurance that excluded it!

I just don't want to say I'm not waiting for a diagnosis then break a leg on holiday and them not cover that because they say I didn't tell them about a damn mole!

Would a company not pay out for something totally unrelated?

Technically you can afford because you won't 'go without' if you go on holiday, holidays are luxuries.
This sort of shit logic and bad understanding of money is why there is a misogynistic "girlmath" hashtag that's so big on TikTok.

If you don’t declare that you are waiting dx, you do run the risk of the policy being cancelled in event of an even unrelated claim, unfortunately. Have you spoken to staysure?

The same thing happened to me. I wanted to book a holiday and was just about to pay for it when I said I needed to check insurance. Only to find no one would cover me. I ended up going private. Luckily it's wasn't anything cancerous but a lesson learned! I have an annual policy now.

@IbizaToTheNorfolkBroads seems to have had some success with StaySure, I would perhaps try them. You should be able to get insurance when you get your biopsy results though they may still exclude it.