Travel insurance and waiting lists for DD getting brace

[tellmewhenthespaceshiplandscoz]

Booked next years holiday to Italy last night. Yay.

Looking to sort travel insurance for us (me, DH and DD15). DD is currently on a waiting list for assessment for upper adult tooth impacted/brace for overbite. I was speaking to potential insurance about my pre existing condition and happened to mention this.

They won't cover until a brace on a fitted and not while on a waiting list

We have her orthodontist assessment in Jan so hopefully will have a treatment plan by then but the brace won't be fitted potentially until the summer anyway.

So - does anyone know if we will have a problem getting cover before fitted? And how much potentially this could increase cost? The lady at insurers (well, it's a comparison site called paying too much) has given me a few numbers to try but thought I'd see MN has any suggestions first.

This has seriously pissed on my holiday chips

I just got refused a claim through travel insurance for not declaring naproxen for a pulled back two years ago.

had absolutely nothing to do with my claim.
And didn’t think I needed to declare it. (Wasn’t even something i thought about tbh)

so I would be very careful and keep researching companies.

I’m now liable for this USA medical bill.

I take a risk and not get insurance until I paid balance, as one time I had insurance I got an abscess so asked insurance company to add the condition and they charged me £50 to add the condition and £35 to send out amended documents. We went on a cruise with my 86 year old father in law, he was waiting heart valve surgery, so we got insurance and then I got him insurance as soon as he had his operation.

Staysure give red us when ds was waiting to see a consultant regarding a potential heart condition.

Did you say brace or did you specify it was for her mouth? If just brace they may think body brace but I cannot see how you cannot travel cos your child doesnt have one and is awaiting one. Just go to another company and say nothing.

Obvs should read "Staysure covered us"

Oh man, that's crap. God you must be so worried

Ibiza

I did wonder if Red was an industry term!

It’s been absolutely horrendous. A year and 10 month battle.

but I finally paid it two days ago. It’s definitely opened my eyes.

The more I think about it and lieu of more info I think my strategy will be to wait until we've had that first appointment as that will mean hopefully we aren't on a list anymore and will have a better idea of treatment plan ready to inform insurers, then

Start calling round for cover and sort before balance is paid

Definitely said teeth brace.

Absolutely will he collecting some details of other companies to call. The thought of not declaring them having a potential different medical claim refused due to non disclosure makes me extremely nervous.

So glad you've been able to sort it x

We had the same issue of refused cover as on waiting list for minor day case op.
Stay sure covered us

An overbite isn't a medical condition is it? Neither is an impacted tooth.

They are being stupid. She's also more likely to have problems when the brace is actually on

Thanks this makes me feel a little less stressful

My thinking exactly

@tellmewhenthespaceshiplandscoz my understanding is that being on a waiting list will only affect your travel premium if it will cause you to postpone/cancel your holiday.

So you have the holiday booked. If/when she needs treatment for braces, if you are offered treatment whilst you are away, you decline and ask for a date after your holiday. Usually this shouldn't be a problem for an orthodontist as they will just give them a week or two later.

This way, you can answer the travel insurance question of "is she on a waiting list that could require you to postpone/cancel the holiday" with "no" as this is true, and it will put the premium down.

If she needed chemo or life-saving surgery, obvsiously you would not delay the holiday for surgery offered on that waiting list. But a brace can wait a week or two I would think.

Obviously check this is correct but I hope it helps

@PollyPut
no, well not in most circs
there have been numerous threads on here about this

basically nowadays you have to declare everything, even the GP visit for the fever that turned out to be nothing. Anyone that is “under investigation” for anything won’t be able to get affordable insurance for anything. Once there is a treatment plan I think it’s easier

on a more positive note
OP- I asked about my son’s teeth last time I spoke to holiday extras about insurance (much earlier this year)- my son has various issues with his teeth- and I am 90% sure they said it wasn’t relevant unless there was medication involved. So you might need that confirmation but it should be ok after that, I hope

everyone else- best time to get insurance is when you’re not under investigation for anything, so time it carefully 😔

You'll find someone eventually. It's purely a numbers game.

The problem with "waiting list" is you may think the issue is minor but unless and until the insurer looks through the medical info they don't know. A toothache in Spain my not cost much but a dental abscess in USA may be thousands... And painkillers for a bad back may seem trivial but there may be (I have no idea if there is..), there may be a statistical correlation between bad backs and increased risk of slipped discs, accidents, (name) disease. They will know.
In order to provide insurance cheaply this screening has to happen to minimise risk. And it's a bit one size fits all - it has to be. But if you don't declare and the insurer feels you've misrepresented the risk you may find you're not covered.
Good luck OP
(And as pp said - people cancel all the time if they get to the top of the waiting list and get offered a slot - especially on NHS where you might have waited months and then go to bottom of list if you defer. People think "oh I've got travel insurance - I'll just cancel and rebook the holiday")

Blimey. It never even occurred to me that this could be an issue. DS has 2 impacted teeth and is on the waiting list for a brace and potential extraction. He's been waiting 4 months and has been told to expect another 2 years of waiting before he's top of the list.

We are planning a trip to Australia in the summer. I'll sort out the insurance well in advance.

Hopefully, it'll all turn out well op. Have a lovely holiday in Italy next year.

@StillWantingADog according to the OP's post there should be a treatment plan so I think what I've said still applies as it should no longer be in the unknown waiting assessment category. I've based the post on conversations with travel insurers in 2023. When speaking to insurers it is of course important to be honest. However if the waiting list won't cause them to cancel the holiday, then they should make that clear to insurers as this is important information that can reduce the premium.

Orthodontists can usually wait a week or two for an appointment - if a child was offered an appointment during school time and they had an exam or something else they couldn't miss then they would arrange for a later date so I expect that this is the same.

@ShowOfHands as mentioned in my PP one of the questions is often "is DS on a waiting list that could cause them to cancel their holiday?". So answer it accurately. If you are unsure how to answer it then check - but if a 2 year waiting list won't cause you to cancel your holiday next summer then your answer would presumably be "no". I'd definitely doublecheck the length of the waiting list before arranging the insurance just to make sure you have the latest info

Cheers Polly this makes sense.

Sorry just caught up with full thread ...

Thanks everyone for replies and actually I'm feeling less stressed about this than I was before Christmas because as a few have said there WILL be someone who will insure and we've only a few weeks to wait until the holy grail first assessment when we will hopefully get a treatment plan, the yay or nay for NHS to pay (and if it's a no we've already decided we will go private so hopefully can get a treatment start date pretty quickly) and then legitimately be off the waiting list.

Going to start gathering numbers to call in a few weeks.

Thanks folks I appreciate everyone's input on this massively

You too Show

I wasn't trying to get medical insurance but had impacted teeth and suffered a lot with recurring abcesses needing antibiotics until I was successfully treated. It is possible that it could become a medical issue.

I also had a illness I was waiting on tests for and the only insurance I could get excluded anything coming from that issue, which felt wide ranging as my whole urinary system was to be tested. I hadn't booked my holiday at that point so we booked in the EU (before Brexit) and in a town close to a municipal hospital. Whether I would have been able to get treatment I don't know - luckily nothing happened. I wouldn't normally take any risk like this and stay home but I was desperate to get away.

My issue here was being able to say what my medical.issue was - I simply couldn't. So they couldn't cover me because they require a description of medical issues not medical symptoms.