Travel insurance while waiting for investigation/diagnosis/treatment

[ohwhattododo]

We have booked a family holiday to Spain in May and want to sort out travel insurance.

My husband is currently awaiting further investigations on some health issues, but has no diagnosis yet of any condition. We don't even have the name of a specific condition he is being investigated for, as it could be caused by a number of things (though things like cancer/heart problems/diabetes have all been ruled out so far).

Obviously we want to disclose this to any travel insurance company, but without the name of a condition, or without an actual diagnosis, we can't disclose it as we don't know what it is!

We understand he can't/won't be insured for an undiagnosed condition, but we are concerned the whole policy may be invalidated if we do not disclose his full medical history at the time of taking out insurance.

Any recommendations for an insurance company that could help? Thanks.

I think it’s very hard/expensive/impossible if you’re “under investigation” - lots of previous threads on here worth searching

In your shoes I’d insure the rest of him against cancellation etc now and add him later when hopefully things are clearer

In the meantime it’s worth calling holiday extras for a chat as they are quite straightforward and helpful about what they can/cannot insure you for

Try speaking with Staysure:

https://www.staysure.co.uk/medical-travel-insurance/awaiting-surgery/

I've had luck with Staysure as well. I believe the MSE site recommends a few other insurance companies that offer insurance for those with more complicated medical issues/histories.

Thank you all so much for your advice; we will contact those companies.

Hi, did you have any luck with this? I stupidly didn’t sort travel insurance and now have been referred by the doctors for a mole on my toe, but worried I won’t be able to get insurance as it’s under investigation / undiagnosed.

Hi @feb220222
We went with Staysure, they basically just don't cover you for any complications relating to your pre-exisiting condition. The price was more expensive than we've paid in the past, but not significantly so, and TBH we were just glad to get insurance! Good luck (and hope all is ok with your toe).

In general travel insurance doesn't care too much up-front because it's sold fairly quickly. If you make a claim for a cancellation because you break a leg a week before departure, they shouldn't then ask you to prove that you didn't have anything else that might have prevented you from travelling. Obviously if you have to cancel because of a heart attack they are then going to want to know if you had clear symptoms (or another heart attack) prior to that. But if you have no diagnosis then I'd just keep quiet about it.

Another thing to remember in case DH's symptoms get worse (maybe you already know this) is that despite Brexit you are entitled to free medical treatment from the public health system in Spain, both urgent and ongoing (dialysis, weekly blood test, etc), with a GHIC card (or the old EHIC, if it hasn't expired). Every town has public health centres and if necessary treatment in a full public hospital is covered too. So if you did that there would be no bill for the insurance to possibly deny. (But you can't decide to get elective treatment like a new hip or your cataracts done!)

@samarrange that's useful. I have multiple health conditions and my travel insurance is very expensive but I would still prefer to use local public health facilities as my one experience of a private hospital in Tenerife ( not for me) was a nightmare in spite of being insured.
Do you know how to find the public health centers in Spain?

Just put "public health centre" into Google Maps. But of course Mr G sometimes tries to widen the net, so also check for things like "Unidad Básica Sanitaria" (a small local clinic, with limited hours), "Centro de Salud" (a bigger place, with longer hours), and "Punto de Atención Continuada" (24/7 outpatients).

As a general rule, if there is very little signage and the reception area looks unexciting, then it's a public place. If there's soft music and lots of chrome and artwork, and big Welcome signs outside, it's private.

@ohwhattododo I was just wondering how you are covered or not covered for pre existing medical conditions if you don’t know what they are?
In a similar situation here. DH been to doctors for intermittent pain/swelling in his hands which has been going on for quite some time. Had X-rays, blood tests so far but nothing diagnosed. Is doing back to gp for further appointment to try and find out more.
We have annual cover through our bank but don’t know if we should mention it at all as it’s quite vague and might just be “old age” according to doc.

I’d be interested to know the outcome Fluffy.
I have annual insurance too and wouldn’t even have thought about it tbh.

Just been away and one of the group had the bank travel insurance, she's waiting for her gallbladder out (non urgent, no issues for over 6 months) but they refused to cover it on the annual policy so she had to buy another policy to cover this bit.

Yes it’s the undiagnosed but that’s the problem. It’s likely to be nothing and I wouldn’t mind paying extra but what would they be covering/excluding?

edit - posted in error