Should we cancel holiday now insurer has excluded DS's medical condition?

[ConflictofInterest]

We've had our first family holiday abroad booked for nearly a year. I bought travel insurance on the day I booked the holiday which was recommended. A few months ago my DS had an accident resulting in fractures. The insurer has said that they won't cover his fractures, so any new injury to the same area or medical treatment needed related to the fractures wont be covered. I've not traveled much so I'm now not sure what to do. What would other people do in this situation? Should we cancel the holiday? We don't have the money to pay for medical care if it's needed, but he's healed well and we've got no reason to expect he would injure the same place again.

Where are you going?

How can they exclude something which has happened in the interim? Isn't that what insurance is for?

You could try a different insurer and declare his fractures to get a policy with them included, especially if he's now been discharged by the doctors treating him.

Have you contacted other insurers to see if you could get a new separate policy for him?

Have you tried other insurers or those that specialise in pre existing conditions? If not I would give them a go. If your son has been discharged and no further tests, procedures, appointments etc are necessary I would definitely try other insurers. If he hasn't is this likely to happen before the date that you would lose more than your deposit?

If the fractures were after you booked the holiday and the insurance, then imo the insurer should either a) cover you, or b) reimburse any costs you can’t get back on the holiday.

Depends on if they are likely to be problematic and also where you are going. I would risk France by car with basic insurance and a ghic as you could still travel with a cast

That sounds a bit off if you had the insurance in place before the initial accident. And they won't cover it even for a top-up premium?

I'd see if you can find a different insurers, perhaps via a broker. I wouldn't cancel the holiday just yet but you are wise to recognise how important insurance is and not chance it.

This

I've had cancer which is now completely cured but still get quoted stupid extortionate rates for travel insurance.

I just travel without insurance now.

They don't pay out anyway.

Presuming you're in the UK you can still get one of these, which entitles you to the same emergency care as residents of your host country at the same price. So the first thing is donis check how much the host country's health service would charge to treat this kind of fracture if it was to break again.

As the insurance company have said they are not going to insure that specific injury I would query what they are prepared to cover and take it from there. Alternatively, as others have said find a new policy where you have declared his recent injuries and see if you can get something.

As long as everyone else is.covered and there is some level of cover for other issues, cancellation, lost luggage, death repatriation etc. I'd be tempted to still go.

Meant to link this...

https://www.nhs.uk/using-the-nhs/healthcare-abroad/apply-for-a-free-uk-global-health-insurance-card-ghic/#:~:text=The%20UK%20Global%20Health%20Insurance,a%20local%20resident%20would%20pay.

If you cancelled the trip now I take it that your insurers would fully pay out your costs as you can't go due to the injury they are not covering ?

Is it actually a medical condition, or particularly bad fractures? Orvsimply fractures from an fall/ trip etc.
Kids get fractures. Wouldn't occur to me to check if my travel insurance covered them. If the cast is off and they've been discharged from the fracture clinic with no ill effects, what further injury do you anticipate? My friend has 3 teen boys and they are into double figures with broken arms/wrists over the years.

If the fractures are healed and there's no underlying condition, then you've no reason to cancel.

Their wording is more to cover conditions arising from a fracture, but now that they're healed, no such condition is likely to arise.

That sounds very strange. The condition was not pre-existing before you bought the insurance. I would get back to them and go higher up if necessary and ask them to point out where they say that they will not cover someone when for something that happened while holding the policy.

I think that is a bit short sighted What happens if you have an accident on holidays and you need treatment. Have you got the money to pay for it.

This happened to us.

DS broke his ankle a couple of months before a skiing trip. If he was not fit to travel by departure date (ie still under hospital care) they undertook to pay out. As it turned out, he was discharged from fracture clinic in time with no further follow up, so we could go, but they charged us an additional premium because the fracture was recent and ski-ing (or even just walking around a snowy/icy resort) was considered a hazard for newly healed.

You could also ask if they will honour the rest of the policy if you buy additional health insurance for the injured member of the party?

It feels very wrong that once booked and out of a cooling off period an insurer can refuse to cover a new issue or charge an additional premium to do so

Contact them and see if they will cover for a premium.

I have a Dc with a ‘pre existing condition’ and we always get travel insurance with Coverwise

Thanks everyone for the useful advice. I'm just reading through. I thought we'd be covered for anything that happened after I'd paid for the policy. The fractures have healed well but were complex and due to the location he won't be discharged from the fracture clinic before the holiday as they want to do longer term monitoring of the bone growth. The future tests were the problem the insurer had with it as it's ongoing. I hadn't thought of getting an additional separate policy, I'll have a look into that.

Try a different insurer and declare the fractures - as long as you aren't waiting for tests results you should be able to get insurance elsewhere

A lot depends on where you are going.

If the US - medical costs can be horrific and I personally would cancel.

If Europe you can get a ghic card which means you can access healthcare at the same rate as locals so I would go because it won't cost too much if there is an issue.

Forgot to say, we are going to Europe so the GHIC card should cover us then. That's reassuring to know. I'll look into how much the costs could be.

Anywhere that accepts the GHIC, treatment will be essentially free. There might be some doctor's bills to pay and get reimbursed depending on where you are, and a prescription for paracetamol might not be covered, but in most countries a hospital won't give you a bill because they are not set up to take payment from anyone — they bill their national healthcare system.

Switzerland could be a bit tricky because it's like an American system with universal insurance coverage, but in Spain for example the system is just like the NHS, you go to a public health centre or hospital and the treatment is free right there. It's absolutely not a reason to cancel your holiday. (It might, however, be a reason to take less expensive travel insurance next time — you should be able to find a policy that assumes you have a GHIC and only adds things like repatriation.)

Do make sure, though, that you are using the public system. Every country's system is different in this regard. In France there's no real distinction between public and private from the consumer's point of view. but in Spain if your hotel calls an ambulance it may be from a private clinic, and Spanish private medicine is like BUPA, very swish but a completely separate system and not covered by the GHIC.

OP, can you say which country you are going to? I think gov.uk or nhs.uk may have a page for each country on how to use the GHIC there.

Get back to your insurers and complain, you took out the policy before the injury. You should be covered for it