Why you should have travel insurance

[Ellmau]

Sorry this link is from the DFail, but it is a salutary tale about what could happen if you either don't have travel insurance, or as in this case, don't declare your pre existing conditions to save a little money in the short term: Family of British grandmother, 52, who was found covered in blood in a luxury Turkish hotel claim she is being 'held hostage by a prison camp private hospital' who won't let her fly home until she pays tens of thousands of pounds in medical bills | Daily Mail Online

(I do feel sorry for the family, and if we could avoid being too judgmental that would be nice, but I hope it might make people think about their own decisions.)

What company

The first thing the insurance company does if you maje a claim is scrutinise your gp records. If they find anything you haven't declared they invalidate your policy. So it is really not sensible to fail to declare/ lie.

Looking forward to reading your go fund me if you need medical repatriation.

So was your issue that you weren’t fit to fly? We were always with staysure, always had not yet diagnosed but conditions covered if they’re being investigate. He did have to see a doctor as he was experienced pain after his flight, it was fully covered and the area he was awaiting results for. Turned out to the start of a hydrocele and flying can cause additional pain. Goodtogo have also covered me before when awaiting results for an undiagnosed condition and confirmed symptoms related to it etc would be covered.

You can, but you have to pay a premium and you may decide it is too expensive and decide to delay the trip.

This has been v interesting to read. I am currently on holiday and do have insurance with my bank account but now wondering if this is sufficient.?
Going to take a really good look at it when i get home.
Does anyone have a recommendation of any insurer who they've found to be good? I've never had a good experience with insurance it's always the thing you want to claim for that you are not covered for!
I also agree with PP about awaiting any intervention/ investigations being impossible to get insurance for as I spent days trying to find insurance for my mum last year following her having a fall and being referred onto a falls service.

There are policies out there that cover preexisting with the caveat being that you are deemed medically fit to travel at the time, I used to sell a policy like this at my old job. It was an annual multi trip policy and very expensive for some people.

If you read to the end of the article, it appears that she has several pre-existing medical conditions which would not be covered by any travel insurance policy anyway. Choosing to travel overseas - alone - when you know your medical history is unwise to put it mildly.

Asking other people to carry the can for your unwise choices is verging into cheeky fuckery.

@lumpybumpydumpy you must read the policy and check what it covers, they vary so much.
I am with LV and have the premium policy because that actually covers nearly everything, it isn't the cheapest.

@Maddy70 you are crazy- death is easy, what if you are seriously injured and can't fly home? Who is going to pay for accommodation?

Staysure - worldwide single trip policy for £97 - DD pending MRI and blood test results and I have a long term condition. I'm fully covered (as mine isn't deemed risky and hers excludes what she is being investigated for, again even worse case scenario hers isn't likely to need anything drastic medically in the short term. Hers situation may change once the diagnosis is confirmed, at which point we'll revisit insurance for our next trip).

pre-existing medical conditions which would not be covered by any travel insurance policy anyway.

Lots can be covered , they are just very expensive to do so.

Same - DH broke his femur skiing, it was an extra week in a hotel for me, rescheduled flights, and even though DH got public transport from the hospital to the airport and came home on a normal flight, he needed a second seat to extend his leg (wouldn’t fit between two normal seats due to the cast).

All of his “medical” care was covered by the E111, but we still ended up claiming thousands on insurance. We could have paid it out of pocket but I was very glad I didn’t have to. Also very glad not to have to spend time on the phone to the airline when DH needed me with him at the hospital.

With my pre-existing conditions, I pay over £350 for a year's insurance in Europe with no extreme sports added.
Every condition is listed, they've noted any health tests over the past 5 years for no longer existing problems (had a cancer scare but given all clear back in 2020). There no exemptions but it does cost a lot, I'm only 52 & can only expect it to go up.
However I won't travel without it.

God knows what I'd have to pay if I went further afield!

@soupfiend a company where you can actually talk to someone is the only way forward in my experience. I use LV as the policy for U16s is better but Staysure, Aviva are ones I've used in the past.
A friend went with all clear travel and that covered a raft of unknown issues.

And honestly if you know you aren’t covered, why go to Turkey? At least in Greece/Spain most of your medical costs will be covered with the GHIC.

Could be worse, I am always gobsmacked by the pregnant women who go to the US without insurance and then end up with premature triplets in NICU for months.

This has really made me think about my own policy that is linked to my bank account. It’s with Allianz Assistance. I already looked and doesn’t say holiday has to be booked through the card. I have continuous cover so I didn’t think I needed to add any recent visits to GP! I feel a bit silly now! Our next trip is in August so I will sit down and get it all updated as it allows me to do that through the bank account app. Nothing serious has changed in my medical history, just some shoulder issues and recently some blood tests as had suspected long Covid. Need to update husbands and daughters too- again nothing major so hoping we are still covered. Thanks OP for this post!

Annual insurance with your bank or a similar policy is good if you travel regularly but the small print/ T and C does make it clear that you must update them with any health conditions or medications or investigations prior to booking any trip. If you don't, the policy is invalid. We have had our free account related insurance for 30 years, but as we have got older and health has deteriorated we pay an supplement. Once we are over 70 it will probably get too expensive to go abroad.

@DamnNutella it is easy to miss with automatic renewal. Most visits to doctors don't affect the premium but just need to be listed.

Another small thing to consider (although maybe not as prevalent now!) is covid cover. I went with staysure originally and then someone pointed out a clause buried in page 18 or something. That if you had been offered the vaccination but not had it (my then 8 year old hasn't) then you were not covered for any Covid cover. So any children on your policies that haven't had the jabs and they get anything that can be classed as Covid you're on your own.

Post office and Tesco both cover regardless of vaccination status.

This is really useful. Making a list here of companies worth trying, as it's going to be relevant more and more for us to get cover for existing conditions (as I say, we've not travelled much recently).

So, Staysure, Goodtogo, Aviva. Any others known to be a good place to start, with a human voice rather than a drop-down list and automated refusal?

LV (Liverpool Victoria) are also good. On the family policy they cover adults and children 16+ travelling alone.

Great, thanks!

Yes, this is what I think a lot of people with good health or relatively straightforward conditions simply don't get.

I have a health condition, as well as one or two linked complications, which could easily be identified as an increased risk-factor for almost anything health-wise that could beset me, short of being run over by a steam roller.

Thus when 'existing conditions' are not covered, that means that any insurer could argue that a vast swathe of different new health problems might have been potentially linked to my 'existing conditions' and leave me high and dry - even if they had already charged me a hefty premium because of it.

I don't necessarily disagree with those who say "If you can't afford insurance, you can't afford to go abroad", but I hate how this is often said so flippantly and smugly, with the clear undercurrent of 'well, if you can't be bothered' to organise/save/pay for it; ergo it's basically your own fault if you can't go abroad.

I would hope these same people wouldn't 'helpfully inform' a wheelchair user that "well, if there's no lift, then upstairs just isn't for you!" - before going on about how wonderful upstairs is, how everybody should make an effort to go there and that those who don't take their children there are massively letting them down.

Even if you think you have been transparent, you never know how good your insurance is until you make a claim.

There was a case where a woman had a headache and went to the GP, was waved away with painkillers then went on holiday and had a emergency treatment for a brain tumour. None of the treatment was covered by Axa because she hadn't told them about the headache.

We have travel cover with our home insurance but they have never asked us about pre-existing conditions or GP visits.

The lesson is to declare all preexisting conditions, she didn't and they were substantial (not like forgetting to tell them you took antibiotics 18 months ago)