Are you supposed to update your annual travel insurance throughout the year?

[logsahc]

I have family annual travel insurance cover with Aviva via my Nationwide account, it tells me to review my cover end of the year. I always log in and put in any longstanding medical conditions and then have to say what medications we’ve been prescribed over the last year for short and long term illnesses.

This is quite straightforward as thankfully we don’t go to the Drs much, however, I was prescribed some Naproxen this week for period pain, should I be logging in and upgrading the policy to cover that? Or do you just do at the renewal point?

Not going to lie it makes me want to not go to the Dr 🙈😂 DH’s migraines cost us £30 to upgrade the policy!

It depends. Ours is only interested in serious, on-going things like heart conditions, cancer, degenerative illnesses etc. Me taking weight loss injections was no of interest to them although, if still taking them, I will need to declare it next time we renew the insurance

We don't but we do have private health insurance that covers us for medical treatment abroad so they have advised that we don't need to tell them.

I do because DH didn’t once and it cost us a lot of aggravation and nearly cost us a fortunes. I’ve just been prescribed some new medication and will be up dating my record with Travel Insurance. They will use anything against you to avoid paying out on medical bills.

We always make sure it's up to date before we travel. It occasionally increases the cost, or excludes a condition, but it's better than not being covered. Best not to give travel insurance any reason to reject a claim!

Thanks all, just went to update it and turns out I literally can’t, new conditions in the year are classed as pre-existing until I come to renew next year then need to declare. I’m making a note of it though because I always forget when the year comes around!

I have TI with Nationwide as well. I have a lot of pre-existing conditions and was a bit puzzled when I got the policy and it said "you don't need to report changes" It contradicts everything I've ever known about travel insurance. I'd be a bit worried if something new and potentially serious came up and they wouldn't let me add it.

Basically they will cover it in that policy window up until the time you come to renew, at that point you declare it as a pre-existing condition.

I have this policy. They’re not interested in updating it regularly. I’ve asked them

You usually only need to update the policy when something becomes a new ongoing condition or something that might affect you while travelling. One off meds for period pain normally fall under short term treatment so most people wait until renewal unless the insurer says otherwise.
If you want to be sure, drop Aviva a quick message through the account. They reply fast and will tell you if it counts as a declared condition. It saves you guessing and you avoid paying for upgrades you do not need.

Aviva have told me that when you have declared one pre-existing condition, you don’t need to declare any new ones within 12 months of that declaration

This. I have been told the same.

How much does this cost to have? Does it cover the whole family even if they travel without you for example?

Thanks all. @Deathlyhollowsit covers family you live with (in my case spouse and children, not sure if the family is a bit more extended) DH and I can travel separately as we are each covered due to having a joint account, but children aren’t covered without us.

It’s £18 a month, it’s really cost effective for us due to the fact it covers us all, plus breakdown for us both, and mobile phone insurance too which I used this year.

I update my TI before I book a holiday. I have my NHS App open while I’m doing it with all my medical details since I last updated it so I don’t miss anything out.

It is because it is an annual policy. You have paid for a year so anything new in that year is covered.

I had the same message from Barclays, I've got an account with them where annual travel insurance is covered, but I had to ring them in March to say that we had medical stuff (me, hypertension, him, diabetes) and they charged me an additional fee to cover it (can't remember but about £50) they said that the next time I would speak to them is next March when they would re-assess and give me the additional price if required. I said "what if something changes in the year" and they said that I did not need to let them know and I would be covered. I found this quite odd (given you never know what is coming) but it seems to be a thing. So quite happy with that. HtH x

Always update if there us a change. We had to a couple if days before travel and they increased our premium.

We have an annual European holiday insurance policy. Last month DH had an episode of really high blood pressure (medical emergency high). He has been put on a second BP tablet and another medication has been upped. He is on 3 medications, I am on none.

We are going away this week, so I rang the insurance company to update them. Having read the story of the lady who went to Spain and had a stroke; her insurance would not pay out as she had not told them she was on HRT, I thought it best to disclose everything.

The change in our premium was zero and the policy updated with the changes in medication.

I was expecting an increase in premium and also to recommend to others to share changes with their insurer rather than have an invalid policy.

We are both 54, our couples annual European policy is £41 a year. This is a silver level policy.