Iron clad travel insurance recommendations

[Traveller2008]

Hi

DH&I ( along with DS) have booked a quite expensive long haul trip for next summer - very excited!

However, DH and I are both only children, and the only source of support for our respective parents in times of illness/emergencies.

Our parents ( both sets) are in their late 70s/early 80s, and though in fairly good health at the moment, they have all had some health concerns in the past. We obviously hope they will remain in good health into next year, but at their age, nothing can be taken for granted.

This is particularly on our minds, as our lovely neighbours had to cancel a holiday this year, as their mum had a serious stroke literally days before they got were due to go on hols.

So given the expensive trip, we want to buy some really robust travel insurance that would cover us, should the worst happen, and a parent fall ill, and we can no longer travel.

Can anyone recommend any good policies or companies to check out?

This is a question for Google, ChatGPT or an Insurance Broker not Mumsnet.
Look for cover for trip cancellation or curtailment, most will cover if a close relative is hospitalised or dies. Check what it covers as ‘illness’ is unlikely to be covered, only if they are actually in hospital. Note most will exclude preexisting conditions/illnesses so can be limited in value.
Of you really wanted to ensure you were covered for anything you can get a CFAR (cancel for any reason) policy but that will be a huge cost.

Chat just suggested Staysure and Allclear but suggested a full review of policies and definitions and I suggest you get your own advice for your own needs

You will probably need a lot of detail about your parents health to be able to arrange cover.

Declare every health condition. And buy a defaqto 5 star rated product. Nothing called 'essentials' or 'basic'

I'm not sure you'll easily be able to get the coverage you need. We've pretty much accepted we won't book any expensive holidays until my MIL passes.

I agree with this. We just had to accept that we might lose money or have to make difficult decisions as to whether to return from or cancel a holiday in the event of parental issues.

There are plenty of insurers who will cover pre existing illnesses if you're prepared to pay the appropriate premium. My 80yo mum with a history of cancer has managed to get insured.

Presumably that's insurance for herself, it's not insurance for a relative not going on the holiday getting ill - potentially one of four elderly parents if I've read the post correctly. And the level of illness in a relative you might want to personally cancel a holiday for is unlikely to match what an insurance company considers ill (basically death or end of life).

Staysure's wording for cancellation cover is 'unforeseen illness, injury or, death of: – you; or – a close relative; or – travelling companion; or – any person you have arranged to stay with during the trip'.

So you could reasonably expect to be paid out if a parent had a reasonably serious illness even if it's not one that's likely to lead to their death within days. Eg stroke or heart attack, or a fall. The OP says they're in good health currently, to anything serious is 'unforeseen'.

I'd be happy with that in the OPs circumstances (not a specific recommendation for the OP but I agree with a PP that says get a well rated policy, rather than a cheap one from a cheaper provider) and read the policy conditions.

Not really sure what you mean. The parents can be insured against getting ill and not being able to travel. The OP can get insurance against a parent/close relative dieing and the OP not travelling as a result of that.

(I work in insurance)

The OP wants insurance against a close relative being ill and the OP not travelling due to that. Not the OP getting ill and not the close relative dying.

As someone who booked many holidays and bought travel insurance whilst having a dependent who had a long medical history (and therefore couldn't travel abroad), I can confirm that I was never able to find anyone who would cover us in the event of cancellation due to the relative becoming ill and preventing us from travelling. We just had to book and hope for the best.
I do recall though, that one of the key questions on the insurance application was "do you know of any reason why you may not be able to travel as a result of illness of a 3rd party at the time of booking"? So, parent who has normal age related health conditions or non life threatening illness, you should be covered for. A parent who has been given a 6 month prognosis for cancer before you booked would not be covered.
I would say your best option is to choose one of the better insurers and discuss it with them if you have any doubts.
The bizarre thing about our relative is that we probably could have got insurance for them to travel with us (at a high price) but couldn't insure ourselves against what might happen if they stayed in the UK and we either had to cancel last minute or return home in an emergency.