Parents’ travel insurance refusing to pay out - what can they do?

[89DaysToLoseIt]

well, more specifically, my mother’s insurance.

my mum and dad have had separate insurance policies for about three years now, after my mum’s insurance refused to insure my dad due to his health conditions. my mum stayed with them as they offered her a good price. a few months ago, they had to cancel a trip because my dad was taken ill.

my dad’s policy has paid out straight away after the submission of a medical report. my mum’s insurance is refusing to pay out on the basis of my dad (who’s not insured with them), having not disclosed his health conditions to them! what’s their recourse here?

When my partner and I still had parents living we did have to declare their medical conditions if we wanted to be able make a claim based on their illness/death.

Basically anybody whose issues might lead to you wanting to cancel a holiday if they became ill or died meant that you had to declare the details.

We found towards to end of their lives we just weren't able to insure against cancellation if something happened to them and just had to hope for the best.

Is your mother's policy a single person policy or does she still have couples/ family insurance? If he's not still listed on the policy then you need to look at the wording of the cancellation cover. If is his listed on the policy then they could be right that not declaring health conditions matters. Can you contact the ombudsman?

To me that seems perfectly fair. Your father has a medical condition that would make him likely to cancel his holiday. You can’t expect your mother’s insurance policy to pay out. Your mother could still go on holiday without your father. As an oldie, my travel insurance is very expensive for good reasons. Your mother had bargain insurance because it wasn’t very good.

There is an insurance ombudsman if they cannot resolve it with the complaints process. In future maybe she should renew with Staysure instead.

Her policy doesn’t mention this though. If that’s the terms of the policy they need to declare it

It’s not fair - they don’t declare this as the terms of their policy (which is why they’re trying to say my dad was insured with them when he wasn’t)

It was changed to a single person policy when they cancelled his. We’ve sent all the documentation to them, and they’re just refusing to pay.

Of course you need to declare the medical conditions of anyone whose illness or death would stop you travelling. You could have a relative who is due to die shortly.

It’s not in the policy. If that’s what they want, it needs to be in the policy - which it isn’t. She has asked them multiple times to point to the term in her policy that states that she needs to declare it, and they cant. They’re saying it’s on the basis of him being an insured person under the policy and therefore he had to declare his own health issues. They’ve had the paperwork where they cancelled his insurance and they’re saying that doesn’t matter, which is obviously untrue.

Well both me and my OH have pre existing conditions, Ive got a list as long as your arm and when I phone up to update now and then, because theres always something going on, they have never once asked me about any other travellers.

Ive never been asked this and this has me worried now

And in any case what if it isnt a medical issue as such, what if my OH falls over and ends up in hospital the night before we're meant to fly or something?

Exactly. I’ve read her policy start to end three times and nowhere does it state she would have to declare everyone else’s health conditions. If that were the case she’d not get insurance anywhere, through no fault of her own, because her sister is poorly and obviously if she died she’d not go on holiday! If that’s the terms of the policy though they need to make that clear. Which they haven’t.

Thats crazy

Why isnt your dads insurer paying out to cover your mum though, given that his claim is that he and his partner cannot go on holiday and claim for the cost of that?

They will do, he just has to claim it. He will do if they get nowhere with Aviva but they’re both quite strong principled and think that they shouldn’t have to, because she has her own insurance policy.

Well you would usually be covered for you OH falling over if it wasn’t because of an undeclared condition and you were on the same insurance.
I am in my 70s and many of my friends have parents in their 90s. I don’t think any of them would be covered if their parent became ill or died. Funerals sometimes have to fit in round children’s holidays.

Who’s named on the policy?

It sounds like they have refused to insure him with his change of circumstances but not changed the policy from joint to single?

If this is the case does your mum have evidence they refused to insure him and they failed to remove him?

It’s definitely a single policy.

I have the same one (it’s through our bank accounts, we use the same bank) and I’ve just checked with their chatbot and they don’t require you to disclose medical conditions for anyone but yourselves!

They should be. Unless it’s an explicit term of their insurance policy.

Sorry I see you updated to say it changed to a single after this.

In that case I think they are trying it on! Or confused!

Is there an obbudsman you can contact?

I think they're trying it on too. They're going to end up having to contact the ombudsman I think

Well we're not on the same insurance, I didnt know there was a reason why we should be. I think staysure were the only ones who would insure me due to current investigations, most insurance, in fact all of the others I looked at wouldnt do this.

OP, you say it is with Aviva - can you link to the policy wording? Because the one I have seen with a quick google does make it clear you must tell them
at the time of buying / renewing a policy or booking a trip if there is anyone whose health the trip depends has any health issue which could threaten the trip (to paraphrase).

So I’m presuming you’ve got either a Barclays or a First Direct account with Aviva travel insurance as a perk?

The terms do say you need to declare the conditions of anyone whose health could “realistically cause you to cancel or curtail your holiday”. They exclude claims if you knew before booking or travelling that a close relative or travel companion had a condition that could cause you to cancel or curtail your holiday; unless the condition had been disclosed to and agreed by Aviva.

So if he’s had AF for seven years, and it’s that which caused the cancellation, you’re probably going to struggle to argue for them to cover it. If it wasn’t AF but the condition was found between booking and travelling, it’ll depend if your mum called the Medical Screening Team as her policy requires her to.

Its mentioned a few times in the terms…

”

• You will need to call the medical screening team to tell them about the health of anyone whose health may affect your travel plans, so if for example, a close relative has a serious medical condition, you will need to tell us.“

”

• Pre-existing medical conditions are not covered at any time under this policy unless they have been disclosed to and accepted by our Medical Risk Assessment team.”

etc…

If StaySure will cover this, it’s a win for your parents.

Nope, neither of them.

We have been in contact with them and they cannot point to any of these terms in her policy because they do not exist. They’re also not denying on any of these grounds. They’re tearing to claim that my dad is insured and that he didn’t declare his health conditions, neither of which are true statements.

Can you provide Staysure with a copy of your correspondence with Aviva and your evidence, and ask them to sort it out with Aviva or pay it themselves? Another insurance company will be experienced at putting together arguments about coverage, able to speak insurance professional and motivated to do so to avoid paying out themselves. And at worst, they sound like they will pay out themselves.