Worldwide Travel Insurance

[EmmaSDee]

Hello. This is my first ever thread so I hope I'm doing it right!

Does anyone have any recent experience or advice regarding Worldwide Travel Insurance? I'm going to the USA for 3 weeks and will be 27 weeks pregnant when I return to the UK. I'm hoping to find one that covers all aspects of pregnancy including premature birth (not that I'm planning one!) and cancellation in case later on I'm told I'm no longer fit to travel. Can anyone recommend any comprehensive insurers that aren't overly expensive? Many thanks in advance!

You'd have to double check this but I was told that as long as my pregnancy was normal and I hadn't any pre-existing medical conditions, my insurers would cover me for an "unforeseen" events. So they seemed not to treat pregnancy as a medical condition in itself.

I went to Japan for 2 weeks around the 24 week mark without incident, thankfully. I just rang them to check and let them know I was pregnant and travelling. Think it was AA multitrip insurance. But again, I'm not sure about specifics. I also think my health insurance would have covered me but I'm even vaguer on that (plus not sure if you do health insurance in the UK).

Sorry I'm not very helpful! It's worth ringing to speak to someone directly though as it's very difficult to get definite answers online.

"Any"unforeseen events, not "an"!

I'd give them a call and check. Most insurers will tell you that you are covered for a normal pregnancy (with no complications) as standard but you'd need to check and ask about premature birth. Once the baby has arrived they are a separate person insurance wise and unfortunately I know a few people caught out by this, although luckily in the EU, I'd certainly double check of going to USA.

I'm travelling to the US at 21 weeks. I have booked with insure and go as they insure you up to 32 weeks

Thank you MarinaCoyle. I've been phoning around several insurers where I've read the policy wording I think they look ok, only to discover that they wouldn't consider giving birth 13-15 weeks premature as an "unforeseen event" or a "pregnancy complication" so it wouldn't be covered. Thank you for your advice. I will keep phoning around.

Thank you AbbeyRoadCrossing for the advice about a prem-baby being a seperate person insurance wise. I hadn't considered that being a possibility. I have added it to the list of questions to ask insurers.

Thank you Brummiegirl15. I will look into them as well. I hope you have a fantastic holiday in the US!

Thank you everyone for your advice!

It's a bit of a daft / sneaky thing in my opinion as most insurers say your pregnancy is fully covered but like you say a lot don't think premature birth is an unforeseen event and then don't cover it.
It becomes complicated if your baby has to stay in hospital (you might be OK and be discharged first) and then you'll have hotel bills etc and trips to the embassy to get their passport. It's happened to 2 of my friends now (Italy and Spain) so hospital covered by Euro health card, but the other costs (hotels, passport, travelling back) not covered, which can really add up.
It sounds like you are very organised and on the case anyway - I hope you have a great trip

"It's a bit of a daft / sneaky thing in my opinion as most insurers say your pregnancy is fully covered but like you say a lot don't think premature birth is an unforeseen event and then don't cover it."

Tell me about it! I shortlisted several insurers but when I phoned them to double-check about pregnancy none of the things that concerned me were covered. How can premature labour at 13-15 weeks early be a 'foreseen event' and not a complication?!

In the end I've gone with Direct Line (insureandgo looked good too - thanks Brummiegirl15). Whilst the policy doesn't mention pregnancy anywhere in the wording they have advisers you can open a chat window with, so I have full transcripts of them addressing all of my concerns which I can use to support a claim in the unlikely event (fingers-crossed) that I have one. They even confirmed that they would put me up in a hotel for a few months if required and pay for all the baby's medical and repatriation needs etc. (This falls under the Medical category).

Thank you everyone for your advice and reasurance.