Travel Insurance

[jh1809]

Last year I took out annual travel insurance with the company that P&O recommend. That may have been a big mistake. This year, taking out travel insurance with a different company (I'm not sure if the forum rules allow me to mention their name), I'm paying only just over half as much. It's true that this year I only needed cover for Europe, whereas last year I needed worldwide cover, and I suppose the risk of insurance claims from Covid has greatly reduced. But to set against that, I've just been diagnosed with high blood pressure and of course had to declare that.

[terrierjohn]

1 hour ago, jh1809 said:

Last year I took out annual travel insurance with the company that P&O recommend. That may have been a big mistake. This year, taking out travel insurance with a different company (I'm not sure if the forum rules allow me to mention their name), I'm paying only just over half as much. It's true that this year I only needed cover for Europe, whereas last year I needed worldwide cover, and I suppose the risk of insurance claims from Covid has greatly reduced. But to set against that, I've just been diagnosed with high blood pressure and of course had to declare that.

Worldwide travel insurance with medical conditions can be up to 3 or 4 times as expensive as europe only.

[wowzz]

Thanks to this forum, Mrs W and I now have annual worldwide cruise insurance through Nationwide for less than £300 per year. But, we are not covered for any existing medical conditions.

[Harry Peterson]

7 hours ago, wowzz said:

Thanks to this forum, Mrs W and I now have annual worldwide cruise insurance through Nationwide for less than £300 per year. But, we are not covered for any existing medical conditions.

Isn’t that taking an incredible risk, given the way insurers interpret links between existing medical conditions and later ones? Quite apart from the risks involved with the existing ones.

[wowzz]

42 minutes ago, Harry Peterson said:

Isn’t that taking an incredible risk, given the way insurers interpret links between existing medical conditions and later ones? Quite apart from the risks involved with the existing ones.

I think it very much depends on the existing conditions.

For example,  my wife has CLL (Chronic Lymphatic Leukaemia), with an elevated white cell count. She has had the condition for over 30 years, but has no symptoms. She just has a blood test every six months for monitoring purposes. There is really no way that the condition can be linked to any other medical condition that could lead to an insurance claim. We are therefore quite happy to have the condition excluded from the policy.

[Thejuggler]

12 hours ago, jh1809 said:

Last year I took out annual travel insurance with the company that P&O recommend. That may have been a big mistake. This year, taking out travel insurance with a different company (I'm not sure if the forum rules allow me to mention their name), I'm paying only just over half as much. It's true that this year I only needed cover for Europe, whereas last year I needed worldwide cover, and I suppose the risk of insurance claims from Covid has greatly reduced. But to set against that, I've just been diagnosed with high blood pressure and of course had to declare that.

So you changed the cover of the policy, significantly reducing risk and you think you were ripped off by P&O recommended insurer?

Not sure those dots can be joined.

 

[jh1809]

12 hours ago, terrierjohn said:

Worldwide travel insurance with medical conditions can be up to 3 or 4 times as expensive as europe only.

Thanks. I knew there would be a disparity, but I hadn't expected it to be anything like that great. Last year I visited Greenland and the Caribbean, but this year all my holidays are within Europe.

[sandancer]

12 hours ago, wowzz said:

Thanks to this forum, Mrs W and I now have annual worldwide cruise insurance through Nationwide for less than £300 per year. But, we are not covered for any existing medical conditions.

Is that your choice?  We also have Nationwide insurance but are covered for existing health conditions, age extension and additional cruise cover. 

[sandancer]

Sorry wowzz. Just spotted your reply. That will teach me to read the whole thread before replying. 

[Advanced Diver]

It seems to matter greatly if you go through a comparison site and which one. I got this years annual travel insurance for nearly £500 less than the policy was being quoted elsewhere (same policy, same cover), and also a similar amount less than P&O recommended insurer renewal just by choosing the comparison site. So do shop around, including trying more than one comparison site.

[sleepingcat]

It does look like the cover provided by banks and building societies included with your account is good value.  We also use the one mentioned by Wowzz above and we ve claimed twice and been fairly dealt with. Once a medical claim when on a cruise and involving emergency surgery for  my OH. The support from the claims handlers for me was also good. and in 2020 for a covid cancellation - they took a long time to pay out but agreed in the end. 

 

As suggested by Wowzz,  it is essential to declare your medical conditions, and then decide whether to exclude or pay extra. And we oldies have to pay an age related supplement. 

[Host Sharon]

When I was looking for cover for a 3 month world cruise, I found quotes for the same cover and declared medical conditions varied by up to £1000.

 

[Valfan]

41 minutes ago, Host Sharon said:

When I was looking for cover for a 3 month world cruise, I found quotes for the same cover and declared medical conditions varied by up to £1000.

 

Was it easy to find possible travel insurance companies/policies for a world cruise? I've noticed, when searching for cover for sort of "ordinary" length cruises, that they cover mainly 30-31 days, and I think one company mentioned 45 or so. But none went up to anything like 99 nights.  Thanks

[Chrisdriving]

AIG are very good, just booked 3’cruises with P and O , used them for all of them on single trip policy under £50 for two on each trip ( Norway, Iceland).

we have declared medical conditions, have cruise cover well in excess of P and O requirements and have full covid cover even though we are unjabbed but tbh most do not descriminate now .👍

Edited February 16, 2023 by Chrisdriving

[slug33ukuk]

On 2/14/2023 at 10:25 PM, terrierjohn said:

Worldwide travel insurance with medical conditions can be up to 3 or 4 times as expensive as europe only.

Last year I paid 399.00 for annual cruise insurance for Europe etc....with existing conditions ...this time we are going back to Caribbean  (so world wide inc  USA) £1150 

[wowzz]

46 minutes ago, slug33ukuk said:

Last year I paid 399.00 for annual cruise insurance for Europe etc....with existing conditions ...this time we are going back to Caribbean  (so world wide inc  USA) £1150 

I hope you are are going at least twice in the next twelve months when you are paying as much as that! 

Thank goodness we have Nationwide insurance.

[sandancer]

Same as us. Even factoring in the £13 a month fee for the Flexplus account we have saved a fortune. Only had to claim once and that was on the cruise extension for a missed port. £300 back which is more than we paid for the policy. 

[alpha whiskey]

24 minutes ago, wowzz said:

I hope you are are going at least twice in the next twelve months when you are paying as much as that! 

Thank goodness we have Nationwide insurance.

DH was covered nicely by major bank while he was diagnosed and waiting for operation. Now he's had the operation (2021)  and it was 100% successful, 'computer says no!' 🤷

Tried Nationwide, just the same and other major banks.

Has anyone else  experienced this? - ie fine to insure before you are fixed but not once you've had an operation? 

[wowzz]

24 minutes ago, alpha whiskey said:

DH was covered nicely by major bank while he was diagnosed and waiting for operation. Now he's had the operation (2021)  and it was 100% successful, 'computer says no!' 🤷

Tried Nationwide, just the same and other major banks.

Has anyone else  experienced this? - ie fine to insure before you are fixed but not once you've had an operation? 

Did Nationwide offer you the ability to exclude your husband's condition from the insurance cover ?

[jeanlyon]

I would be very wary of excluding a condition.  These companies will do their utmost to blame anything that happens on one of the excluded conditions.

[alpha whiskey]

1 minute ago, wowzz said:

Did Nationwide offer you the ability to exclude your husband's condition from the insurance cover ?

Yes, it can go as an excluded condition but would prefer to have every eventuality covered, especially if going worldwide.

Just me being over cautious I guess.

He now has annual European cover for £251, so making full use of that! 🙂

[sandancer]

I heard of a lady who broke her leg on holiday. Insurance refused to pay out because she had a heart attack several years previously and didn’t declare it. I’m not saying every insurer would have dealt with it like that but we all know you have to be ultra cautious when dealing with insurers. 

[wowzz]

28 minutes ago, jeanlyon said:

I would be very wary of excluding a condition.  These companies will do their utmost to blame anything that happens on one of the excluded conditions.

I agree, but the conditions that we have excluded cannot be linked to anything that would require urgent medical treatment during a cruise.

[jeanlyon]

9 minutes ago, sandancer said:

I heard of a lady who broke her leg on holiday. Insurance refused to pay out because she had a heart attack several years previously and didn’t declare it. I’m not saying every insurer would have dealt with it like that but we all know you have to be ultra cautious when dealing with insurers. 

absolutely agree!  They will use any dodge.  how can a broken leg be anything to do with a heart attack. 

[wowzz]

9 minutes ago, sandancer said:

I heard of a lady who broke her leg on holiday. Insurance refused to pay out because she had a heart attack several years previously and didn’t declare it. I’m not saying every insurer would have dealt with it like that but we all know you have to be ultra cautious when dealing with insurers. 

That does seem extremely far fetched. Do you actually know this for a fact, or, as you say, it is just something you heard, from an unnamed source ?

But, even if it is true, the issue is that the lady did not declare her full medical history. That would have been the resson the  claim was denied. 

We declare everything, and then opt out of the conditions being covered.