Travel insurance : a story.

[jennydog]

I will have to arrange travel insurance for myself when I travel to America for my son's wedding next May. With this in mind I have been making notes of people's recommendations on this forum, and also noting details from Which magazine.

Meantime, my friend John has been planning a 14 day holiday to Cuba. He is 62 years old, he had a heart attack 2 years ago and he is on warfarin. His wife has her own insurance but John was having trouble finding affordable cover for himself. The average quote that he obtained was £490.

I offered to give him a list of possible insurers. Top of my random list was LV who offer a 15% on-line discount. They would not cover him. Second on my list was AVANTI who advertise over 50 insurance with cover for most existing conditions. He phoned them on 0800 201 4506. They quoted him £ 260 which he accepted. He said that this was their mid-range insurance with £35 excess.

The moral of this story is to shop around. But it's not cheap, is it?

[Hidden]

I think it depends very much on where you are going and exactly what level of problem you have. I got a week's insurance for £18 from Staysure for a trip to Lisbon, but I've come across people who have had really huge quotes to go to the US. It certainly pays to shop around. I am going to go look and see if there's a list of possible insurers on the AFA website...

Lis

[CDreamer]

Certainly isn't. Especially US, Europe is much cheaper and the fact that on Warfarin or 'any anticoagulant which requires blood test' always increases the cost. There have been comments on previous threads from people who travel a lot that it is one of the advantages of the NOACs.

I just got back from Spain, insurance with travel4medical declared 2 conditions, AF and Myasthenia which they load as I haven't had it for more than 3 years, the base cost was £36 but the loading took it up to £73 for single trip and no one would offer multi trip which I have always had in the past.

[a-fibber]

Broadly speaking I have been classified for pre-existing medical conditions by my travel insurers as having arrhythmia (that's my paroxysmal A-Fib) and having had high blood pressure. Both conditions are controlled with drugs; the A-Fib partially as episodes are shorter and less frequent, high blood pressure completely.

To obtain worldwide travel insurance cover for those conditions I had to answer questions by telephone. The key information that I was asked for by the insurer and that they recorded were my two pre-existing medical conditions and the drugs I take to treat them; two for A-Fib and two for high blood pressure.

I also have and declared my OSA controlled by an APAP device used every night such that I have no sleep apnoeas now.

The insurance company, UK Insurance Limited, charged me this year £120 for a years cover. The charge was £118 last year but that also covered an extension of the standard 31 day trip to 44 days.

My family worldwide travel insurance is part of my Nationwide Flexplus account that levies a fee of £10 per month.

I decide to open the Nationwide account when Santander no longer provided the Premier 50 account that levied a monthly fee of £12. That included family worldwide travel insurance. During that period the cover for my pre-existing medical conditions had been £28 in 2012 by a company Homecare Travel Insurance that I cannot find any more.

[jennydog]

Thank you for that. I am sure that many members will find it useful. I had cover with HSBC but it stops at 70.

Best wishes.

[Hidden]

I've just arranged travel insurance for a week to Madeira with Saga. I had to answer a lot of questions by phone plus the drugs that I was on, and the end result was £67. I'm quite happy with that.

[jennydog in reply to Hidden]

Carrie, that sounds very fair.

I have been paying into Benenden for myself and 2 sons for over 20 years without ever making a claim. I see that they are now advertising travel insurance on 0800 414 8301.

There is an advert in to-day's Mail on Sunday for medical travel compared.co.uk. It reckons to compare 22 specialist insurers.

[Newgran in reply to jennydog]

Hi Jennydog,

Interested in your comments on Benenden. I have paid for myself and my husband for donkeys years! I've been retired now for 20 years - and I paid for years before that, when I worked in Civil Service. They did refund €210 I paid for one consultation with EP - but one year's contributions would cover that! I keep thinking I should stop deductions. Also, it seemed to me to be quite complicated to get the money refunded. Have you had any dealings with them? I know all insurance is to cover for what may happen, but the contributions are high in relation to the benefits? What do you think?

Sorry, you have presumably got AF? I'm amazed how young some of the people are in these posts. I was 72 when I was "not well" - which took ages to be diagnosed as AF - and that was 4 years ago! (get your calculator out!)

I just think it was my reminder I won't be around for ever. I don't seem to have hardly any of the symptoms others mention, I am just energy-less and can sleep all the time. Probably not helped by Bisoprolol & Warfarin?

Sorry - I've gone on a bit!

All best wishes, Pat

[jennydog in reply to Newgran]

Hi Pat. I'm 69 and worked for the Min of Ag. When I had cancer 25 years ago the Welfare Officer suggested that if I were to have a set-back then Benenden would pay for cancer care in my own home. I have paid in since then and had nothing at all to do with them. I'm not sure that I like what they are evolving into either.

I had an ablation 11 weeks ago. Like you I have less symptoms than others, no palpitations or ectopics. I slept for 10hrs on Friday night which I didn't think was particularly healthy. The Bisoprolol doesn't help. I often think " Am I like this because of AF, my age or the medication?"

Very best wishes.

[hondajazz]

I had the same problem this year and i think it is disgusting to penalise people for being ill which is what the Insurance companies do. I know it costs a lot of money if you need medical help abroad or to be brought home etc but they also have a lot of money invested from people who have paid and never claimed such as myself. I think it seriously wants looking into to try and get some kind of norm across the companies as the prices vary so much.

[jennydog in reply to hondajazz]

I agree entirely and of course you don't know how good they are until you have a claim.

I was thinking, do tourists coming to this country buy expensive insurance?