USA Holiday

[TheBoys]

hi

Can anyone recommend an insurer - if they’ve had a trip to the USA

I m not having much luck.

[MichaelJH Heart Star]

Good morning, I usually recommend StaySure and AllClear. But depending on your exact medical history and ongoing conditions you may declined. Avanti has been recommended by a few. Whoever you go with check the policy very carefully! And then check it again!

[TheBoys in reply to MichaelJH]

thanks for that. Just had Staysure and AllClear quotes and basically they’re both pretty much an extra 1000.00 when all is said and done I booked and paid for the trip way before my health issues. There’s always a feeling of “what if something goes wrong” and if so will I end up bankrupting myself with all the bills. At least in Europe there is the GHIC card.

[MichaelJH Heart Star in reply to TheBoys]

Yes, unfortunately the USA, the Caribbean and cruising (the patient may require airlifting to hospital) really increase prices.

Never risk going uninsured as the costs could lose you everything.

[Chappychap in reply to TheBoys]

"At least in Europe there is the GHIC card."

I'm afraid that's not really accurate.

The Global Health insurance Card is in no way a substitute for commercial travel insurance. To begin with GHIC doesn't cover repatriation, indeed in many countries it doesn't cover so much as a sticking plaster!

The "G" in GHIC is for "Global", so it's not just Europe. Unfortunately it's no-where close to providing comprehensive medical cover. To begin with it only applies to countries that have a reciprocal deal with the UK, and then it only provides the same government provided medical cover that a local would get. The UK is relatively rare in offering medical care that's "free at point of delivery", so in most places in the world you'd still be faced with big bills, zero free medication, a long list of procedures that aren't covered, food and accommodation that needs to be paid for, etc, etc.

Always carry a GHIC, but never, ever set foot outside the UK without also having separately purchased medical insurance.

[TheBoys in reply to Chappychap]

thanks for that. To be honest I don’t think we ll travel now. It’s put a massive damper on things. I ll stick to Spain in future, I think.

[ParrotLover22 in reply to TheBoys]

Hi. I wanted to go to the USA this year. I am having terrible trouble getting Insurance. Been declined by 3 Companies already!! I think that Idea is out of the Question, for me anyway

[TheBoys in reply to ParrotLover22]

thanks - am getting that way inclined now . We’d bought the tickets last year way before I took a turn- it’s the risk that’s getting to me now. All that way to San Francisco.

[ParrotLover22 in reply to TheBoys]

Oh no....You'd bought the Tickets as well. I would be devastated!! I have been to America in 1996 for 3 Weeks and went to San Francisco, it was my favourite Place!! At that time, my Heart Condition was very mild. Now that I've had a Bypass, Pacemaker and on Life-Long Warfarin, they won't even consider it. Pretty gutting plus very stressful trying to find Insurance. They make it look good but when it comes to getting them to cover you, it's a completely different Story!!

[BobbyB1962 in reply to Chappychap]

Strangely, although it's called "Global" its currently only able to be used in an EU country, Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein or Switzerland. Very misleading! I can only imagine it's intended to have a wider use in future.

[devonian186 in reply to TheBoys]

The GHIC card has always been of limited benefit. When we tried to use it in Switzerland the doctor declined and said to claim on our insurance. We had the same response in Austria. This was way before Brexit

[Hanibil]

Try Avanti I find them the best

[Hidden]

Try a comparison site for travel insurance for pre existing medical conditions and go from there. Or a local insurance broker.

[pussycatwillow]

Stay away from Staysure and Avanti. Their policies are administered by Ergo Travel Ltd and claims are dealt with by Davies Group,

I had a terrible experience with them recently relating to a medical claim abroad. I had to pay the £10,000 bill! It has taken countless phone calls ( if you can ever get through) and emails to resolve the claim. I waited over 3 months to be reimbursed.

They caused me a lot of stress and anxiety. I was fortunate I was able to cover the large hospital bill but I cannot imagine how stressful it would be if you didn’t have a good credit card limit and/or savings.

Take a look at their reviews on Trustpilot, I wish I had done so before taking out a policy with them.

[july2020 in reply to pussycatwillow]

Thank you for posting, it is good to hear real experience of claiming.

The front end systems and people selling you insurance can be great but when you come to claim that is another matter.

[pussycatwillow in reply to july2020]

Staysure and Avanti seem to offer a good deal and extended length of travel (more than 31 days) especially if you have pre existing medical.

Sadly it is only when you have to claim you find out just how good your insurance is.

The 1 star reviews on Trustpilot are almost all about their abysmal claims process. Some cases even worse than mine.

Staysure pass the buck to Ergo Travel who pass the buck to Davies Group.

Davies Group have acknowledged and agreed their service was not up to standard and upheld my complaint. They offered compensation of £75! Not enough in my opinion. I declined and referred case to the Financial Ombudsman Service.

[TheBoys in reply to pussycatwillow]

many many thanks for that. That’s the kind of experience I needed to hear about. All to often people give firms a great review based on how easy it is to go online and take out a policy.

[devonian186 in reply to pussycatwillow]

I have also had a poor experience with Staysure. It would be very helpful if you do shop around to tell the rest of us what you found

[pussycatwillow in reply to devonian186]

A friend of a friend is an insurance underwriter. He said my Staysure experience was poor!

He suggested I try Good to go insurance. I do not have any travel plans yet so have not obtained a quote.

Unfortunately you never know until you claim.

I will look at Trustpilot reviews before I decide.

[devonian186 in reply to pussycatwillow]

Thanks for that.

[Pollypuss]

Try Paying too much and Goodtogoinsurance.com

[Tez666]

Why not ask British heart foundation , they can help find cheap ones . Good luck .

[Clipperkid]

try staysure it will be a bit costly !

[dazzer1]

I use "Insurancewith" who are reasonably priced but I guess you only get to see how good they are when you need to claim which fortunately I haven't had to as yet!. Hope it all works out for you.

[RosieRob]

We have used Staysure and were able to claim after some to ing and frowing for treatment in USA last year. This year we used RIAs fortunately we don't know how good they are. We went through Quidco and got cash back for taking out the policy.

[pussycatwillow in reply to RosieRob]

Out of interest, how long did it take for your Staysure claim to be sorted.

[RosieRob in reply to pussycatwillow]

The bill for hospital checks took about 1 month to come through via a UK bill chasing company and then around 3 months for Staysure to make payment

[Johnboy64]

staysure have been good for me. Not cheap but that’s the price of going to US

[richard_jw]

I have a Nationwide FlexPlus bank account.

It provides various insurances, including worldwide travel insurance.

nationwide.co.uk/current-ac...

2 years ago I had a heart attack, my wife takes meds for high blood pressure. We are both over 70, and my wife is over 80.

With full declaration of medical conditions, I pay around £350 annually for world wide cover.

True I have not yet claimed, so can't speak about any problems there

[Cruise1 in reply to richard_jw]

I have similar cover with RBS and similar price with a trip extension of 56 days. My wife and Aibare in late 70s and regularly go to the USA and cruise (did 5 last year). Had to claim when Covid stopped travelling anywhere and then last year as a pre cruise Covid test was positive. First Covid claim took a while as thry were obviously inundated, last one payment received within 4 weeks.

[Mittzy]

Try Able2travel insurance. My friend uses it and says they are good for people with long term medical conditions.

[TheBoys in reply to Mittzy]

many tnx for that…

[TheBoys in reply to Mittzy]

I just checked - wouldn’t cover me!

[Mittzy in reply to TheBoys]

So sorry. I really hope you find something.

[Worvera]

Hi I use AllClear. Have a great trip 😃

[B10D]

Hi, Aortic valve replacement, 2 weeks single trip worldwide for Caribbean holiday was £240 with Post Office insurance. Minimum cover and max excess for everything other than medical as I had existing travel insurance which didn’t cover my heart issue. This was still a full normal policy but was around £400 cheaper than anyone else.

[TheBoys in reply to B10D]

that’s very good. I ll check it out!

Was the flight ok - no stress?

[B10D in reply to TheBoys]

All fine - 7 months post surgery and no real after effects. Good luck with the insurance!

[TheBoys in reply to B10D]

tnx - am gonna take the plunge and do it !