Thank you for reading this post. I had mild chest discomfort less than six months ago. This has escalated to an Angiogram 2 days ago highlighting four blocked arteries and advised that I will require a bypass that will probably take place in the next eight weeks.
I have a family holiday booked and paid for in four weeks and my condition is currently well under control with medication and I have not had any chest pain in five weeks. Although I have been undertaking mild swimming twice a week I have been advised by the Angiogram team to immediately cease exercise as a precaution.
Can anyone recommend suitable travel insurance and is it worth getting the UK Global Health Card.
Thank you for any support you can give.
Crispin
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Kasabian1
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Unfortunately I think you will unable to get cover at all with that condition. Or you may get insurance to cover other matters , but any heart issues will be excluded.
As Martin Lewis always says “Buy the insurance when you book the holiday”
Even an existing policy requires us to update them of any new or change to our health situation. Your insurance company can void the entire policy if you fail to update them. This is in the small print. Always phone them with any change to health or new investigation. They may agree to cover it, or exclude that one condition but keep you covered for everything else. Otherwise they may simply void the entire policy when you try to make any kind of claim, leaving you with extortionate bills
Hi exactly that happened to me, I had a holiday booked and paid for insurance in place for all heart related things and everything else and then I was diagnosed with cancer. The surgeon assured me that nothing would happen in relation to this and it would be fine to go, my insurance thought otherwise, they cancelled my policy and wouldn't even insure my heart etc it was about 4 weeks before we were going, I couldn't get insurance from anyone. Thankfully my operation was successful and I am fully insured to go in three weeks. Char
Thanks for your warning to others, so many travellers dont realise this But im very pleased your surgery was successful and you can now look forward to a holiday.
Not that I have tried but from seeing many, many other posts similar to this you will not get insurance, or any worth having. With a heart condition such as the one you have it would be crazy to travel with no insurance, it sounds as if you are not taking this situation seriously enough to be honest. I am not surprised they have told you to stop swimming, water is not the best environment if you were to have a cardiac event, which unfortunately you are at very much raised raised risk of, obviously. Do yourself and family a favour and forget it, you may not have been aware of your condition when you booked it but I'm afraid you have no choice. The medication you are on may well be making you feel better but you could easily find yourself in a lot of trouble.
Exactly. It appears that despite the heart condition escalating rapidly that the poster is not taking this seriously enough. The overseas holiday needs to be forgotten. Perhaps a local one but they need to be careful and not overdo it
My cardiologist advise me not to travel abroad while I was waiting for my bypass. He said he wouldn't stop me but he wouldn't want something to happen while in a foreign country. We cancelled and managed to get half our money back and feel we made the right choice but only you can decide if its worth it to you . I was doing fine and then went downhill in a few days which meant I got rushed in for my bypass 4 weeks ago . As I say only you can decide but do think carefully xx
I think you have made the right decision and understand it can take a little time for things to sink in when you weren't expecting to be a bypass I too thought it would be a stent at worse only to be told it was a triple bypass. A big shock to the system. Hopefully you won't have to wait too long and you make a quick recovery. I'm hoping to be able to get a winter break in the sunshine once fully recovered and that the insurance doesn't cost a arm and a leg 😆
last week there was some publicity about a man who went on holiday without insurance. Hospitalised. Hospital won’t now let him go unless he pays at least half of the £80,000 spent so far.
I was in similar position last year - wasn't confident on insurance situation, didn't want to take the risk. So, rather than cancel the holiday, we changed the names on the booking and let other family members go for minimal financial impact. They had a brilliant time 🌞 whilst I was sat at home 😕, but happy to see them use the holiday rather than everyone lose out 🙂
You have been given a timely warning. No travel insurance co will cover you, but in any case if you are having a bypass operation surely you would be best to stay in this country, take it easy and do as the doctors say?
you may not get insurance until the current heath condition is resolved, eg after your surgery. If you’re awaiting investigation it’s usually not possible, not sure if it’s the same. Double check you don’t have an annual policy with your bank (or partners bank). If so, this would have been in place prior to the condition and hence they will cover you.
Yes, but double check and double check T&Cs again - even with an existing annual insurance, if you've booked a holiday with the slightest hint of a condition being present or under investigation etc, the small print is likely to be against you!
Not necessarily, even annual policies require that you update them with any change to your health. They then review what they will cover you for or not. Unfortunately if you don't inform them of this new condition , and you then need to make a claim of any sort, the insurers are likely to void the entire policy leaving you high and dry and totally uninsured. It's not worth the risk or added stress. Medical care overseas is extremely costly. I was a travel agent for many years and knew clients with medical bills of £45k because of this and that was in 1998 !!
Yes agreed you need to keep them updated annually and prior to booking any trip. In my experience, the policy remained in place because my health episode occurred after booking the holiday and there were no foreseen issues in the 6 months prior. When I book my next trip, cover and premiums will definitely change so I will need to call them prior to booking.
I very much doubt that you will get travel insurance. I would try to change the holiday booking until you have recovered from your operation. Your condition is very serious, I’m sure your family will understand and not want you to take the risk.
Hello Kasabian1, I know it’s so disappointing when you have a holiday booked and you have planned heart surgery but based on my own experience nearly 2 years ago, I needed tests (scan, MRI, angiogram) in order to diagnose my chest pain but was advised by the cardiologist (following my echo) not to travel. I had a planned trip to the States where, if anything were to happen, potential stenting could run into thousands of pounds. If I’d have travelled knowing I wasn’t fit to travel, my insurance wouldn’t have covered me anyway and eventually after recovery I had to ring around for insurance that covered pre-existing conditions. Fortunately we booked with BA and I was able to simply move the travel plans to a future date, we paid a fee to do this but it was so much better than taking a chance flying and being in a country where potentially anything could have happened. Like you, I felt okay but realistically you’re dealing with your heart, please don’t take chances. Listen to your team, I know it’s disappointing but you will enjoy your holiday once you’ve recovered from your surgery. Then try companies who will cover your condition (avanti, AllClear, Staysure, and lots more on the market). Good luck, take care and keep us posted ❤️🧚🏼♀️
You are right, I did not appreciate how serious my condition was, guilty of being a bit naive. Probably needed yours and others stern words so thank you.
I wouldn't disagree with anything anyone has said thus far, I'm not sure that going on holiday to another country a few weeks before a bypass is a great idea but we are all different. Which country were are you planning on going to? Much depends on your attitude to risk. Travel insurance is important but not essential in all countries. Germany, Scandinavian Countries, Spain for example all have excellent free emergency care for UK and eu citizens. But remembeer, without insurance your travel companions would have to pay for accommodation if they stayed with you if you were taken into hospital. There are other concerns such as repatriation if that becomes necessary - as i say, it depends on your attitude to risk. Like most of us on here, there are times when we are uninsureable for our health condition. Whilst I'm not advocating traveling without insurance there are options. Many insurance companies will offer insurance with your current condition excluded (LV for example) You then need to decide if the country you are travelling to can care for you in an emergency. Dare I say that in a number of other countries you won't be waiting 4 hours for an ambulance or sitting 12 hours in A&E if you present yourself there. So do a little homework and find out about what is available with your GHIC (EHIC). As I previously said, personally I wouldn't be travelling and I'd be determined to take care until the bypass and then look forward to holidays after. Whatever you decide - good luck.
Very sensible, thank you. I think I was in shock as six months ago I had no symptoms and swimming 40 lengths twice a week. Had been advised might be two stents so surprised at only option open heart surgery. But yes hopefully plenty of opportunities for holidays going forward.
Crispin
Not sure from reading your post if you are looking for other travel insurance because your current insurance will not cover you? If you do have insurance in place then you should be able to claim to cancel or change the holiday. We were able to change the date of our holiday and the other ideas given in response to your post seem to give you other options too.
We were at a pre by-pass operation session on Saturday and the people giving it were clear - no foreign travel and no flying. My husband and I asked to cardiologist about going to holiday in Glasgow and he said if we went to Glasgow we would get the same emergency care as we would where we live so we could go but if we had said we were going to the Hebrides he would say no because if my husband had a heart attack treatment would not be available quick enough. It is such a shock and so difficult to understand that your heart is in a very compromised position and until the operation has taken place you need to be very cautious. My husband too has been told to do minimum exercise to avoid having a heart attack. We are also an urgent case and have so far been waiting 12 weeks with no date given yet so be pleased if your operation takes place in 8 weeks. Going back to our session on Saturday someone asked whether it was possible to change the day of the operation and the staff looked aghast that anyone could think of such a thing. This is literally a life saving operation but it can be hard grasping that. Do your family understand the seriousness of what has happened to you? It may be time to have a serious conversation so they understand that you not going on holiday is the best decision you can make for them as well as for yourself. Good luck with the operation.
My partner was told in December that he needed a double bypass. We were due to go away to Spain later that month but the cardiologist told him that he shouldn't be more than 30 minutes away from a hospital. The issue wasn't the medical care in Spain, but being on a flight and therefore unable to access medical care in a hurry.
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