Mild coronary artery disease

[moonspace1]

I'm looking for cruise travel insurance. I have recently been diagnosed with mild coronary artery disease. The trave insurance for the Caribbean was around £350.00 now it has increased to £1500. I know I have to declare this, but it seems a ridiculous price for a minor condition. Has anyone got any recommendations for Trave insurance or is in the same boat.

[Lowerfield_no_more]

You will undoubtedly get some recommendations for travel insurance from members, the usual are Staysure, Avanti, Allclear, although there are others . However they may not be applicable to your situation since we are all different. If you want to get the best deal for you, do your own research perhaps by trying a website for travel insurance with pre-existing medical conditions or talk to a local insurance broker. Unfortunately the older you are, the more medical conditions you have especially when you are awaiting treatment, the higher the premium, with some providers declining cover.

[Cruise1 in reply to Lowerfield_no_more]

We have worldwide travel insurance through our bank which covers cruises but not reimbursement for missed ports. I pay an excess because I’m over 70 and have stents and high blood pressure and extra to extend any of our trips longer than 31 days. Just need to watch that our tips don’t exceed £5000 pp.

[Happyrosie]

advice on the website of:

Money saving expert

MoneyHelper

[Scotsman53 in reply to Happyrosie]

Yes, there are two or three specialist medical travel insurers listed on MSE, definitely worth checking out IMO. moneysavingexpert.com/insur...

[CatLady246]

We always use avanti. I had NSTEMI in March. We always do annual insurance as uts cheaper normally. Ours before was £300 hubby has afib and had ablation I have hashimotos thyroiditis and then nstemi. It was £300 more after nstemi so worked out at around 700 for annual as we were part way through the year. There are lots of others around too but Caribbean is always a lot higher with health issues. Good luck finding one that works for you

[Sb1171]

I find that pay as you go policies for European/short haul trips are fairly cheap. USA and Caribbean is extortionate. I found that a packaged bank account works best if you want to go long haul. For example, Nationwide, £13 a month, so £156 a year provides European breakdown cover, mobile phone insurance and worldwide travel cover for the whole family. The upgrade cost to cover my medical history was only about £250 for the whole year, which was half the cost of a 14day carribbean policy elsewhere. I would be paying the £156 to cover the rest of the family anyway.

[Jm2022 in reply to Sb1171]

Hi, I agree with you. Started a flexplus account for £13 a month with the travel, breakdown, mobile insurance cover included. Upgraded (afib) the travel insurance for my Caribbean cruise £110 and got the £200 switch incentive 😁

[Stentsandrun in reply to Jm2022]

I would be VERY careful about policies that come as a benefit for bank and BS accounts if I were you. If you are going to embark on a trip overseas you need to be 100% sure you are definitely covered not just relying on some sort of account bonus, I got caught out years ago like this and I doubt the banks have got any better.

[Sb1171 in reply to Stentsandrun]

It’s no different from any other insurance policy, you should always be clear about what you are buying. To be clear it is not just an account bonus, it is a distinct policy provided by Aviva and it is fairly comprehensive. The product summary can be compared against any other policy:

nationwide.co.uk/-/assets/n...

[Lowerfield_no_more in reply to Sb1171]

I also have a joint NW FlexPlus Account with my wife. With NW's previous travel insurer I found it cheaper to arrange my own travel insurance elsewhere for two separate weeks in Europe than go with the top up quote I received from the NW insurer, and this was exclusive of the age related fee which at that time was additional irrespective of what you had wrong with you. All of which reinforces my belief that we are all unique as far as our health conditions, age, gender and where we are going and for how long so there is no one size fits all and so you must do your own research to get the best deal.

[FakeNews]

I have annual insurance with Staysure. Not the cheapest but covers all the conditions we have.

[Stentsandrun]

How was your diagnosis made, have you had any sort of scan, or an Angiogram? Do you have any symptoms, what medication are you on?

[Wanderinglady]

I have two heart conditions and several other pre existing conditions. I use Millstream for my cruise insurer. It’s not cheap but better value if you travel several times a year and take out an annual policy. Nationwide Bank wouldn’t cover me and neither would some of the others mentioned here.

[elliebath]

Whatever you do, be honest with the insurance companies about your conditions, any tests, investigations still waiting for, and all meds prescribed. It is not worth trying to avoid it as if you should need to make a claim they will request a report from your doc and the truth will out. If they find you've not declared something, it's quite likely they will refuse your claim and cancel your policy , leaving you high and dry. As a retired travel agent I've seen tragic cases of people left with bills of up to £40k.

[Thanksnhs]

Hi you could try insurancewith.com they specialise in pre existing conditions. Char

[Lakky12]

use payingtoomuch.com. It’s a brilliant comparison website for travel insurance.

[Abergele]

I went on Caribbean cruise early this year. Used insurewith.com angina, mvd and spasm plus skeletal problems. Go and enjoy we need some respite.

[MichaelJH Heart Star]

For anybody with an existing medical condition and to be honest you have, insurance will always be higher. If insurers decided it was not a medical condition people would then be saying "a touch of diabetes", etc. Unfortunately, there are two issues with your choice of holiday, a) the USA and Caribbean are the most expensive places in the world for medical treatment and b) they are not overkeen on cruises as it an emergency you have to be helicoptered off. Before lockdown a woman cruising in that area had a heart attack on a cruise, had to be airlifted off and have a stent put in place. She was uninsured and the cost was around £100k. The family started a Just Giving page but did not get much of a response!

[Stentsandrun in reply to MichaelJH]

Not surprised anyone who does so is a complete idiot.

[benjijen]

I used All Clear earlier this year. It was £250 for 2 weeks but that was for Canaries and Portugal. If I had used the company recommended by the cruise line it would have been over £900!! I have stents, unstable angina, underactive thyroid and arthritis.

[newstent]

Have you tried Staysure?