Travel insurance?

[MissFG]

Hi where do we stand with travel insurance? Do we have to declare our illness? Does it depend on our diagnosis i.e. UVDT or SLE as to how it could affect the cover we take out?

[Puska]

You must declare it or you would not be covered for any issue that could be associated with lupus.

[Barbara17]

I declared it with Explorer travel insurance and at first they had no idea what I was talking about. So off he went to check a list of conditions, then came back and said ok SLE had been noted. I asked what the extra premium would be and he said 'nothing'. I didn't argue.

[PMRpro]

You must ALWAYS declare ANY medical history (with UK insurances at least) because if you didn't - even though you were declared fit to travel when you booked or when you travelled but had a claim based on ANYTHING whether to do with lupus or not the insurance company could (and would) refuse to pay out because of "incomplete declaration". They often do!

Here where I live in Italy the insurance we can take out covers us without us providing details - PROVIDING we were fit to travel at those dates. Preexisting conditions are covered if you haven't had inpatient treatment in the last however long. But our premiums anyway are the sort of level people complain about in the UK when they have an illness - and in the UK you are effectively subsidising the dirt cheap offers you find all over the place with credit cards, bank accounts.

But as long as you told them and they noted it - even if they can't find it on their list - you should be OK as Barbara found. But do make sure it was noted and preferably get written confirmation. Just in case.

[SonyaNME]

Many insurance companies have the option of declaring it but not adding it to your policy so the price doesn't change but they also won't cover it. I tend to do that if I am taking out a single trip policy for a short trip and I just want to be covered for accidents etc. I've used Insure&Go for many years. Originally I used them because they had the cheapest quote and that remained that same even after I had made a claim with them. I've claimed for a snowboarding injury and also an infection which lead to Lupus related issues and they were really quick and easy to complete the claims.

[Wendy39]

I would say declare every time. Insurance companies will wriggle out of cover wherever possible, that's how they save money. If you don't declare it, they won't cover anything Luoyang related at all. We do an annual family policy with Liverpool Victoria, it suits us fir various reasons. They had on the system that I had DLE but with recent events I thought I had better get it amended. I have SCLE but that isn't an option on their system. So they have made notes on the policy that I gave SCLE but no hospital admissions due to my illness. They also asked if my kidneys were affected, which luckily mine haven't been. They have sent me a updated policy and no extra charge was made. But like I said we've used this company for a while. If you have problems getting insurance I'm sure I've seen Lupus UK recommending specialist insurers, check out lupus UK website or maybe Paul Howard could help you. Good luck.

[MandaM]

Hi. You have to declare every single thing you have, all your meds, when you last had blood tests, scans or been hospitalized. If you don't, you aren't covered. Hope this helps. 😊

[Chanpreet_Walia LUPUS UK]

Hi MissFG,

Last year we published a blog article called ‘Going on Holiday with Lupus’, the article discusses travel insurance and has a link to travel insurance companies who will insure people with lupus which I hope will be of help to you: lupusuk.org.uk/going-on-hol...