Pernicious Anaemia and Travel Insurance

[Taffytyke]

Hi I was diagnosed in August and was wondering where the best place is to get travel insurance. I’ve contacted my current insurer , my bank Nationwide, and the have quoted £124 extra, seems pricey to me. TIA

[JanD236]

I was refused travel insurance by Saga once I disclosed PA; however, I did get covered by Cedartree and my disclosure of PA made no difference to the quoted price.

[fbirder]

I would try saying that I had a Vitamin B12 deficiency, rather than pernicious anaemia.

[Syuri in reply to fbirder]

I would be very careful when disclosing medical history correctly. My sister and her partner, going on a cruise, bought travel insurance online choosing illnesses from drop down menu only to find that because the illness given on the menu wasn't precisely the same the insurance company refused to pay out. Partner took ill on board and was rushed to hospital in St Petersburg. Insurers contacted his doctors requiring every illness going back 15 years. Resulted in her having to take a very large bank loan to pay for her partner's emergency operation in Russia before the Russian hospital released passports and allowed her and partner to leave. Her experience has made me ultra cautious when buying travel insurance.

[helvella in reply to Syuri]

An important point, made well.

Given the lack of Schilling tests, and the questionable results of antibody tests, there are quite possibly many who don't absolutely know whether they have Pernicious Anaemia or not.

Which leaves them open to being accused of failing to declare because they really don't know. All they know is they need that B12 regularly. Even a doctor's letter would fail to reveal PA as a diagnosis.

The same applies across a broad range of diseases. For example, many with hypothyroidism do not have a diagnosis of Hashimoto's thyroiditis (nor autoimmune thyroid disease as it is often called in the UK). I had an antibody test when diagnosed but it was negative. Doesn't mean I dont have it. Aslo highlights another difficulty - if the dropdown has one name but you know it by another, you could miss a declaration.

[Taffytyke in reply to helvella]

I don't see any point taking out travel insurance if I am going to declare the wrong condition. Vitamin B12 deficiency is not the same as Pernicious Anaemia.

[helvella in reply to Taffytyke]

I don't think I said that B12 deficiency is the same as PA.

But how does anyone get tested for Pernicious Anaemia? The passage below clearly says either not producing intrinsic factor or the intrinsic factor that is being produced is getting destroyed. Intrisic factor antibody testing obviously will not show failure to produce intrinsic factor.

Pernicious Anaemia is caused by either the patient not producing Intrinsic Factor that is needed to bind with vitamin B12 from food before it enters the blood stream and makes healthy red blood cells or the Intrinsic Factor is being produced but is then destroyed by antibodies to the Intrinsic Factor that have also been made by the patient – auto-immune Pernicious Anaemia. Because the patient is either not producing Intrinsic Factor or is destroying the Intrinsic Factor that has been produced the B12 cannot be absorbed from any animal product that the patient has eaten. And because he or she is unable to extract the B12 the end result is vitamin B12 deficiency caused by Pernicious Anaemia.

pernicious-anaemia-society....

And, do insurance companies use the same definition?

[fbirder in reply to Taffytyke]

But lots of people, like me, haven't really had a proper diagnosis of Pernicious Anaemia. If that's the case, then I don't think you should tell them you have a disease (whose name means 'deadly) unless you've actually been diagnosed with that.

Or you could try - Vitamin B12 deficiency, caused by autoimmune gastritis. After all, Martyn Hooper said that he no longer has Pernicious Anaemia, because he doesn't have anaemia.

[Taffytyke in reply to fbirder]

Thanks I have had a confirmed diagnosis of Pernicious Anaemia.

[pitney]

Age UK do travel insurance don"t know what they charge at the moment and I would also mention to any insurer that you are not having blood transfusions (assuming that you are not )as I was told once that takes the cost up

Best wishes

[Taffytyke in reply to pitney]

Thank you I'll give them a call, do you need to be a certain age, I'm 49?

[Lurcher-lady in reply to Taffytyke]

I found Age uK to be expensive even though I work for them. I found ‘All Clear’ much more reasonable although I’m in my late 60’s .i think it might be for over 50’s

[pitney in reply to Taffytyke]

I have used them since my late 50"s and I don"t remember anyone asking about age other than when filling in a form or on the phone to the underwriters of the policy, its worth asking , good luck

[Marrick]

We have a current account with RBS which includes travel insurance. My husband told them about his PA diagnosis but they didn't charge any extra. He is over 70 and already pays a bit extra because of this, so I don't know if that had anything to do with it !