I know many of you are jet setters so am asking for advice re travel insurance for our planned visit in September/October of this year. We want to get our flights booked but obviously need to get holiday travel insurance sorted out beforehand.
I have to mention PMR and Osteoporosis and hubby has to mention urticaria and a skin lesion which he has to have removed and then a biopsy on it - which some sites do not seem to like!
Does anyone have a recommendation for travel tips or shall I leave my hubby at home!
I think insurance is a terrible racket, no wonder governments don’t take any out. We went to Australia on the travel insurance that comes with my husband’s American Express card. Medical care in Australia is fabulous incidentally, no stone left unturned, clinics for skin lesions on every high street. My son in law, who is now a doctor in their system, seems to have complete autonomy about charging or not. This may not be helping but Australian second opinion is worth having in any case and paying for too. They strike me as pretty state of the art compared to our poor beloved NHS. None of your begging for a DEXA scan there.
Thanks for advice, I will see what my credit card offers and may even decide to take my husband with me! The doctor at the hospital said he thought the lesion was benign but said a biopsy would have to be done as a matter of routine just to check it was not cancerous.
Sorry - can't help as I don't live in the UK and can confirm SJ's opinion of UK insurance! Totally different kettle of fish over here in mainland Europe!
Have you tried your bank? My daughter uses the one with her account but has to pay a surcharge for her asthma. I think it is really a case of phoning them - websites are usually hopeless and only for the under 40s who've never been ill...
However, look at the top right of the page and you will see a box with "Related posts" - they aren't very recent but may help.
Thanks for info. As mentioned to Sheffield Jane, I will check with our Bank and see what they have to offer. I hope to be in Perth for my 70th so I suppose we are all now treated as "oldies" for insurance purposes.
One lady with PMR is furious at the IRO £1400 per annum quotes for worldwide insurance since her 70th!
Make sure you go before your birthday - she was heading for somewhere nice for her 70th on quite reasonably priced insurance and her partner was taken ill air-side at the airport so it was cancelled at the last moment. Got their money back of course - but the renewal of the insurance is the problem!
What companies do you have your household/building and car insurances with? They sometimes offer a discount if you have multi policies. Mine does - is LV.
Plus compare a year’s cover versus a single trip - you’d be surprised the annual one is sometimes better value than a single trip.
Oh, and unless you’ve booked flights, don’t go via US - that bumps the price up even more!
Just read item in paper today of a lady with bank insurance being airlifted from a cruise with heart problems and 3 stents being inserted. She is in Mexico and so far the bill is around £56,000 and not finished yet. Problem is bank only covers European travel and I bet that was in small print. I get my insurance from Staysure (there are others) who specialise in existing medical conditions. Going on a cruise on Saturday and my cover was almost enough to have a week's holiday in Europe!! I have other stuff apart from PMR and GCA.
Only just read your request so you might be sorted by now but have always found Allclear the best value in the past for pre-existing conditions when we've travelling to Oz. My husband has numerous chronic conditions including heart, sleep apnoea, diabetes and more - we do have insurance attached to our bank account (Lloyds) but does not cover these pre-existing conditions without additional premium which was more expensive than looking around as above.
Things have changed over the years, we travelled every two years for 10 years and noticed the cost of insurance has tumbled - our first journey cost £1,300 for my husband and subsequent years were more than half that, the last time was only £340! When you get there if you need to see a doctor you just register with Medicare and now you don't have to pay the initial consultation fee (as used to and claim back from another office down the road!) that is waived - but you do have to pay for prescriptions so take plenty. You can claim on your insurance if you have to for 'scripts but depending on your excess....
My husband now cannot make that journey so with family helping out the caring role I am going on a 4 day break and now need insurance for my pre-existing...so looked through enquiries@brokersure.com and found insurance for my GCA/PMR/high blood pressure/palpitations with medicaltravelinsurance.co.uk for under £30 but this is only Europe - might be worth looking at for Oz.
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