Problems with travel insurance

[Cmd83]

I was diagnosed 5 months ago with WG and have responded well to treatment. However I'm going on holiday next week and have just been looking into travel insurance. Only 1 out of 7 companies will even insure me and the cost of this is huge.

I'm assuming because it's a fairly recent diagnosis and I also had kidney damage before I was diagnosed that this is why I'm struggling with travel insurance.

Has anyone else had the same or similar problem? Can anyone recommend a company that might be better for travel insurance?

[PatriciaAnn]

You will have to try one of the specialist companies who deal with "pre-existing medical conditions". Even so you may find that the premium will be high because you don't appear to be in remission. You can find details of a number of companies on the V-UK website vasculitis.org.uk/living-wi...

You may need to shop around for the best deal, but you must disclose everything. Good luck and have a good holiday.

PatriciaAnn

[Albasain]

I had the same problem with travel insurance since being diagnosed with vasculitis last year. I wanted a couple insurance since both my wife and I would be travelling together on a long haul flight later this year.

Most of the Insurance companies mentioned on the VUK site would not entertain our conditions or if they did wanted humongous amounts of money to do so. Medici would insure me at reasonable cost but would not insure my wife.

A bit more research found AllClear insurance. The staff were very helpful and the company would ensure us both with annual world wide travel insurance at a reasonable cost to us. Still expensive than that which we were used to but cheaper than the other companies quotes. The only proviso was that we left out the Americas which would have shot the price up similar to the others.

Bon voyage!

[Ayla Volunteer]

Try Virgin. They give a good deal, even with the inclusion of the USA, if you list your kidney involvement as a part of your vasculitis, not a separate medical problem. Be aware though, any claims take MONTHS to settle!

Ayla

[BronteM]

Saga gave me a quote to go to Dubai, and raised no problems. Vasculitis and Takayasu's disease were on their drop down menu, and I was reasonably impressed with their quote. It was less expensive than I expected!

Some friends have recently come back from a skiing holiday in Canada...she skied, he lay in hospital with pneumonia. At the last moment they took out insurance with Saga, and were really impressed with the way Saga treated them, and all the support that they got. This is only two examples but it may be worth contacting them?

[andyclairegp]

My husband has WG (diagnosed Oct 2012). We have travel insurance through our current account (smile, Co-operatives Internet bank) and the condition is included with no extra premium. He doesn't have kidney involvement though. Still might be worth checking co-op.

[kimmo]

Hi,

I am not sure if this would be of any help to anyone but I have a car through motability and they send me their monthly magazine. One topic was `travel insurance` and the stories they related if you did not have the approprite travel insurance were horrific. People had even experienced difficulties in Europe with their EHIC card. Motability have their own insurance scheme and it is worth having a look at. Thanks to all the other respondents on this subject as it gives some variety to compare!

[CathT]

I have always used Top Dog Insurance, there is a drop down box for medical conditions and vasculitis is on there, they then search all the companies. I have not found a huge rise in the cost since my dx.

[SandieB]

Hi i have WG and a few other illnesses that are quite serious and i get travel insurance through STAY SURE , i have never had any trouble at all and they are always willing to help if you dont understand anything also i find them very very reasonable price wise, i renewed mine in March for the whole year. Good Luck and have a lovely holiday.

[Mooka]

Hi I had a lot of trouble getting insurance this year as I had been in hospital a couple of months before we were due to go. moneysupermarket.com has a search engine for travel insurance and you can enter your details in there and they will bring up the ones that will cover you. I found there was a massive difference in price and a lot of companies wouldn't insure me at all. moneysupermarket.com/travel... This is the link - hope it helps and you have a good holiday.

[Cmd83]

Thanks for all the advice. I went with insurance from cover for you in the end as all of the others were so expensive... I think going to the States and Canada didn't help! I did actually get quite ill at the end of the holiday but didn't use the insurance as I just wanted to get home.

Hoping that the insurance quotes will go down next year as it'll be a year after diagnosis.