Travel insurance: openness the best policy for journeys of a lifetime

But if you’ve suffered, or are suffering, serious medical problems such as cancer or a heart condition, getting insured for your holiday is anything but easy, let alone securing an affordable quote.

The number of people with pre-existing medical conditions in the UK continues to rise.

Some two million people in the UK currently live with cancer, a number that is expected to double over the next 20 years, while more than 2.5 million have heart disease, government figures show. Millions suffer from other pre-existing medical problems and, with diagnostics improving and life expectancy rising all the time, more people are living with serious health conditions than ever before.

Yet the insurance industry still fails to cater sufficiently for the millions with pre-existing medical conditions, critics claim.

And as we enter the busiest time of the year for holiday bookings, more Scots are set to discover that arranging travel insurance when you have a pre-existing medical condition can prove convoluted, frustrating and, in some cases, ultimately impossible.

Elspeth Atkinson, director of Macmillan Cancer Support, said: “People who have had a cancer diagnosis are still finding it hard to get travel insurance and often face unacceptably high premiums, even years after their treatment has finished.

“Even those who do have a policy often find it lets them down when they need it.”

The first big challenge is being accepted for cover of any kind. If that obstacle is surmounted, the next difficult task is to secure a reasonable premium.

The problem is that insurers have to make a commercial decision based on the risk of the applicant having to cancel their holiday or claim for treatment needed while overseas.

Bob Atkinson, travel expert at Money supermarket.com, explained: “The vast majority of insurers basically screen consumers to work out if they want to cover them or the price they want to do it at. They’re looking at how to protect themselves from the implications of what might be an unpredictable condition.”

So while people such as our case study Ron Robertson believe that being given the all-clear should mean they have no problems getting travel insurance, insurers will have looked at similar previous cases to see where there have been claims when they have provided cover, said Atkinson.

“It can be frustrating and difficult to understand why you can’t get cover for something,” he added.

A spokesman for the Association of British Insurers (ABI) pointed out that bog standard travel insurance policies often do not cover pre-existing medical conditions, whatever they are. “This will be reflected in the competitive cost of such policies as there is no individual underwriting. In some policy wordings the travel insurer may cover pre-existing conditions, such as cancer, providing GP says that the person is able to travel,” he said.

Yet the discrepancies between the premiums quoted for the same period can be huge.

And that lack of consistency between different insurers means those looking for cover often have to trawl through numerous websites and apply to dozens of insurers to get a decent deal, or one at all.

When you know you might be rejected for cover there maybe a temptation to withhold medical details. However, it pays to be completely honest because if you have to make a claim, it’s likely to be rejected if the insurer believes it wasn’t given all the information, regardless of its relevance to your claim.

That means you should tell your insurer of any previous medical issues, even if several years have lapsed since you last had treatment.

There is some good news, however, with Moneysupermarket.com launching a service helping those with pre-existing medical conditions to compare quotes from specialist insurers (details are given in the panel on the left).

These firms don’t guarantee cover but are more likely than mainstream insurers to offer a quote, although it won’t necessarily be very competitive.

Premiums on travel insurance where there are pre-existing conditions have vary hugely depending on the applicants age and health status. Moneysupermarket research found that a 45-year-old woman with asthma taking a week-long European break, for example, would pay just £12.70 for insurance that covers her condition.

At the other end of the scale, a couple in their fifties with one partner suffering from a major heart condition would have to pay almost £70 for a week in Cyprus. However, their policy would cover them for all eventualities, whereas standard travel insurance would exclude the heart condition.

Bob Atkinson said: “These insurers specialise in specific types of cover so they have a deeper knowledge and are prepared to take more risks than the general travel insurers looking at the broader risks.”

That expertise involves updating their pricing models in line with progress in the diagnosis and treatment of serious illnesses by the medical profession.

Mainstream insurers have been criticised for failing to take such advances into account, meaning prices based on models not updated within the last year or so are higher than they need to be, Macmillan claimed.

But this is where specialist insurers come into their own, said the ABI.

A spokesman said: “Insurers who specialise in travel insurance for those with pre-existing conditions, including cancer, will by their very nature and business model keep up-to-date and should be fully aware of latest cancer diagnostic testing and so on because if they do not then they will not be able to offer cover to their specialist market.”

Moneysupermarket’s new “pre-existing conditions” travel insurance channel is in its infancy and currently limited to just a handful of specialist insurers. However it is believed to be the first service allowing consumers to easily compare quotes from specialist insurers, sparing them having to provide comprehensive details for different insurers one by one.

But, for the millions of people who could potentially struggle to get affordable travel insurance, there’s a long way to go, according to Macmillan.

Director Atkinson said: “We want people living with or beyond cancer to be free to travel when they want, confident in the knowledge that their travel insurance will provide the cover that they need. “

Case Study: Ron Robertson beat cancer but not his travel insurer

Ron Robertson had hoped his problems getting travel insurance would be a thing of the past when given the all-clear two years ago

The 65-year-old grandfather from Perth was diagnosed with bowel cancer in 2005.

While undergoing chemotherapy and having had an operation, he decided to accept an offer of early retirement. Several months later he and his wife planned a holiday to celebrate both his retirement and the end of his treatment, only to find insurers were unwilling to cover him.

“We were going to Italy and had already booked it so I contacted Cancerbackup, now part of Macmillan, and they had a list of brokers who might be able to help. I eventually got an insurance policy that was just about affordable.”

He then took on travel insurance that came with a new packaged bank account, making sure to declare his pre-existing medical condition.

“We were going away that year and I was sent a huge questionnaire to answer. The eventual excess was £35 for the first two years before rising to £40 so I decided against paying it each year.”

In 2011 when he had been given the five-year all-clear by his doctor – meaning his risk of getting cancer was effectively no worse than anyone else’s – he took out a new travel insurance policy.

However it came with an excess of £75. “I explained I had been given the all-clear after five years but was told I would always have to pay that excess. It was such a broad brush with their criteria – they didn’t want to know what kind of cancer it was or the extent of it.”

Shortly after his all-clear Ron’s wife was diagnosed with breast cancer – and the difficulties of finding new insurance resumed. After several insurers refused to offer any kind of joint travel cover, they went to breast cancer specialist InsurePink. “The premium was fairly modest and there was no excess for Irene but I was asked for a £40 excess for my previous medical condition,” said Ron. “No account was taken of the time that had lapsed since I’d had treatment or of the risk of needing emergency treatment on holiday.”

He feels insurers fail to consider one in three people contract cancer, meaning potentially two million people would experience difficulties securing travel insurance.

“That’s a premium windfall for insurers of up to £120 million from excesses paid by people who have, or have previously had, cancer.”

USEFUL CONTACTS

• Macmillan Cancer Support: 0800 808 0000 or visit www.macmillan.org.uk/Cancerinformation/Livingwithandaftercancer/Practicalissues/Travel/Gettingtravelinsurance.aspx

• InsurePink: www.insurepink.co.uk or 0844 879 3015

• AllClear: www.allcleartravel.co.uk or 0845 250 5350

• Freedom:– www.freedominsure.co.uk or 01223 446 914

• InsureCancer: www.insureCancer.com or 01252 780190 l Free Spirit: www.free-spirit.com or 0845 230 5000

• Association of British Insurers: www.abi.org.uk or 0207 600 3333

• British Insurance Brokers’ Association: www.biba.org.uk or 0870 950 1790

• Moneysupermarket.com: www.moneysupermarket.com/travel-insurance/pre-existing-medical-conditions/

• European Health Insurance Card (Ehic): To apply call 0845 606 2030 or collect EHIC form from Post Office.