Travel Insurance and Heart Conditions

[54Strat]

Hi,

 

Would any of you fine ladies and gents be able to recommend a travel insurer who caters for those of us with a dodgy heart. Basically, on a long haul flight how much does a stent increase the cost of insurance by?

 

cheers

 

Paul

[Xerces Fobe2]

Try John Lewis Travel Insurance

 

XF

[New Haven Neil]

Be careful with the small print.  We discovered after living here for 10 years our travel insurance only covered us from UK destinations...not the portion of a holiday from here to the UK for flights or just a visit.  They were quite happy to sell it to us though.

[Gruffalo]

After a cardiac event in 2009, I checked various specialist suppliers' prices and cover. Ultimately, my bank added the necessary for the sum of £90 pa. I have a NatWest Advantage Gold account which includes "free" travel cover, perhaps you are the same Paul?

[Tony_S]

If you are over 55 (or travelling with someone who is) we have used Saga, not for heart conditions but quite a long list of other ailments. All done online too.

[cb900f]

Hi Paul,

 

My wife had surgery for a mitral valve repair and was quoted £129 for the both of us for 10 days with a company  All Clear Options. This was to the Caribbean.

 

Another company we have used is Staysure.

 

Apologies if you already know, but if you go onto the websites you can obtain a quote through answering a number of questions yes/no.

 

Pete

[54Strat]

Thanks for the replies and the advice.

 

I used AllClear (thanks Pete)and studied the small print (thanks Neil) and got it for £44 for a two week worldwide. Oddly enough, I found the online application quite painless for a change.

 

Compared to what I've previously paid before having my condition, I'd say the stent's added 25% to the cost. Not much really.

 

Cheers

 

Paul

[Ashcombe]

We also have found Staysure to be a fair company for those of us with ongoing (but managed with medication) conditions.

[Night Train]

I have used Medici Travel Insurance a couple of times. Prices were quite reasonable for trips to Morocco.

 

EDIT: I didnt realise this was my first post here. Best go and say hello before I get accused of being a spammer.

[BR60103]

Our travel insurance covers us for 30 days continuous; we have to buy extra if we're going to be gone longer.

Two years ago my wife made a claim for an infection on one trip. When we went to buy the top-up for a later trip, there was some question whether we could get coverage (yes) and whether a flare-up of the same infection within 3 months would be covered (probably not).

 

 

An aside:

One of my professors was involved in setting up the NHS.  He said that they did a study and concluded that it would be cheaper to treat anyone that showed up (i.e. including tourists) than to set up an accounting system to charge them for it.  I think this is no longer the policy.

[Ron Ron Ron]

If you are over 55 (or travelling with someone who is) we have used Saga, not for heart conditions but quite a long list of other ailments. All done online too.

 

Saga are one of the most expensive options out there.

Try Columbus. They specialise in older travellers.

 

Some insurers give you the option of covering, or excluding pre-existing conditions.

Useful if your pre-existing condition is the least likely thing to present a problem on a trip.

 

The first port of call should be to check the online comparison sites, such as MoneySupermarket.com etc.

[6959]

Most insurers are after the low risk customers who are under 65 with no pre-existing conditions. When we hit 65 our usual agent declined new travel cover purely on age and put us onto Heath Lambert Insurance (now called Gallagher Heath). I got a quote from them and was about to buy but next day had a cold call (which showed as International on my caller display) from the same office in south east England trying to sell us financial services. When I asked why a UK caller showed up as International he said, "It's those Indians". I wrote to the head honcho complaining about poor security or a deliberate direct feed from one section to another but got 'flannel' so no more for them.

 

 

I have just taken out cover with Saga again for a complicated trip which for various reasons was not cheap. The alternative companies shown in these posts have been duly noted in my diary for next time in case I can get a better price.

 

 

On thing is important. You have to be up front about any pre-existing condition however trivial it might seem to you. Even not declaring and elderly relative with pre-existing conditions or in a care home could backfire on you if that person is unwell or dies causing unexpected changes to your trip plan.

 

 

I tried Saga online but there were too many sub-menus with medical names I did not understand so I booked Saga by phone being very frank with what I said. They were very helpful and phoned back when extra information had to be sought elsewhere and even waited for a long time on the phone (their call) whilst I phoned the doctor's surgery on another phone to get advice about the precise medical terminology when there were multiple variations of a condition.

 

 

When I mentioned to the Saga representative that there were more sub-questions on the phone application than there were online which could put online customers at a disadvantage, he said that online and phone catered for different customers. When I said that online customers with pre-existing conditions not listed could find themselves uninsured due to unintentional non- disclosure he did not disagree and tacitly agreed. This has put me off any online insurance application because it cannot cater for every condition.

 

 

One thing that concerns me is that if you have health problems and tell an insurer, they can eventually know as much about you as your doctor. When I took out Saga insurance this year he read back what they still had on their system from our trip three years ago. As insurers share information and at some time in the future may be allowed legally to sell that information who knows where it will end. CIA is almost a certainty.

 

 

I hope we do not need to claim on our Saga- arranged policy but also keep fingers crossed that if we hit troubled times they will play fair and will not weasel out of it quoting obscure terms in the small print.

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

 I have had some grief over our elderly parents during the past few years - all still happily in life - for my own and spouse's travel insurance. No travel plans for them, but all are well past 80 and as is almost inevitable by this age three of the four have significant health problems; though none of them have been given a prognosis of death in the near term. If the medical profession cannot venture an estimate of likelihood of mortality of what value is the insurance agent pestering a relative unqualified in the field for their opinion? As a result, going uninsured other than for losses of baggage, delay and other cock ups by service suppliers, and those due to criminal action or personal accidents; the price was just unreasonable to cover cancellation or early return due to serious ilness or death among immediate family.

 

There's a message here for folks with a wish to travel and see the world. Get it done early before the older members of your immediate family are in God's waiting room. Because if you wait and they enjoy real longevity, by the time you are independent, you risk being in the 'too expensive to insure for travel' category. I am not alone in this; you may imagine what it is like for a 75 year old whose wife has had a cardiac arrest,  wanting to visit his declining mother in Canada. It borders on being a worthy subject for an Albert Camus.

...One of my professors was involved in setting up the NHS.  He said that they did a study and concluded that it would be cheaper to treat anyone that showed up (i.e. including tourists) than to set up an accounting system to charge them for it.  I think this is no longer the policy.

Irresistible to remark that the starting conditions for the mid 1940s assessment would be slightly different from today possibly? Then, effectively no one came. Now 'all' the world population is a relatively cheap maximum 24 hour flight duration away.

[Tony_S]

Saga are one of the most expensive options out there.

Try Columbus. They specialise in older travellers.

 

Some insurers give you the option of covering, or excluding pre-existing conditions.

Useful if your pre-existing condition is the least likely thing to present a problem on a trip.

 

The first port of call should be to check the online comparison sites, such as MoneySupermarket.com etc.

 

I did look at Columbus and for pre existing condition cover they were £10 more than Saga. I could have chosen non pre existing condition cover and saved £40 but the only thing likely to cause a problem in my case is the pre existing condition (or the medication side effects) so that wouldn't have been wise.

MiL told me about some of her elderly neighbours who didn't take appropriate insurance to the US and had to sell a house.

[Ron Ron Ron]

I regularly have to seek out cover for both sets of parents (inc. my inlaws).

My parents are in their 80's and both have a list of pre-existing conditions that are all covered by the online websites (we have the correct descriptions).

Lots of sub-menues of questions open up when applying too.

I also phone around, so all in all it takes quite a lot of time to sort the travel insurance out.

 

A recent 3 week trip saw quotes ranging from £90 to £450. SAGA, as always, was by far the most expensive of the 6 quotes I took notice of and investigated further.

Non of their declared conditions (which are either under control, or non-reoccurring) is likely to cause any problems on such a trip.

There's more likelihood of loss of baggage, delayed departure, missed flights, accident or illness unrelated to the pre-existing conditions, so a waiver on those pre-existing conditions reduces the cost where available.

[Tony_S]

  Get it done early before the older members of your immediate family are in God's waiting room. Because if you wait and they enjoy real longevity, by the time you are independent, you risk being in the 'too expensive to insure for travel' category

In our family the oldest person is my mother in law (age 84 ) and she is the one gadding about the world. A month in California before Christmas and is off to India in March for a month. She uses a walking frame or a wheelchair now but still gets around. She doesn't go as often as she used to as she has to go business class (seat comfort) now and it costs more!

[Horsetan]

Sometimes reading the small print is enough to bring on a heart condition.......

[New Haven Neil]

We use a gold account via Isle of Man bank, that'll be the same as the Natwest one mentioned above.  I had to pay £50 extra for the drugs I'm on after my hip surgery, even though they are temporary, but at least they do cover us for travel to the UK as well as onwards (but only from 8 weeks after surgery).  It's 9 weeks todayyyyyyy!!!!   Most people here don't realise they are not covered for repatriation from the UK to here on their travel insurance. 

 

I did wonder if I was covered for returning from surgery, as we don't use airmed now, but scheduled flights.  I presume our NHS (not UK NHS) covers me.....? as they arrange it all? Must ask!