Senior travel insurance - pre existing conditions

[Natalie Scales]

Here's the story so far - Me and DF are looking to get married in disney in about 3 years time - I know it seems ages away but my family need the advance notice to save for those who want to come.

The problem arising at the moment is my nan - who I cannot imagine not having there has had an angina stent fitted, has had 2 hip replacements and was diagnosed with breast cancer over a year ago, (but thankfully has been given the all clear now) I have been looking at insurance as she is convinced that it will be too expensive for her to come along, and I am finding that quotes are coming back around £600 - £1000 for her alone ! it is only going to cost about £500 to get her out there including accomodation !

The question is, should we disclose all the conditions or just the angina ? Is it worth the risk ? Has anyone else been in a similar predicament at all ?

Please help, I really don't want to go without her, but we really want a disney wedding too



Thanks in advance

 

[T16GEM]

Hi there

My Dh's Grandad who is 86 went last February and couldn't even get travel insurance so he risked it without - I was really woried incase anything happened while they were away. I think that the problem he found was that nobody would even offer him a premium so he couldn't insured at all! Have you tried Saga they specialise in seniors I think?

Not something I would recommend doing though.

 

[tashasmum]

certainly wouldn't recommend doing the trip without insurance. DF pays an additional premium for his angina, but didn't think it was that much.
They get their insurance through their Bank.

 

[KayleeUK]

Just moving this to Trip Planning Natalie hopefully you should get some more help

Welcome to the DIS!!!

 

[dee slack]

Not sure if this will be useful, but I ripped a bit out of the travel pages of the paper a few weeks ago, and I quote " A holiday is sometimes the best way to recover from a serious illness but getting travel insurance can often be a minefield. The new MIA Master Travel Protection Plan policy offers cover from just £33.50 and does not require a form or letter to be completed by a specialist or GP. People will be covered if they have pre-existing illnesses such as cancer, diabetes, intestinal, lung and cardiac problems and they are fit to travel. Each case will be dealt with on it's merits and trevellers are given an MIA membership where details of their illnesses, medications and GP are stored. Call 01268 782745"
Hope this helps

 

[juliebro]

My mother gets her travel insurance through Age Concern. I don't think it's been too expensive. Worth having a look?

Julie

 

[Natalie Scales]

Not sure if this will be useful, but I ripped a bit out of the travel pages of the paper a few weeks ago, and I quote " A holiday is sometimes the best way to recover from a serious illness but getting travel insurance can often be a minefield. The new MIA Master Travel Protection Plan policy offers cover from just £33.50 and does not require a form or letter to be completed by a specialist or GP. People will be covered if they have pre-existing illnesses such as cancer, diabetes, intestinal, lung and cardiac problems and they are fit to travel. Each case will be dealt with on it's merits and trevellers are given an MIA membership where details of their illnesses, medications and GP are stored. Call 01268 782745"
Hope this helps

Thanks Dee, I will certainly take a look at this, Thanks everyone for your help and I'll let you know the outcome. It just helps to be able to sound these things out at times

 

[alisonbestford]

Often the 1 year mark seems to be an, almost, 'Magic' figure where insurance companies are concerned

You're not getting married for 3 years so I, personally, wouldn't worry about the excess premium just now.
If your Nan's cancer has still not caused any problems I'd hazard a guess that getting insurance wouldn't be too difficult

Have you tried the insurance advice offered by 'BACUP'?
I specialised as an Oncology Nurse and found their leaflets very helpful

 

[Natalie Scales]

Just thought I'd let you know that although MIA are very helpful, they would not quote to cover for my Nan traveling outside the EU.

So its back to the drawing board, I know its a while away but while my Nan thinks she can't get affordable cover, she is presuming that she can't travel and is going to miss out on the wedding.

 

[Claire L]

To be honest £600 in the grand scheme of things is not alot of money as if a hospital stay was needed for say a heart attack that could be £30000 in medical bills let alone any repatriation costs to get back to the UK, which may be upto £35000 for an air ambulance!

Alison is right that as time goes on as long as your Nan's health stays the same costs may go down a little but I not sure they will go down much as she is getting older and that alone may increase the premium.

One thing not to do is go uninsured or fail to mention some vital health issue, as for the later the insurance company may refuse to pay out if you need it as you have not been truthful when taking out the cover. We did contemplate getting married abroad but knew due to health reasons some of our family may not be able to make it so we got married close to home. Perhaps you could get married here and have a vow renewal in Florida, so then you get the best of both?

Claire

 

[chipndalefan]

Another thumbs up for age concern. I had leukemia 5 years ago and also suffer from high blood pressure, so most companys wont touch me with a barge pole. Age concern have no issue insuring me. There websites also very good as it lists the medical conditions and asks you the questions online. No need to call a pre-screening line as most companys request. Not just for seniors either, im 25.

 

[yorkshiregirl]

WE have been with M & S, AllClear and this year Insure and Go. DH has a stent fitted and other pre-existing conditions. We paid just under £100 for annual travel ins. for both of us this year. DH is just over 60 years old.
We found that the first 2 companies would insure us for the first year and then not renew us so you may have to wait until nearer the time to get a definite quote. You would not be paying in full immediatley I would assume.
Good Luck. It is hard when you have to take these things into account.

 

[alisonbestford]

Another thumbs up for age concern. I had leukemia 5 years ago and also suffer from high blood pressure, so most companys wont touch me with a barge pole. Age concern have no issue insuring me. There websites also very good as it lists the medical conditions and asks you the questions online. No need to call a pre-screening line as most companys request. Not just for seniors either, im 25.

That's good to hear

Age Concern covered DH (40), with his brain tumour, for the last two years but now I've, also, been diagnosed with high blood pressure (45).
They won't cover DH any longer (his tumour is considered terminal) but, hopefully, I won't have a problem

 

[gilld]

I would strongly advise against hiding any pre-existing conditions. My husband is a GP and when he does the report for insurance claims, he is obliged by law to disclose the full medical history not just the things pertaining to the claim.

If you Grandmother had to claim for any reason, and the Dr's report came back with undisclosed conditions, it would invalidate the policy.

Better to be truthful. Have you tried Allclear and Freespirit?

 

[Daysleeper40]

I work for an insurance company and cannot stress enough that your nan really really must disclose all medical conditions - as Gilld says above if she doesn't and then a pre-existing condition comes to light the policy may well be void.

You seem to have lots of helpful suggestions for who to try but I just wanted to suggest something else - if the premium is going to be really high you do at least have 3 years to save up the money.

Saving £1000 over 3 years would only cost you £30 a month - maybe you could set up a savings account specifically for this?

 

[JoanneR]

Hi

I've just sourced insurance for my parents - dad has had 2 knee replacements and has angina. Mum has high blood pressure (hypertension). Following initial investigations on the web I told them to expect to pay at least £500 as dad's angina hadn't been diagnosed that long (about a year). I was pleasantly surprised with a quote of £185 from Age Concern and I double checked that all pre-existing medical conditions would be covered. Following medical screening, they confirmed everything was but there was a £250 excess for anything relating to the angina.

Good Luck

Jo

 

[andrew_bichard]

Last trip to Disney in Orlando, my wife's replacement hip popped out of it's socket and she was taken to Celebration Hospital.

She was covered by insurance, but our insurers tell us that now she has a history of problems with her replacement hip, they will not give her cover for hip problems on future trips.

They will however give her cover for everything else. Although we will likely be travelling 'bareback' next trip with no insurance for her hip, we will still take out insurance for everything else.

Because we now know how much it will cost to relocate a hip ($5000), we can take a chance, but it is a risk and we could possibly end up re-mortgaging our house if worst comes to worst and she needed to come home in an air-ambulance.

Your nan should take out insurance.

Andrew

 

[Andrew Bichard]

Just checking my identity.

Seems like I have a split personality - both a DIS veteran and a newbie 'Earning my Ears'.

Go figure!!!

Andrew

 

[Natalie Scales]

Thanks for all your help with this, we have taken on board about not traveling without insurance - and to be honest we wouldn't have done this when we really thought about the implications.
After discussing things with my nan, it appears that this is not just a straight forward case of affording the insurance, due to her health she is very wary at traveling this far. However we will keep all these details and continue to hope that my Nan will be present, thanks all for your help and support.