‘I practically fell over after I noticed the journey insurance coverage quote,” says the retiree Bernie Lawrence. The 77-year-old from Fleet, Hampshire, says that after he developed coronary heart issues, the price of shopping for cowl grew to become “astronomical”.
Lawrence, who often travels together with his spouse, Barbara, 79, says he had all the time been energetic and match earlier than struggling chest pains whereas out operating in 2018. 9 days later, he underwent quadruple bypass surgical procedure.
Earlier than the surgical procedure, the couple purchased annual journey insurance coverage insurance policies for Europe for below £100. Nonetheless, after the operation, and as they received older, costs started rising sharply.
In 2022 they paid £302 for a similar stage of canopy. After he suffered briefly from atrial fibrillation – a standard coronary heart rhythm dysfunction – and was positioned on an NHS ready checklist for an echocardiogram, they have been quoted £1,200.
“I simply couldn’t consider it,” he says. “All I used to be ready for was for them to inform me one thing I already knew: that it had gone and possibly wasn’t going to come back again.”
Unable to attend months for NHS affirmation, he paid privately for the scan.
As soon as he had the all-clear, his journey insurance coverage quote went to £584. The couple paid £805 in 2024 after which £1,009 this 12 months for annual cowl earlier than a Mediterranean cruise.
Whereas he says he thinks insurance coverage firms look on older individuals as “a little bit of a money cow”, he provides: “You possibly can’t actually argue with them as a result of they are saying: ‘Properly, you’re 77 years outdated and also you’ve had all this stuff prior to now.’”
Medical payments
Regardless of by no means making a declare on his coverage, Lawrence believes you will need to have cowl. Nonetheless, hundreds of thousands of holidaymakers with pre-existing medical circumstances are planning to journey overseas this summer time with out insurance coverage, in line with a survey by specialist insurer AllClear that recommended 18% of Britons will threat not shopping for cowl.
That can go away them susceptible to massive payments if something goes fallacious. Two years in the past, insurers paid out £262m for medical bills for UK travellers who wanted emergency care or remedy whereas on vacation.
Some international locations such because the US and Canada cost a whole lot of hundreds of kilos for remedy when you fall sick, so you will need to discover the proper cowl, says James Daley, the founding father of Fairer Finance, a analysis and ranking company.
“Journey insurance coverage can get very costly when you’ve received a pre-existing medical situation,” he says. “Nevertheless it’s extremely essential that you just take out insurance coverage that covers you on your situation – notably when you’re travelling to international locations just like the US the place there’s no reciprocal well being settlement with the UK.
“If you find yourself having a medical emergency within the US with out insurance coverage, the prices can run into the tens and even a whole lot of hundreds of kilos.”
Shopping for cowl
The price of a coverage might be primarily based in your age, the situation, the place you’re travelling and for a way lengthy.
Worth comparability web sites help you seek for insurance policies even if in case you have pre-existing medical circumstances, however you will need to verify the small print with the insurer earlier than you pay. Additionally it is value checking something you declare to the comparability web site is included in your coverage particulars when you undergo to purchase the quilt with the insurer.
In the event you can’t discover cowl through a mainstream comparability web site or by a standard insurer, specialists akin to Medical Journey In contrast and PayingTooMuch, or AllClear, may assist. You might additionally discover a dealer through the British Insurance coverage Brokers’ Affiliation (at biba.org.uk) that can assist you.
When you’re making use of for canopy, an insurer will ask you to inform it about any medical points that you’ve got had throughout a sure interval – often the final 5 years.
Nonetheless, the questions can return totally different lengths of time relying on the supplier and situation – typically protecting the earlier two years or 5 years, and even longer for severe diseases akin to most cancers or coronary heart illness.
In the event you had a situation and have recovered and never acquired any extra remedy since this time, then you do not want to reveal it.
You could contemplate shopping for a separate coverage for the particular person with pre-existing circumstances slightly than a pair’s coverage or group insurance coverage, however Tommy Lloyd, the managing director of Medical Journey In contrast, says his firm would typically suggest that your complete travelling social gathering is insured below the identical coverage wherever doable.
“This helps be sure that cancellation and curtailment cowl applies persistently throughout the group,” he says.
“For instance, if a traveller’s medical situation unexpectedly worsens earlier than departure and the vacation needs to be cancelled, a joint coverage is extra seemingly to supply safety for all insured travellers who’re unable to journey in consequence.”
He provides: “Whereas value is understandably an essential consideration, travellers ought to be cautious to not focus solely on the most cost effective premium. The scope of canopy and the way it responds when travelling companions are affected by a medical situation may be simply as essential as the value paid.”
Frequent circumstances
Some frequent circumstances, akin to anxiousness, hypertension, arthritis and bronchial asthma, solely add just a few kilos to a typical coverage.
You could, nonetheless, face excessive prices if you’re nonetheless below investigation for a situation or ready for remedy.
Disclosing any medical circumstances is crucial, as you possibly can invalidate your coverage when you don’t.
We sought quotes for a traveller with no pre-existing medical circumstances and in contrast them with the prices for a similar traveller with certainly one of a number of totally different circumstances.
Declaring anxiousness didn’t improve the premium on this instance, however the different circumstances did bump up the value. Being identified with angina and having had a coronary heart assault had the most important influence of all of these we checked. This added about 50% or so to the value.
It might not all the time be doable to simply discover cowl, relying in your situation and the way latest your analysis is.
In 2021, the Monetary Conduct Authority launched guidelines for insurers to assist prospects with pre-existing circumstances. If an insurer is unable to supply cowl or if the premium is greater than £200, it ought to signpost you to a specialist firm that may supply insurance coverage.
An Affiliation of British Insurers spokesperson says that when persons are on the lookout for journey insurance coverage, “we suggest buying round for a coverage that meets your wants, and evaluating elements akin to journey size, vacation spot and coverage extra”.
The spokesperson provides: “Bettering entry to insurance coverage is a key precedence for our business, and we proceed to have interaction with members and stakeholders on this problem.”
Our worth verify
We checked costs for a 57-year-old traveller taking a seven-night journey to Spain utilizing the Medical Journey In contrast web site.
We discovered that the influence of pre-existing medical circumstances on journey insurance coverage premiums can differ relying on the situation declared.
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No situation declared: £12.43.
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Identified anxiousness dysfunction, not referred to psychiatrist: £12.43.
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Identified bronchial asthma, taking as much as two medicines for it: £14.65.
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Angina, one earlier coronary heart assault, no new signs, at the moment match: £18.76.
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Breast most cancers, final remedy three to 5 years in the past, given all-clear: £13.94.
Case research: ‘It’s simply ridiculous’
The part-time parish clerk Ian Wardle, 68, from Hatfield Peverel in Essex, says he was quoted as much as £6,000 for journey insurance coverage after being identified with non-Hodgkin lymphoma – leaving him questioning whether or not he may afford to go to his brother within the US.
Wardle was identified with the most cancers in July 2020, in the course of the peak of the Covid pandemic, after discovering a golf ball-sized lump in his neck. Scans and biopsies revealed he had 26 cancerous lymph nodes, with some “the dimensions of an orange”.
Wardle underwent chemotherapy from September 2020 till January 2021, adopted by upkeep remedy till the tip of 2022. He has since been given the all-clear.
As soon as he recovered, he and his spouse returned to travelling, together with journeys to the Maldives, for which he was capable of finding inexpensive cowl.
Nonetheless, when he tried to rearrange insurance coverage for a solo motorcycle street journey to go to his brother in South Carolina in 2024, he was shocked by the quotes given on comparability web sites.
“A few of them, even only for every week’s cowl, have been like £5,000 or £6,000,” he says. “I used to be simply pondering: ‘No, I’m not paying that. It’s simply ridiculous.’”
Wardle says the excessive premiums nearly stopped him travelling.
“It simply put every part in perspective,” he says. “I simply couldn’t justify spending that kind of cash for every week’s journey.”
He discovered extra inexpensive cowl by AllClear Journey Insurance coverage and he says he was blissful to name slightly than shopping for on-line. “Having the ability to discuss to somebody was fairly essential,” he says. “There’s all the time a fear that when you don’t tick the proper field or miss a element, then they gained’t pay.”
He now pays about £1,000 for an annual coverage that covers journey to the US.
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