Honesty is best policy

I RECENTLY had to make a claim on my travel insurance and it made me look at the policy in more detail than I perhaps otherwise would have done.

Our policy comes with our bank account and it is in force as long as we continue to operate our current account the way we do.

That makes it simple because we don’t have to remember to renew the policy before we go on holiday, or get to our destination and wonder whether we have cover or not.

What we do have to remember to do, however, is tell our travel insurance underwriters if anything has changed with our health before we go away.

If we forget to do this and have to make a claim when we are away or have to cancel a holiday for health reasons, there is a real risk that our claim will be declined.

That’s because the insurers will only deal with claims that come as a result of a new illness or one that has already been disclosed to them and taken account of in their pricing and underwriting.

So let’s say you have some chest pain and shortness of breath two months before you go on holiday, resulting in a trip to the doctor and medication for angina.

You don’t tell your travel insurers then go on holiday and suffer a heart attack when you are away. it’s likely your claim for the medical expenses will be refused because you had a pre-existing condition that you had seen a doctor about before you travelled.

If you had never been to the doctor with shortness of breath before you travelled and had a heart attack on holiday, you would be OK.

Likewise, if you book a holiday and have to cancel because of a medical condition, you won’t be able to claim cancellation costs if the travel insurers reckon it is for a pre-existing condition you should have told them about.