Why are cancer survivors penalised for going on holiday?

Like most people, Janine Summers had suffered from the occasional headache, but earlier this year she started experiencing headaches that were really quite different. They occurred every few days and the pain was excruciating.

‘if i bent over i got this sudden intense throbbing in the front of my head,’ says Janine, 44, from Preston.

Over-the-counter painkillers were of little use and her GP referred her to her local hospital. Within days, the divorced mother-of-one was told she needed urgent surgery to remove a brain tumour.

However, it was not cancerous, so there was no chance of it spreading and no need for chemotherapy. ‘it came as a relief to hear it was benign,’ says Janine.

Once she had the tumour removed, Janine was looking forward to resuming life as normal, and doctors said she needed only routine checks.

So, it came as a huge shock when in April, Janine tried to buy travel insurance for a Christmas trip to the Caribbean with her 13-year-old daughter Abbie and was quoted ten times her normal rate.

She had existing cover through AXA with her Halifax bank account. For a £10 monthly fee, she received travel insurance, mobile insurance and car breakdown cover.

‘After my illness, i rang my insurer to let them know,’ she says. ‘i was transferred to the medical specialist team at AXA and was told i’d have to pay a premium of £258.’

Furthermore, the increased premium would not cover any complications arising from her tumour diagnosis or surgery — even though she’d made a full recovery.

‘i was incensed. i had been given the all clear and told it was extremely unlikely the small bit of tumour left would affect me again.

‘i asked the call handler why i was being charged so much and how could i be a higher risk. She was very sympathetic, but the quote was generated by her computer.’

Janine abandoned plans for her dream holiday because the cover on top of everything else would have been prohibitively expensive.

The Financial Services Ombudsman says claims over ‘pre-existing’ medical conditions make up a large part of its workload.

Consumers must declare a diagnosed medical condition at the time they buy travel insurance, or update their insurer if they are diagnosed with a serious illness after the policy began.

insurers are then entitled to exclude cover for any illnesses and treatment costs, or charge a higher premium. However, as the Ombudsman warns on its website: ‘Some insurers try to exclude from cover not only pre-existing medical conditions but also any conditions that arise between the start of the policy and the start of the trip. We generally take the view that this is not fair and reasonable.’

Futhermore, there is no agreed definition of what constitutes a serious illness. The Financial Services Ombudsman says that insurers only need to be informed when there has been a ‘fundamental change in health — such as heart attack or cancer’.

But what angers customers like Janine is that, even when they have made a full recovery, they can still be penalised — even years later.

Julie Costin, 63, used to enjoy an annual two-week summer break in Spain, for which insurance would cost around £15 per trip.

But this year, when the divorced secretary from Greenwich, Southeast London, looked for cover to attend a friend’s wedding on the Greek island of Santorini, she was astonished at the premiums quoted. ‘The lowest was £700 and the highest was £2,500,’ says the mother-of-one.

The reason was that in 2012, Julie was diagnosed with lung cancer. She had surgery to remove the top half of her right lung followed by chemotherapy. The treatment was successful and six months after her diagnosis, Julie returned to work.

SIX-MONTHLY checks in the four years since have confirmed she remains cancer-free. And having quit smoking on the day of her diagnosis, she says she is healthier than she has been for years.

‘i said to one call handler i was probably more likely to die of a heart attack on holiday or get hit by a car than fall ill with cancer again.’

Julie did eventually find insurance for just £22.50 after a friend referred her to insurance With — set up by Fiona macrae, who also struggled to find affordable cover after suffering breast cancer.

The Association of British insurers says policies are designed to offer broad cover to as many people as possible. To keep costs down, this means excluding or charging a premium for existing conditions such as respiratory illnesses, heart conditions and any mental illness.

The ABI insists premiums reflect the risks involved. it says anyone who can’t find reasonably priced cover should contact the British insurance Brokers’ Association to help identify specialist insurers.

Janine, meanwhile, feels she’s being ‘punished’ for having been ill.

‘my tumour was a massive, lifechanging experience and now it seems as if my insurer is saying, “We are going to make you suffer even more,” ’ she says.