How to stay covered if your trip has a twist
From bungee-jumping to travelling with existing health issues, our guide to getting the best insurance
IF YOU – or your holiday – are not quite run of the mill, do not fret. It is possible to find affordable insurance for almost any trip. Here, The Mail on Sunday shows how.
HEALTH
INSURERS say the biggest sums they pay out on travel policy claims relate to medical bills following an illness or accident abroad, including the cost of repatriating travellers back home.
Of the total £370 million worth of claims paid in 2014, £206million was to cover the cost of emergency medical expenses and repatriation.
This explains why insurers have become a nit-picking bunch when grilling holidaymakers about pre-existing health conditions before they buy cover. Depending on the medical issue, insurers can refuse to cover them, exclude the disclosed condition or bump up premiums sharply.
Any of these scenarios poses a serious risk to the peace of mind and pocket of a holidaymaker.
But they can be overcome as motherof-two Sally Forbes discovered when looking for travel insurance for a wellearned two-week family holiday to Walt Disney World in Florida planned for later this year.
Sally, a nursery administrator from Derby, who is married to prison gym instructor Terry, 44, sought a policy that would cover her four-year-old son Ben, who was diagnosed with a brain tumour almost two years ago.
After two operations and chemotherapy, Ben is now in remission and Sally and Terry decided a treat was in order for the family, including six-year-old sister Amy. Sally says: ‘Terry’s work colleagues raised money so we could take Ben on a trip to Disneyland which was amazingly kind of them.’
She started hunting for insurance on comparison websites but was shocked by sky-high quotes and panicked that they would not be able to go on the trip. Sally, 36, says: ‘The first quote we received was £3,800 – as much as the cost of the holiday.’
She turned to cancer charity Macmil- lan for help. Its website mentioned Insurancewith, a specialist insurer for holidaymakers with health problems. Sally contacted them and was relieved to be offered a policy for £177 that would cover Ben.
She says: ‘The company asked detailed questions in a sensitive way. Ben wasn’t just a number. It was a relief to deal with a company that was not trying to make a buck out of bad fortune.’
Fiona Macrae founded the company a decade ago after struggling to find affordable holiday cover when she was diagnosed with breast cancer.
Her company uses a specialist screening service that asks more detailed questions than most providers. She says: ‘A brain tumour can be life threatening but also treatable with many affected leading long lives.
‘We have worked with cancer charities to make sure our questions are not too invasive or insensitive – but at the same time enabling us to get a true picture of the person we are providing insurance for. We don’t try to trip up applicants and we use tailormade medical risk screening. With travel insurance you are not insuring someone’s life – you are just insuring their holiday.’
Macrae does advise those with pre-existing conditions to be realistic for the first couple of trips following treatment.
She says: ‘Keep any holiday to Europe as you avoid the stress of a long flight and you can be flown home more easily if you fall ill. Don’t travel if you are ill because if the airline has an inkling you are unwell, it won’t take you because it costs a fortune to redirect a flight.’
Macrae says her firm will do all it can to insure someone who has a pre-existing medical condition. She says: ‘We try not to turn anyone down. We might reject someone who wants to go to the US or the Caribbean but Europe will usually be fine.’
TOP TIPS
Always declare any pre-existing conditions.
Avoid taking a policy that excludes your condition. It may cut your premium but a claim could then be rejected if the insurer thinks it is linked to the excluded condition. For example, certain cancer treatments can cause weakening of the bones. So, if you break an ankle an insurer might try wriggling out of paying.
Consider travelling nearer to home as it will be easier and less costly to get back if you have a problem – and insurance premiums will be lower.
Remember your European Health Insurance Card if travelling in Europe. Although it only covers treatment in state hospitals at the same level as nationals receive – and does not cover repatriation costs – many insurers will waive a policy’s medical excess if you have the card.
CRUISING
HOLIDAYS aboard ships are increasingly popular. In 2014, 1.6million Britons took a holiday on an ocean liner, up from one million ten years earlier.
But this is no ordinary holiday when it comes to travel insurance. Those taking a cruise face specific risks – such as being far from land in an emergency; the often heftier cost of the holiday; and the need to book the most popular ships far in advance. Plus they are typically older than most people holidaying abroad.
Kate Huet, managing director of specialist insurer International Travel and Healthcare, says: ‘In May, the itineraries will go on sale for the 2018 world cruises departing in January of that year.
‘State rooms, which are suites with balconies and 24-hour butler service, are extremely popular and go first but they are expensive and it is not unusual for someone to pay £80,000. With such a long lead time between booking and travelling, it is important to insure against having to cancel such an expensive trip.’
Most standard travel policies do not cover a holiday booked so far in advance.
Huet says: ‘Most cruise travellers are over 65 and the average age of our policyholders is 77. Some standard policies won’t even cover people that age as they have health conditions. Although we can’t guarantee we’ll cover everyone, we’ll cover most.’
It is vital to have insurance that pays out for medical treatment on board. She says: ‘Costs are horribly expensive, typically £5,700 a day if you end up in the ship’s medical ward – and that’s before any X-rays or medication.
‘Travellers should take their own medicines with them as we had one claim from a client with indigestion who had to pay £40 for a consultation, £20 for the private prescription and £8 for a pack of indigestion tablets. That’s the financial penalty for being part of a captive audience.’ Cover must also include being helicoptered off the ship, which could be in the middle the sea.
Huet says: ‘It can cost more than £100,000 to be airlifted from the west coat of the US. From France it ’s £5,500.
‘Then it can be £25,000 a day for hospital treatment. The costs quickly mount.’
Retired classical guitarist Professor Paul Norris, from Paignton
in Devon, was relieved to have had insurance cover for a planned worldwide cruise with his wife Christel.
They were due to take the £13,600, 50-day cruise last October, visiting destinations such as the US, Hawaii, Fiji and New Zealand.
Paul, 71, has visited most of these countries during his career but had never had time to play the tourist.
He likes to travel but since he now suffers from diabetes and heart problems, he was vigilant about buying a travel policy that would cover these conditions. He paid £1,100 for an annual policy for himself and 63-year-old Christel.
Unfortunately, just three months before the trip Paul suffered a freak accident in his car outside their home when he attempted to get out after smelling burning.
He was unable to switch off the ignition and the car shot forward, demolishing a neighbour’s wall and in the process fracturing his neck.
He says: ‘I broke the same vertebra as the Superman actor Christopher Reeve who ended up paralysed, but I was lucky as the break missed my spinal cord.’
Paul, who is still recovering, had to cancel the cruise. The insurer paid them £10,000 – the maximum under the terms of the policy. Paul says: ‘The cruise company only refunded us £900 but we were relieved to get the cancellation payment from the insurer.’
The couple have not been deterred from going on cruises. They are booked on another voyage to Tanzania in June.
TOP TIPS
Check whether ‘cabin confinement’ compensation is payable under the insurance. For example, the norovirus stomach bug that spreads easily in closed-off spaces is a potential hazard for cruise travellers who can be asked to stay in their cabins until they recover.
Ensure you are covered if a connecting flight is delayed or cancelled, causing you to miss your cruise.
Unused excursions. You may not be covered for these unless the outings were arranged and paid for at the time of booking the holiday.
Emergency airlift. Cover for this is vital for any passenger who falls seriously ill on board.