The Press and Journal (Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire)
How to find travel insurance when health gets in way
Pre-existing medical conditions shouldn’t necessarily stop anyone from taking a break, writes Vicky Shaw
Insurance provides vital help at the points in your life when you really need it. But, while it is generally widely available, not everyone finds it easy to find a policy that suits them.
They may not fit into the “standard’” levels of risk, perhaps because they have a serious pre-existing medical condition.
Help is available though for those who find themselves being refused travel cover due to medical conditions or who have perhaps found the cover they have been offered too expensive.
New requirements to make it easier for consumers with serious pre-existing medical conditions to find suitable travel insurance have been introduced by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).
The regulator previously estimated that up to 14 million UK consumers with pre-existing medical conditions look to buy travel insurance each year.
In line with the new requirements, travel directories have been developed to help firms signpost people towards a suitable policy.
One directory is available on the Money Advice Service website (traveldirectory. moneyadviceservice.org. uk).
Another has been developed by the British Insurance Brokers’ Association (Biba), and can be found on its website (insurance.biba.org.uk/ find-insurance).
Biba also has a general “find insurance” directory that helps people to find specialist brokers to help with a range of needs – from insuring exotic animals to vintage car cover or static caravan insurance.
And in another move which should help to improve access to insurance for consumers, Biba is developing an industry flood insurance directory for launch later in the year.
While many households’ current overseas travel plans are uncertain, Biba’s services have helped many people to travel in the past.
In October 2019 a 69-year-old woman who had several pre-existing conditions – including cancer – was referred to Biba member Just Travel from the association’s find insurance service.
She was able to get cover for a two-week overseas holiday the next month.
Biba executive director Graeme Trudgill said: “We are determined to help people get the insurance cover they need. It is sometimes more challenging for those with medical conditions to get travel insurance.
“With our experience in connecting many thousands of people and business with specialist brokers on all sorts of requests through our ‘find insurance’ services, we were delighted to meet the FCA criteria for a medical cover firm directory.”
UK Government travel advice can be found at www.gov.uk/government/ organisations/ foreign-commonwealthdevelopment-office