New cancer diagnosis - travel insurance

Hello Rosiexsam 

I am sorry to hear about your recent diagnosis and the difficulties you have been facing with the travel cover.

It’s not uncommon for travel insurance companies to decline cover after a diagnosis and it is something we hear a lot of patients have difficulties with. It’s important to note that if the insurer isn’t going to cover you for the cancer, this will usually allow you to make a claim on the policy if you wanted to cancel the cruise.

Some cruise holidays require you to have full travel insurance cover with no exclusions to board the ship. This can make this type of holiday for those who are just diagnosed very difficult to go on. Many insurers can’t offer cover when cancer staging, and treatment is not yet known. You’d have to check with your cruise holiday provider about their policy regarding this.

Getting travel insurance after a diagnosis can be more difficult and costly. We can’t recommend any financial products or services but hopefully you may find the following information helpful if you are going to be looking for travel cover.

Firstly it may be worth looking on our online community. We have a helpful travel insurance group here. On this page people affected by cancer discuss their experiences trying to get travel insurance and post recommendations of companies they’ve personally used. By using the information provided by others who have been in a similar position, hopefully you can make a shortlist of companies to try. 

Another option for finding travel insurance is the Travel Insurance Directory which has been created by MoneyHelper (a separate organisation to Macmillan).  The directory can be used to search for FCA approved travel insurers who may offer cover to people with pre-existing medical conditions. Please visit their directory here.

Do you have any travel insurance cover in place through your bank account or a credit card? They won’t usually automatically cover for pre-existing health conditions, but if you’ve got this cover already through a product it’s worth checking on. They may be able to offer full cover if a top-up fee is paid.

Most companies will ask you very similar or even the same questions. The medical screening systems they use are often the same, which leads to repetition of the questions. Please don’t let this put you off, despite being asked similar questions each company will have their own quote at the end if they can offer cover – so it is worth persisting and shopping around. If you’re struggling to properly explain your situation with the questions asked, you can ask if it’s possible for the company to manually underwrite the policy, this may be particularly relevant to you as you are unlikely to have the information they require. This is where a person would look at your health situation and decide whether to offer cover and at what price, rather than a computer making the decision. Some companies may do this as their standard procedure.

You may find that some companies offer a policy with a cancer-related exclusion. This means you wouldn’t be covered for any claims relating to your endometrial diagnosis. However, as I mentioned earlier you would have to check what the cruise provider is willing to accept in terms of insurance cover. This could affect the premium considerably, but it’s very important to consider the risk of not being covered for anything relating to cancer.

One last thing I’d like to mention is about the insurance those you’re travelling with have. Some policies may cover cancellation if something happens to a ‘close family relative’. The exact cover would be explained in your policy documents, it’s a good idea to check exactly what may be covered. Some companies may only cover cancellation due to a close relative’s illness if it was disclosed and they were told about the person’s health conditions beforehand.

I hope this information helps and that you’re able to get cover in place. If you have any further questions, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with us.

Kind regards,

Chris H

Financial Guide

Thanks for your input, it's very useful. I've actually realised that the main issue that I'm dealing with is that my travel insurance company were wrong to tell me I should either cancel my cruise, or discontinue my policy. They gave me no advice. At the time I was determined that I was going to continue with my plans to cruise so felt obliged to cancel my policy. I have now been told that medically, the cruise is no longer an option.

I feel I was dealt with unfairly and have now officially complained. Finding new cover is not relevant right now. Later in the year I trust that I will be in a position to require a new policy. 

Hello Rosiexsam 

I’m sorry to hear about the issues you’ve been having with the insurance company.

Whenever someone is dissatisfied with a company they have the right to raise a complaint. Now that you’ve taken this step, the insurer has eight weeks to fully investigate your complaint and provide you with a final response.

If the insurer hasn’t looked into and responded to the complaint after 8 weeks, or if you’re not happy with their response, the next stage is to complain to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS). The FOS is there to give an unbiased answer about what’s happened. If they decide someone’s been treated unfairly, they have legal powers to instruct the company to put things right.

In order for them to look at the complaint, the FOS will need the policy number, a brief outline of the problem, and copies of any paperwork or letters.

The FOS will look at both sides of the story and find out the facts of what’s happened. If their decision is in favour of the person complaining, they will tell the insurer to put the matter right and may ask them to pay compensation and costs.


For information on how to send a complaint to the FOS visit:

www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/consumer/complaints.htm  

 
For information on the type of complaint the FOS deal with visit:

www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/about/index.html  

If you have any reason to have your complaint escalated to FOS, it’s important to do this as soon as possible after the company have responded. This is because there is a set time limit of 6 months after their final response. After this time FOS would need the company to agree to them looking at a complaint.

For further information on these time limits visit:

https://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/faqs/all/time-limits-consumers-making-complaint-complaint-time

Please keep us in mind if you need any support during the complaint process or to chat through any other potential options for your situation. Just call us on 0808 808 0000, select option 1, then 2 and then 1 again to get through to the financial guides.

You can also contact FOS directly on 0800 023 4567.

Let us know if there is anything else we can do to help.

All the best,

Chris H

Financial Guide