Travel insurance

Hi Graeme E 

A holiday sounds amazing but as you are experiencing getting affordable Travel Insurance can be a challenge and at times the price quoted could be higher than the cost of the holiday and some people do find that no Insurance is being offered.

I personally had to be over 2 years in remission and not on any cancer related treatments for my type of incurable blood cancer before I could get any price (and that was with my consultant saying I was clear to fly a good 18 months before) but these decisions are often all down to cancer types, treatment, prognosis and the resulting risk factor put on by the insurers risk assessment.

Comparison sites tend to use the same algorithms so getting a clear price can be difficult and it’s not that unusual to be turned down or told to call the insurers. 

It is actually more effective to do a general online search then call a few insurers directly as this means that you have answered all the questions correctly and in doing this a suitable policy can be offered and price given.

Full disclosure is always advisable as in the event of you developing any issues this can reduce the risk of an insurance companies wriggling out from paying out.

I was never able to get cover excluding my cancer in the first 5 years post treatment…… but now being over 5 years out from my last treatment I am classed as cured…… but my first Lymphoma diagnosis in 1999 is incurable - insurance is a minefield.

My latest insurance was through PayingTooMuch, the price was ok but I can’t comment about hoe good they would be in the event if a claim as we did not need to do this.

If you follow the link below…..

  Recommended travel insurance

……… it will take you to ongoing discussion thread in our Travel insurance group as it's where the majority of recommendations from other forum members are.

I do hope you can get cover. 

Hello Graeme E,

I have incurable but treatable prostate cancer (and in 2014 lung cancer treated successfully so far by surgery and chemotherapy).

My previous travel insurer refused to provide cover when the prostate cancer became incurable but I found a comparison site called albert & eddie (yes, strange name I know) which produced a solution.  This is owned by the same group that owns Insurancewith and Holidaysafe which both offer cover for cancer survivors and sufferers. I secured annual worldwide cover via this with Holidaysafe for 2025 at a reasonable cost and have just renewed this for 2026 at virtually the same price. You might find this is a solution for you.

It's important that you make sure the health questions in particular are answered correctly and it's often best to 'phone them to firm up an online quote just to be sure. 

Personally I wouldn't go down the route of trying to exclude cancer because of potential problems this could cause if you made a claim and the insurer argued there was a connection with cancer. Many insurers will also not offer this for the same reasons.

I hope you can find a reasonable solution.

Derek.