Recommended Travel Insurance

Has anyone up here ever had a claim through Boots? We found them helpful before when buying, but later read some rather worrying news about them not bringing someone home from abroad who needed to be brought home. I know this is a rather extreme example.

Hello! My husband and I are going to Goa this spring, what can you recommend me? Two weeks, renting a villa there/Also interested in hearing about Boots, though I've read pretty controversial things.

Hi  and welcome to the online community

Unfortunately, it can be more difficult to find travel insurance when you have a cancer diagnosis. I don't know whether you've had a chance to look through this thread yet as it's where the majority of recommendations from other forum members are. 

Most people recommend that you phone the travel companies rather than try and do online quotes as sometimes they can refer to the underwriters to see if they would cover you when an online quote might just give you a straight refusal. 

Make sure you have all the information to hand about your diagnosis and treatment before contacting the insurers. This is a list of common questions that insurers might ask when you're applying for insurance. Some insurers might ask for a letter from your doctor to prove that they have given you permission to travel.

If you type 'boots' in the search bar in this group it will bring up any previous posts about this company and you can have a read of these and reply to any member if you want to ask any further questions about their experience.

I do hope that you can get insurance so that you can go on your planned trip. Do come back and let us know how you get on.

x

Hi

We used to go to Goa in January every year. Unfortunately with my health issues we haven’t been for 3/4 years. Its my dream to return one day but unfortunately with my current health situation it is unlikely. 
We used to stay in the Cavelossim area and there are excellent medical facilities nearby.

I’ve used insurancewith.com a few times and they are very good. We were booked to go to Crete in October but I developed Pneumonia so had to cancel. A letter from my GP to confirm I was in hospital was all I needed for a full refund.

Hope you get to Goa and have a wonderful time. We used Silver Waves Shack, on the Beach and their sister restaurant in the evening 

We have got a cruise booked in March and were insured with the Post Office. My husband was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer on Christmas Eve but the doctor says it will be ok for him to travel. I phoned the Post Office to tell them and they said they would no longer insure us but they would cover us if we needed to cancel. This annoyed me because it seemed a bit like saying they wouldn't insure us because our house has caught fire. Anyway, I tried some of the other companies that people have mentioned. None of them would quote online but I phoned a couple who said that they couldn't quote until his treatment has started. Is this normal? 

Hi and welcome to the online community

It does seem very unfair that travel insurance companies can choose to cancel your insurance when they are told about a change to your health but, unfortunately, this is something that they can do although I believe that they have to still give you the option of cancelling your holiday which they will then pay out for.

Understandably though, you don't want to cancel your holiday if your husband is feeling well and your husband's consultant has told him that he's okay to travel. I have seen a few comments on here from people who have said that they couldn't get cover until treatment had started but I don't know if this applies to all travel insurance companies.

Most people recommend that you phone the travel companies rather than do online quotes as sometimes they can refer to the underwriters to see if they would cover you when an online quote might just give you a straight refusal. 

I do hope you can get cover so that you can continue with your planned cruise. Do come back and let us know how you get on.

x

Where is this list?

Hi

As I said in my reply to you here, I'm not aware of any list of travel insurance companies that cater for cancer patients but there are plenty of recommendations from other community members in this thread. It's a good place for you to start and compile your own list.

had lung cancer surgery last april(lobectomy) paid 26 pound single trip europe Holiday Safe had to answer a few questions about condition  100 pound excess.

Going back a couple of years or so travel insurance for us cancer sufferers was a bit of a struggle. It is one of those items that keeps coming up here but it has changed in recent times. Now the likes of Compare the Market, are offering cover where they didn't previously as more companies appear to be offering insurance.

You can now find a company that will offer you a reasonable rate which stays the same no matter how far in advance of your trip you take the policy out. I was about to do that until I had a word again with my current insurer, Saga, how it has worked for us with them and read in more detail their conditioins.

On our trips we are only outstanding the deposit (usually £60 x 2) until ten weeks before departure when the balance has to be paid. With Saga if you take out their insurance as you pay the deposit, possibly several months in advance, it can work out as expensive. However I have learnt that if you get an on line quote  (to be sure you can get the insurance and a 30% discount) as you book your holiday, leave it until just prior to your balance is due to be paid and call them up.

At this time they will dig out your earlier quote and we have found that it has reduced to become one of the cheapest so we are sticking with them.

Last June we had to cancel a holiday due to my first ever TIA and they covered that without it affecting future business. We have had three trips since and just arranged another for March.

I am sure that there are other companies just as good, but for us we now have our own personal contact with them and it suits us well.