Winter Sports travel insurance

Hi and welcome to the online community

I'm glad to hear that you have responded well to your treatment and that you're planning a winter holiday.

Unfortunately, it can be more difficult to find reasonably priced travel insurance when you have had a cancer diagnosis. I don't know whether you've had a chance to look through the member's stories thread yet as it's where the majority of recommendations from other forum members are. If not, clicking on the link I've created will take you straight there.

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. 

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.

I'm not aware of any particular companies that specialise in winter sports cover but, when you phone them, it would probably be best to start off by saying that you need your cover to include winter sports. That way if they don't include winter sports cover in their travel insurance you haven't wasted your time giving all the rest of your details.

I do hope that you can get some reasonably priced insurance and do come back and let us know how you get on.

x

Hi PhilBill

I have been ski-ing a few times since diagnosis with advanced cancer (still visible on scan).  I found that once you got to the point that an insurance company would offer you travel insurance it was fairly easy to add the winter sports cover on top.  It's an addition but it should only be about £20 to add it on to the travel insurance.

Good luck

Thank you all for your help. By the responses would I be right in assuming trick is to call round and get quotes to start and if I can get insurance bolt sports on but this is in part dependent on the further away from diagnosis and treatment the better ??? I ask this as it has only been approx 18 month since diagnosis and the Immuno therapy which has worked brilliantly is ongoing  for rest of my life. 
One more thing Would I letter from the consultant be beneficial ??

Thank you for you reply My I inquirer which. Insurance company you are with and we see what they say

Hi

I haven't needed winter sports cover on my travel insurance but, if I were you, I'd start by asking the insurer if they do winter sports cover so that you don't spend time going through all your details only for them to say they don't do it.

Different insurers look at pre-existing medical conditions in different ways. I'm currently 3 years away from my diagnosis and treatment. Some insurers don't add any additional premium now while others still do. I think that generally the further you are away from diagnosis and treatment the more likely you are to get reasonably priced travel insurance. You've said that you'll be on immunotherapy for the rest of your life so the insurers will take this into account.

Sometimes insurers will ask to see a letter from your consultant to prove that they have given you permission to travel but you won't need to provide this unless asked.

x

Hi PhilBill

You are right that the further away from diagnosis and treatment then the easier it is to get insurance.  However, that does not mean that you cannot get insurance regardless of where you are.  I remember going through very rigorous questions and saying to them that I wouldn't be considering going ski-ing if the answer to some of their questions were 'yes' because I just wouldn't feel like ski-ing!

It can help if your doctor would be willing to say you are fit to travel.

Places I have contacted before with success have been insurancewith, Eurotunnel and Free spirit .  

I had to ring Insurancewith as they wouldn't offer me insurance over the internet because I have ongoing cancer.  They asked a lot of questions, some of which I had to go back to my doctor to check (which organs had the tumours touched, not necessarily invaded - huh?).  At the end of it I did get a quote that was reasonable which included snow sports.

Eurotunnel were much easier as they operate a 'fit to travel' policy which means the questions took five minutes and as long as my doctor was ok with me travelling then they were willing to insure.  However, they have changed their rules and you have to book a holiday through them to get their insurance now.  They also cover snow sports.

Free spirit also do snow sports on top of medical travel insurance.  They ask more questions than Eurotunnel but I didn't get into the tortuous detail with them like I did with insurancewith.  Again they came back with an affordable quote which covered my condition.

There are other companies that will also do medical travel insurance with snow sports.  These are just the ones that I have had a quote from that wasn't more than the holiday and I know they'll offer snow sports cover.  You might have to have a callback and speak to the underwriter but that's ok because it means they're willing to try to get you cover.

If you're going to Europe also make sure you have an EHIC card.  I just checked for my ski trip and even with Brexit the intention is that it will be honoured in Europe up until December 2020.  It covers emergencies but wouldn't cover needing to be transported home.

Bare in mind that to date I have not yet tested any of these companies with a claim.  So I don't know how good they are in that respect.  I would hope that if they are all regulated then this shouldn't be an issue but I have heard of some issues dragging on for months with some insurance claims.

Most importantly though, enjoy your trip:)