Thought Id start a new thread for this on rather than tag on to my CAPOX Treatment Thread here CAPOX Journey
Travel Insurance now where do I start.
OH has been diagnosed nearly 1 Year (In September) In that time he's been through surgery before treatment for an Abscess in his bum, 25 sessions of Radiotherapy in 5 weeks (up his bum) alongside a Capecitabine chemo regime. Then 3 weeks after that he's had 3 months of IV oxaplatin + more Capecitabine.
Through all this he's felt, alone, sore, frustrated, fed up especially of neuropathy etc etc you all know the score. Through all this we were looking forward to getting to see our son in USA (Green card application prevented him from coming home) and his american wife & her family.
He's now had a GREAT response to Chemo with the tumour not visible in the bowel but still a bit in 1 lymph node. Because of this he has been advised that APR surgery is recommended to give a total removal of any cancer still lingering.
When we saw his surgeon he agreed that us having a short (8 days) holiday to see family would be good for his mental health (and mine) and would schedule surgery for mid September. So with a month to go I dug out flight details (moved from last year due to his diagnosis - That was supposed to be a Thanksgiving Trip) and we rang his Travel insurance Company (insurance he has through his bank and has had for 20+ years) to let them know & see if we needed to pay any additional premiums?
After a long discussion they told us that yes we were both covered BUT He would NOT be covered for anything related to his Cancer Diagnosis !!!! They then gave us a number to call to see if he could get cover elsewhere. Very disappointed we rang numerous other companies ................
Well the long & short of it is that yes he can get Insurance for this single 8 day trip in September to USA - BUT it will cost us upwards of £3500 (plus a few that bluntly refused)
It seems that because the cancer is still there albeit very small in one lymph node, and he is awaiting surgery he is considered a high risk.
Is it too much to ask to see our family before he has life changing surgery (Permanent stoma).
He's feeling absolutely fine at the moment and is much fitter than me (overweight, stressed & menopausal wife) but yet he's prevented (yes by cost) this holiday.
So sorry to you all for my rant (that's if you are still here reading :-) ) but the Cancer patient in the UK gets such a rough deal, you have to jump through hoops to get any help and even that isn't a given (we are entitled to NO monetary help as we have a little bit of savings) He's not been working for nearly 12 months and those savings (Retirement fund) are dwindling fast and we just cant justify spending nearly £4k on travel insurance for 8 days.
My other half (OH) Nige asked me to put something on here to warn others of this problem and be careful of what you plan. We never expected it to be such a problem especially as he's feeling great at the moment.
I know you all can't do anything but just be aware - Even Insurecancer supposedly a cancer friendly company said they will cover but usually "deal with people who are terminal and then they dont mind paying the high rates". !!!
With that I'll sign off and pour myself a very large drink. Sending love and healing vibes to you all. Bx
Hi Bella12
I’m sorry you couldn’t get insurance at a reasonable cost-it seems like yet another blow for cancer patients who have already been through so much.
My situation was different, but I’ll tell you anyway…I wanted to travel some time after my first line treatment of chemoradiation, and it was really important to me, and my OH, in terms of my mental health and feeling like things were more normal again.
I could get insurance, but without cover for anything related to my cancer, as although I had got a NED result from a scan, we wanted to travel just less than 6 months after this. We wanted to go to Indonesia for 2 weeks, and made the decision to go with insurance in place for both of us but WITHOUT cover for anything related to my cancer. I was comfortable with this, as I thought the chances of anything happening to me in that 2 week period were very small.
I was absolutely fine while away, so I’m glad I took the chance-I saw it as a calculated risk. Ironically, I was diagnosed with a recurrence just a week after we got home. But I’d had that wonderful trip. So…for an 8 day trip, would you not think about going with cover for everything but the cancer? I wanted cover for things like an accident while away, loss or theft etc and my insurance company confirmed that I would have this. For me, that was enough. Would you feel that was enough for a short trip?
Sarah xx
