Holiday insurance

Hi Gingerkitty and a warm welcome to the online community

I hope you don't mind me butting in, as I'm not a member of this group, but your subject title of holiday insurance' caught my eye.

Unfortunately it can be more difficult to find travel insurance when you have a cancer diagnosis so can I recommend that you join us over in the travel insurance group where you'll find recommendations from others who have been successful. Once you've joined look for the thread called 'recommended travel insurance' as this is where the majority of recommendations are.

It has been recommended in the past to phone the insurance companies rather than try and do online quotes as often at the end of the online quote it will tell you to phone the company and you'll then have to go through all the information again. Also sometimes the broker can refer to the underwriters to see if they would provide cover when an online quote might just give you a straight refusal. 

Make sure that you have all the information to hand about your husband's diagnosis and treatment before contacting the insurers. This is a list of things an insurance provider might want to know when you're applying for insurance. Some providers might ask for a letter from your husband's doctor saying that he is well enough to travel. This could come from his cancer team or GP.

I do hope that you can get travel insurance so that you can go on your holiday.

x

Hi Gingerkitty I’m similar to your husband. After surgery and chemotherapy I really want to do a one off trip when I can. We’ve booked San Francisco.  I haven’t taken travel insurance yet as when I did some investigation I formed the opinion that nearer to going I hope my figures would be more favourable and also less risk of change for the insurance company. Fingers crossed 

Good morning, I booked a holiday to tenerife for the 21st December to be away at Christmas 2 weeks ago. I spent days speaking to insurance companies and found the prices very high because of my diagnosis, I even tried excluding my cancer. We originally wanted to go dubai but the cheapest quote was £1200 plus pcr costs and obviously the holiday itself was expensive so we gave up with that and booked tenerife. I got a single trip policy with good to go insurance for £540, still very expensive but after what me and my family have been through we need a break. I am on enzulatimide and hormone injections. The questions are quite straight forward online once you put in the cancer related answers, spread, latest scan results and medication etc but I got better results and it was easier to phone up.

First check your bank's website - some still offer a very attractively priced deal, and while you'll have to pay an excess, it can still be a bargain (I'm with Nationwide - they had a fantastic deal, but now in the Covid Age, they've pulled it as non-viable, but other banks may still do it).

Second, decide if you want that cover, or whether an exclusion would suffice: don't be tempted to gamble, but sometimes it's an OK decision.

Third, shop around. Prices vary enormously - literally by hundreds of pounds. The downside of phoning is it's much easier for them to talk you into a bad deal. First get a list of candidates with their phone numbers - that makes it much easier to say 'I have other calls to make' - because it's true.

Hi I've looked into this as I currently have an annual policy. As far as I can tell you will not get any insurer to insure for the whole year, so it is a case of shopping around for a single trip. The best advice I've had is from a nurse in my family which is DO GET INSURED no matter how costly. She's had patients in who simply excluded their condition. Treatment abroad and repatriation was perhaps ten times the cost of getting insured or as she put it "an arm and a leg".

For my part, next year looks like a grand tour of the UK and Ireland. I will certainly look at the advice above too.   

I agree with the exclusion part, I only looked into it as a nurse told me the chances of anything happening with my cancer while abroad were very slight, but after speaking to the BIBA (I think that's right) broker he informed me that insurers would link anything back to my diagnosis, even if I fell and broke any bone, as i have spreads in my spine and on hormone treatment my bones are weaker and that's why I broke a bone so would not be covered. And that is just falling over. Just weigh up what you can afford to pay, the risk of not having insurance and how much do you want or need a holiday. My wife refused to go away when I said I would not get any insurance or exclude it. 

Not long back from a 12 day holiday in Portugal for my 30th wedding anniversary and my birthday. We had a great time & the weather was wonderful. It also took a couple of ticks out of my bucket list so happy days. Could not get yearly travel insurance just a single trip which cost £280.  Honesty is the best policy when looking for holiday insurance. I tried through my bank, Nationwide as Heinous mentioned but I was refused point blank. I now have a different current account which doesn't cost me £13 a month. Do not do an online quote as it is a robot and algorithm, speak to a real person, they have empathy.

Take care, Tom.

Hi Tom 

£280 sounds like very good value. Can you say who your insurer was?

Regards

Arthur 

That's a really good price, compared to what I've had to pay. Nobody could get close to that price. Who was the insurer if you don't mind me asking please ?

Hi Arthur and Paul,

I got my holiday insurance from MIA Travel Insurance. I phoned and spoke to a lady called Sarah who was very professional. Hope both of you (and anyone looking) are successful in securing travel insurance soon, as I know how stressful the whole episode has been for me & I`m sure it`s no different for you guys.

Take care, Tom.