Travel Insurance after hysterectomy

Hi nightingale19

I hope you don't mind me butting in, as I'm not a member of this group, but I noticed you're post asking about travel insurance.

Unfortunately, it can be more difficult to find reasonably priced travel insurance when you have had a cancer diagnosis so could I suggest that you come and join us over in the travel insurance group where you'll find lots of recommendations for travel insurance.

To join just click on the link I've created and once you've done that look for the thread called 'Member's Stories' as it's where the majority of recommendations from other forum members are. Depending on what type of device you're using this thread will either be on the right-hand side or at the bottom.

It is best to phone the insurance 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 phoning. This is a list of common questions that insurers might ask.

I do hope that you can get insurance and that you have a lovely holiday.

x

We were going for a week to Spain last year and the quotes were more than the flight! I tried a number of companies but they all ask if you have had cancer and any fo!low up treatment. Initially the lowest quote I had was £175 as I was within a year of treatment, my last brachytherapy session was Oct 12 2018 so on oct 13 I redid quotes as it was over a year since treatment and got a policy for £63!!

Hey there nightingale,

In remission, cancer free, no evidence of disease often doesn't matter to insurance companies. They are only interested in timelines, so how long you've been free. As Julie says, things will come down if you can go a full year without anything going on.

But in regards to your questions about exclusions, yes. Lots of companies will exclude your cancer and then give you cover for everything else. Each time I've travelled, I've excluded my incurable thyroid cancer in my bones, and also my endometrial cancer. It's taken my quotes down from literally thousands, to a fiver for one policy I had. lol. So I'm covered for anything that goes wrong with the holiday, any luggage going missing, anything medical that's not related to my cancer, just like any other policy.

Both of my cancers are slow growing and there's nothing that's going to change within a week or two that's going to mean I need to cancel, fly home unexpectedly, need to be admitted to hospital, etc etc. So I'm more than happy excluding mine. Also. I've only ever gone to Europe, when we were still a part of the EU. So if I did have to be hospitalised then my EHIC card would have meant I'd have been covered as a resident of the country. So nothing astronomical unlike if I'd been in Thailand or the US etc.

So have a think about it, look up what you'd be liable for if you did have to go into hospital, and if you could afford it, then make up your mind. As I say, I've taken the gamble a few times because otherwise I'd not have been able to afford to go away at all!

Lass

xx

I was diagnosed right before we were due to go on holiday. I got really frustrated that either I couldn’t get insured or it was really expensive. This year boots were brilliant! Give them a go. X 

Thanks very much Lass  very useful to know. 

I am not sure whether brachytherapy is really a follow up..In my case as it was all specified provisionally before I even had the initial operation - assuming the original staging remained unchanged which it did  - as part of the main treatment. I am cancer free at present, so the brachytherapy is not actually treating anything its just bells and whistles. But if I want to go to Sicily this summer I might look at excluding the cancer and insuring  everything else. 

It's still classed as followup and treatment in the eyes of insurance I'm afraid, so we're you covering everything, you'd need to declare it. 

L

Xx

I've found that companies would be willing to cover me, but excluding all of my pre-existing conditions (the endometrial cancer stage 1a which didn't require any treatment other than the hysterectomy, mitral regurgitation fixed by a mitral valve repair  operation in 2018, and high cholesterol, successfully reduced and controlled by statins).  As others have said, the companies seemed not to take my actual state of health into consideration, only the dates when I needed treatment.   Have you needed hospital treatment within the last 3 months - yes.  Have you needed hospital treatment within the last 2 years - yes, twice.  Were they one night hospital stays - well the  hysterectomy was, but after the valve repair surgery I was in intensive care for 8 days - audible intake of breath on the phone at that reply!!!

They stressed that excluding those conditions meant that not only would I not be covered for any medical treatment linked to those conditions, but also no cancellation cover linked to those conditions would be included, nor would my husband be covered for anything linked to those conditions.  

As I've found from reading the Travel Insurance section of this website, there are companies in the UK which specialise in providing cover for pre-existing conditions, although they can be very expensive.  They are not available to me, though, as I am not a UK resident (I live in Spain).

I have reluctantly come to the conclusion that with so many exclusions it would not be safe to rely on that limited coverage so I can't plan any trips for the next couple of years, will try again after that if (hopefully) nothing else crops up in the meantime.

I can risk travelling to the UK as I am entitled to NHS treatment there (legally) as I hold an S1 form, and for the remainder of this year the EHIC card will still be valid.  I think people who have been unlucky enough to have been diagnosed with cancer or other serious conditions are going to find themselves badly disadvantaged, though, once the UK is no longer a part of the EHIC arrangements (unless some kind of new agreement is arrived at during the Brexit transition period).

I have to look around for travel insurance because my husband has a heart condition and it's always expensive however I found that mine has not increased too much since my cancer diagnosis and treatment but that could be because it's 2 years ago. We'd like to go to Canada and an Alaskan cruise next year and the cheapest insurance so far is £650.00!!!!

 Very helpful information ladies

thank you