travel insurance

OH had major surgery at Christmas and we were quoted £955 for a two week trip in Europe. Tried another company and again it was a ridiculous price 'though we had used both companies previously and they were good value (Staysure was one, the other was Insureandgo or Goodtogo). Checked the MSE site and found Holidaysafe worked their quotes out differently, instead of listing the illnesses they list the drugs and ask a few more questions. We ended up paying about £285 for annual worldwide cover for both of us. Definitely worth considering for more serious complaints or the inevitable aging.

We had a similar renewal quote from Staysure, tried Avanti and that was even worse. Eventually took out travel insurance with Direct line(we have car insurance with them) for equivalent cover and that was £250. You do have get online an quote to get the cheapest deal but as long as you start online and speak to them about any medical queries and in our case wanting full wordwide (including USA and Canada) and cruise cover they honour the online conditions. The problem with bank account policies is that they generally do not cover once you get past your mid 70's.

My late Dparent had cancer and when they were in remission they were told it would be £500 for travel insurance AND that still wouldn't cover the cancer. They got in touch with Macmillan I think who steered them to a cheaper provider.

So my advice would be to get in touch with a charity who supports people with your condition. If there is a cheaper insurance they will know about it.

I have had this problem in the past but through a Google search a couple of years ago I found this company, who are amazingly competitive and certainly not the cost of another holiday. Please give them a try and get a quote, nothing to lose.
www.holidayrisk.com/
Hope you are successful, but please do not pay your original quote that is insulting!!

I've just got mine for my trip to Australia a months cover is £90, 61years young with one existing medical condition I went with stay sure I've done car insurance as well this time as on comparison site they were the best. Yes yes yes you most definately need travel insurance it starts from the airport for duration of time away.

I have a flex plus account with nationwide that provides annual cover. You do a phone line question and answer to see if there are additional charges. There is a £10 per month charge but they pay 5% interest on amount up to (I think) £2500 so in effect I pay £48 per annum for travel insurance plus there are other benefits that I haven't used.

I have never posted on here before but, remembering the hard time that I had when looking for insurance post breast cancer, I thought I would take the plunge! I can absolutely recommend " Insurancewith" with the web address of www.insurancewith.com/
My husband is insured via "Columbus Direct" with the web address of
www.columbusdirect.com/
I would recommend asking for a quote from both of these (although I have to say that Columbus would not even consider insuring me after the breast cancer).

just to add I am 80 yrs old with a few other minor ailments too, but I'll keep going to see my daughter and family as long as I can despite the cost !!!

I brought this question up last year when I was quoted £3,000 for a trip to the States (I had had cancer 3 yrs previously)I shopped around and the lowest I could find was £1,100, this was to cover me for 7 weeks to visit my daughter, twice the price of the tickets. I've just been again and for 4 weeks it cost £635, I don't include baggage cover or cancellation cover to keep cost down to that level.

As a reminder if anyone is having any form of medical investigation whether minor or major all travel insurances become invalid.

Most companies increase the premium when you attain age 70, my husband and I live in Cyprus and have an annual policy that covers us anywhere in the world, when David reached 70 the premium went up so we shopped around and found a similar policy for much less with a local company, the funny thing was when the paperwork arrived, the head office was in Billericay, Essex. We would not travel without insurance it gives you peace of mind and you never know what may happen

Yes, Ajanela, Portugal was wonderful, just came back! We were cautioned that we needed travel insurance if we went to Spain because of their 'issues'. But I took a the annual trip policy anyways as we are going to the US in autumn, so are covered now till next June for any trips. When I cost it out, it is decent value for money.

Well in Portugal and many other EU countries you will be cared for very well with
your EHIC card. ( whilst we are part of the EU) But repatriation would be the problem. Do some credit cards offer insurance if you use them to pay for your holidays? I remember a friend was repatriated from Goa after a nasty accident all paid for by the credit card country.

At those prices many people must travel in Europe without it but US, Australia and other places no way.

We bought a world-wide policy for a year, much cheaper than for a trip. Both have 'controlled' high BP. A few hundred for a year for two people worldwide is not bad. Sandye's quote seems high, maybe she can do better with the suggested sites here!

Air fares are so low, that I look at this as a balancing of travel costs. When flying to the US was higher, those were the days of lower insurance for our age group, etc. Now it comes out the same almost with the lower air fare and current insurance quotes.

Just my 2p... but then I lived in the US where I paid hundreds of pounds a month for health care. If I was still there I'd be paying thousands. And with that mind-fart in the white house retracting Obamacare, we would have been in deep do-do.

We went to Thailand late last year and both husband and I have medical conditions and we used Age Uk which do not worry about age or illnesses as long as you don't have a terminal condition they will insure you, also had an additional policy to guarantee no excesses the total for 17 days was £210 hope this helps

Go to Money supermarket and find their travel insurance medical conditions section. I've got cholesterol and high blood pressure and I can usually get a week in Europe for less than £20 and I'm 70

Never go without insurance. We have had close friends (young and foolish) in dire straights abroad, one lost a leg as doctors in Vietnam would not treat him until money came through, after a funding page was set up and his parents got a loan, he was air lifted to UK by which time, amputation was only option.

Another young friend was airlifted home at enormous cost to die here among family.

WE no longer go abroad - OH not well enough and the insurance for us both was of the wall, even after shopping around. I do not bother with insurance for the cost of cottages that we rent, as the insurance is costlier than the rental and we are within the NHS.

The only good reason for travel insurance is because of health treatments abroad - were we ever to go abroad again I would not hesitate to take out insurance.

I can thoroughly recommend Nationwide. We have annual insurance with no surcharge for high cholesterol, BP and statins, just a small one for being over 75. It was well tested last year when DH had a fall and was in a Tunisian hospital for 4 days. Nationwide handled the claim speedily and with no quibbles - we were very impressed.

Insure@holidayrisk gave me an excellent price for an annual travel insurance within Europe. My bank in the first instance said they couldn't insure me then after a review they quoted an astronomical price which I turned down. I have several existing medical conditions which I would always inform all holiday insurance companies. I would never ever travel without insurance. Be aware most insurance companies ask if you're going on a cruise as I believe this will cost extra.
I fought a battle with my banks insurance company AXA who's underwriters said a visit to hospital for an ECG was classed as a hospital visit which bumped up costs. I challenged them with support from the Scottish legal system and help from my MSP and they overturned their original decision. This visit was classified the same as an X-ray. What a carry on however I was given a small remuneration from my bank for the inconvenience they put me through. I'm now fully insured all the year round which makes me feel confident should I take ill abroad.

I have just renewed mine and got £154 for annual insurance,both of us high bp.with age uk ,we are early 60s.
Had been with saga ten years but wanted £254 this year,ridiculous
This is for Europe tho.
If you need USA cover it was over £350 and the world except USA slightly cheaper

Try a comparison website like this one for example:
medicaltravelcompared.co.uk. I've used it several times. I tend to pick the cheapest quote from a company that I've heard of, rather than just the overall cheapest quote, which has been with Admiral recently.

If you go on Martin's Money Savings Expert website - they have a good list of cheapest and best available.

Try EHIC top up insurance if you're going to Europe.

I had open heart surgery 9 months ago and three months ago obtained medical travel insurance from holidaysafe.co.uk. I paid £220 for a whole year's insurance. They were recommended by Which? I'm certainly very pleased as I expected to pay much more.