Travel Insurance

I am 82 and have several medical conditions including cancer 5 years ago. I travel to USA to visit family and was paying over £1000 pounds insurance per trip until I found 'Holidaysafe.co.uk' where I pay £170 for 31 days cover for everything.

Gosh I didn't know Trailfinders was still going. My first trip to Oz in 1982 was with them---£700 return, Manch to Sydney with SAL airways. Can't remember how much the insurance was but it wouldn't have been costly as at 42 I had no health issues.

However, in the Sunday Express in the mid '90's there was an advert for cheap flights by Airtours £260 return Manch/Sydney so I rang them thinking it was a misprint---it was a misprint as it was £250 return ! So I booked and paid there and then for D and 2 GC to go before Christmas. There were just 3 seats empty.

Presumably these were " spare seats ?" because others had paid full fare at £ 880 return !

It pays to book and pay last minute !

Whatever you decide on, the most important is adequate cover for repatriation and medical transport back to the UK should you need it. I always use Trailfinders. Not cheapest but worth the peace of mind.

Travel insurance is a type of insurance designed to cover the costs and losses associated with unexpected events incurred while traveling.

There was a good article in Saturday's Times regarding travel insurance if you have a medical condition. They advise you try All Clear MIA and Towergate insurance.
M0nica do make sure that you have cover to bring you home ( dead or alive ) and cover for family to come out if needed . Just because you are in Europe does mean there are no costs if you fall ill .

Lynnebo, I think you have to be under 80 to join NFOP but as long as you join before you are 80, you can remain with them.

My mum is 86 and we are currently looking for travel insurance. She has issues connected with living a long time but is otherwise fit and healthy. Insurance prices we are being quoted are as much as our planned holiday! We shall check out NFOP. Thank you!

We had hsbc cover but that finishes at 70, so searching fir another as i reach 70 next week. Now how did that happen?

We get our travel insurance through the bank who provide basic insurance free as a perk with our bank account. DH pays an extra sum because of his medical conditions and this year we paid an extra £25 because we were both over 75.

However all our travel is within the EUm where we can use our EHIC cards. If we were going further afield, we would probably get travel insurance that is more comprehensive.

I have had problems getting holiday insurance. I had no problems until I hit 70 and was kicked out by my normal company (and I used to work for them!). I am having treatment for a lung condition and paid £230 insurance for a three week holiday in Cuba this year. A friend told me about a civil service pensioners scheme (NFOP) which has a travel insurance with two rules. You must have not had a terminal diagnosis and your doctor is happy for you to go on holiday. This is also open to pensioners of some other companies. I have a bank pension and this was acceptable. The annual cost, incuding membership is £216. The friend who told me about it says that she has never made a claim but there is no reason that I can see to worry about it. I have had to book extra holidays to make full use of my annual insurance!

This week on tv Martin Lewis mentioned stay sure, all clear, holiday save and leisure guard. We used get going for a 10 night break in Cyprus last November which included my dh ongoing checks for prostate cancer. A 10 day insurance was £20.

AutieFlo is correct.
Make a list of the phone numbers of travel insurance companies and do the phoning.
I find this is the only way.
Or
You could go thru a broker, generally they will charge a service charge.
Companies exchange information about us going back a number of years so it is always best to be totally honest with your answers.

We had to renew our annual travel insurance recently having had to claim last year when we couldn't go away as DH wasn't well enough. They paid out promptly.
This year, did as others have said, searched companies who do previous medical conditions. Found 3 quotes, all comparable benefits-rang from £200 to £1,200!
Don't forget to be scrupulously honest about everything.

Suzz, that's like saying, how long is a piece of string.
It will depend on so many variables.
Where you are going,
For how long,
UK or worldwide.
How old you are,
Have you any health problems
and so on and so on.
You need to do a search and compare companies. It could be a long process.
And, there may be lots of GN's who will give you a much better idea

Hi Suzz have you tried searching on travelsupermarket.com - click on travel insurance - it's a comparison site.