Travel insurance conundrum!

tatli_lokma

Hi Folks,

Just wondering, does anyone know an insurance company that will cover you if a family member has a pre-existing medical condition/is elderly, but who don't charge the earth for it? I don't mean the people travelling, I mean family who are at home who have a pre-existing medical condition.

I usually book with getcover.ie - find them to be the cheapest but with good levels of cover. My dad is in his seventies, and as one would expect at that age, has a few health conditions.

My annual multi trip was due for renewal and I renewed as normal. As I have done before, due to my dad having a few medical conditions I phoned the screening line. Usually I have to pay an additionale €15-€20 premium based upon my dads health concerns, but I don't mind as I would rather pay it and have peace of mind.

However, I just got off the phone with the screening company. It appears that they won't cover me - not because of my dads health issues, but because he is 77 and they have set a limit at 76 as the maximum age of family members with a health condition.

This whole thing just seems bizarre to me - basically they are saying that they will only cover you for repatriation in the case of cancellation or curtailment due to a family member taking ill/dying if said family member is 76 or younger and had no pre-existing medical conditions at the time of purchasing the policy!

I can't get my head around it - basically if an elderly family member takes seriously ill or dies, if that person was over 76 and you did not declare it, you might not be covered!

I also find it bizarre that in effect insurance companies want you to take out insurance really only if you are very unlikely to need it. What I mean is, if you have an elderly relative, unless they are generally without any medical conditions (unlikely, lets be honest that by your 70's you will have no pre-existing medical conditions) then they charge you a premium to take out a policy - in some cases I have heard of the premium being in excess of €200. Most people take out insurance not only to cover belongings but for the peace of mind of knowing that if a loved one back home got sick you could return. If everyone is in perfect health, you wouldn't even be worried about such things! its only when you have older or infirm people in your family that you actually really need this cover.

So anyway, now I'm a bit stuck. Getcover said that they have never been made aware of this requirement by their underwriters, and this is why it is not even mentioned in their policy booklet. I am waiting for them to get back to me, but I have a feeling that if the underwriters allow me to proceed they will charge me a hefty premium to be covered.

So, back to my initial question - does anyone out there who has an elderly (77+ yrs old), ill, or incapacitated family member have a name of an insurance company who will provide cover for a reasonable price?

blindside88

Little Ted wrote: »

Hi Folks,

Just wondering, does anyone know an insurance company that will cover you if a family member has a pre-existing medical condition/is elderly, but who don't charge the earth for it? I don't mean the people travelling, I mean family who are at home who have a pre-existing medical condition.

I usually book with getcover.ie - find them to be the cheapest but with good levels of cover. My dad is in his seventies, and as one would expect at that age, has a few health conditions.

My annual multi trip was due for renewal and I renewed as normal. As I have done before, due to my dad having a few medical conditions I phoned the screening line. Usually I have to pay an additionale €15-€20 premium based upon my dads health concerns, but I don't mind as I would rather pay it and have peace of mind.

However, I just got off the phone with the screening company. It appears that they won't cover me - not because of my dads health issues, but because he is 77 and they have set a limit at 76 as the maximum age of family members with a health condition.

This whole thing just seems bizarre to me - basically they are saying that they will only cover you for repatriation in the case of cancellation or curtailment due to a family member taking ill/dying if said family member is 76 or younger and had no pre-existing medical conditions at the time of purchasing the policy!

I can't get my head around it - basically if an elderly family member takes seriously ill or dies, if that person was over 76 and you did not declare it, you might not be covered!

I also find it bizarre that in effect insurance companies want you to take out insurance really only if you are very unlikely to need it. What I mean is, if you have an elderly relative, unless they are generally without any medical conditions (unlikely, lets be honest that by your 70's you will have no pre-existing medical conditions) then they charge you a premium to take out a policy - in some cases I have heard of the premium being in excess of €200. Most people take out insurance not only to cover belongings but for the peace of mind of knowing that if a loved one back home got sick you could return. If everyone is in perfect health, you wouldn't even be worried about such things! its only when you have older or infirm people in your family that you actually really need this cover.

So anyway, now I'm a bit stuck. Getcover said that they have never been made aware of this requirement by their underwriters, and this is why it is not even mentioned in their policy booklet. I am waiting for them to get back to me, but I have a feeling that if the underwriters allow me to proceed they will charge me a hefty premium to be covered.

So, back to my initial question - does anyone out there who has an elderly (77+ yrs old), ill, or incapacitated family member have a name of an insurance company who will provide cover for a reasonable price?

As far as I can remember vhi multitrip covers for this, as with all insurance there will be t's and c's

tatli_lokma

blindside88 wrote: »

As far as I can remember vhi multitrip covers for this, as with all insurance there will be t's and c's

I already tried them at the outset - Ithe initial premium itself was €83, then when I advised them of dad's pre-existing condition it jumped to almost €250 :eek: sure if there was an emergency, a flight from my holiday destination would be max €350. In that case I would be better off taking a gamble and god forbid, were something to happen just get on the next flight home.

On that basis I am thinking of just taking out a basic policy, not declaring anything about my dad, and god forbid if anything were to happen, just swallow the cost of getting home. So then I am personally covered should anything happen to me (which would be the most expensive cost if medical treatment or repatriation was required), and if anything were to happen at home just foot the bill for that myself.

When getcover give me a call back I am going to suggest this to them, and say I will be happy to sign a waiver to that effect.

Sucks though - you take out insurance but it is only useful if the out of the ordinary type events happen, but aren't covered for the things most likely to happen, such as a family illness or death.

Reminds me of a friend, who similar to myself always paid a higher premium to be covered as her mum had a plethora of medical conditions. In the end, she had to come home early because her mum ended up seriously ill in hospital....not due to one of her million conditions, but because she slipped when she was at a wedding and broke her hip and leg in three places (she was dancing at the time! so despite her million conditions she was a very active lady!).

loopymum

I'm not sure if I'm reading this correctly or not but are you saying your dad is not travelling? It reads like? It is you who is travelling isn't it?
If your dad is not travelling then your dad does not require travel insurance.

Gatica

Little Ted wrote: »

you take out insurance but it is only useful if the out of the ordinary type events happen, but aren't covered for the things most likely to happen, such as a family illness or death.

To be honest that's how I've always understood insurance to work. It's there to take care of costs of the out of the ordinary occurrences. If it's a certainty that something will happen, they will not insure you. Like during the volcanic ash a couple of years ago, you couldn't take out insurance to cover that because it was a known event; or insurances will also not cover pre-planned strikes (known before the cover was taken out).

like loopymum, I also get the impression that you're trying to take out travel insurance for a non-travelling relative. I don't ever remember reading in their policy that illness or death of a relative causing you to cut your trip short has to be pre-assessed... Though there might be some conditions around events with a certainty, like if you know he will go for an operation on a particular date, etc...

Pythia

Little Ted wrote: »

I also find it bizarre that in effect insurance companies want you to take out insurance really only if you are very unlikely to need it.

I am afraid that is pretty much the principle of insurance. They do not like high risk events. They have priced or excluded this from experience. You could just buy normal travel insurance and know that you are effectively not covered for early return home in case of family illness.

(I do understand that you aren't looking for insurance for your dad, it's insurance for you in case you need to come home quickly if he is sick.)

As another note, elderly people can also find it every difficult to get travel insurance.

tatli_lokma

loopymum wrote: »

I'm not sure if I'm reading this correctly or not but are you saying your dad is not travelling? It reads like? It is you who is travelling isn't it?
If your dad is not travelling then your dad does not require travel insurance.

No my dad is not travelling, but my dad has a medical condition. All travel insurance companies require (in the small print usually) if you or someone in your immediate family have a medical condition that you declare it and be screened. You will incur an additional premium for this.
The concept is that if you or someone in your family has a pre-existing medical condition that you will be more likely to need insurance therefore should pay a higher premium. And lets be honest, how many people out there have absolutely all members of their immediate family in 100% perfect healtyh with no pre-existing conditions? Even if your sister has diabetes you are supposed to declare it - if you don't and you needed to return home or cancel your trip they could refuse to reimburse you because you didn't declare it.

pythia wrote:

am afraid that is pretty much the principle of insurance. They do not like high risk events. They have priced or excluded this from experience. You could just buy normal travel insurance and know that you are effectively not covered for early return home in case of family illness.

Yes I do understand that, but it seems strange that as this is a renewal, and nothing has changed in my fathers condition, all that has changed is that he is now 77 and not 76. I just find that a bit odd - its not even that they want to charge a higher price on the premium, its a straight out no purely due to his age. In fact even if he had the health of a 20 year old they wouldn't insure me purely based upon his age. I thought this was no longer allowed - as far as I was aware they cannot refuse insurance, although they can price it at such a premium that would make it unlikely you will take the insurance, but I thought they were no longer able to refuse?

It particularly seems strange that the underwriters have this age rule in place for family members, when even the insurance company are not aware of it?

Anyway, the problem I now face, is that because I phoned the underwriters and basically flagged my name to them, I can't just cancel and take out a basic policy and not claim in the case of family illness - apparently this underwriters are linked to quite a few other insurance providers. If I do go ahead and take out a policy elsewhere, then in the T&c's where they ask if you have been refused insurance elsewhere I will need to lie.

Looks like the easiest thing - if the underwriter will agree - is for me to keep the current policy but sign a waiver stating I will not make any claims in the instance where I need to return home or cancel due to a situation with my father's health.

Gatica

ok, sorry misunderstood your post. It looks like your suggestion is the best course of action. Have insurance that will cover any other insurable event bar that single thing that they do not wish to cover.

Pythia

Little Ted wrote: »

I thought this was no longer allowed - as far as I was aware they cannot refuse insurance, although they can price it at such a premium that would make it unlikely you will take the insurance, but I thought they were no longer able to refuse?

I think you are thinking of car insurance as it is mandatory by law to have it. It's not a legal requirement to buy travel insurance so they can refuse you.

tatli_lokma

Pythia wrote: »

I think you are thinking of car insurance as it is mandatory by law to have it. It's not a legal requirement to buy travel insurance so they can refuse you.

ah, I thought it was the case for all insurance. Never mind