Travelling with a Medical Condition - A Quick Guide to Travel Insurance

There are plenty of things to think about when planning to travel with a medical condition, from ensuring you have all the medication you are likely to need ready to take with you to taking appropriate precautions to prevent symptoms flaring up.

But one thing that often catches people out is travel insurance. Until the first time you try to buy insurance for a trip following a diagnosis, you may not even realise that standard policies do not cover specific conditions. All too often, people slip through the net entirely, failing to declare their condition and only finding out when they need medical help abroad and try to make a claim - only to find their insurance company won’t pay out.

This is the kind of highly stressful situation no one needs to find themselves in, especially as medical costs can be eye-watering for foreign travellers. That’s why it is important for people with a long-standing illness to get up to speed with travel insurance rules before they head off.

Not declaring your condition could invalidate your policy

It is essential that you tell any insurance provider you approach about your condition. It is not just a case of making sure they pay out if you need medical assistance related to your condition, but ensuring your entire policy remains valid. You could end up having an accident that is completely unrelated to your condition and need hospital treatment. If you make a claim and your insurer finds out you have an undeclared pre-existing illness, they are likely to declare the policy invalid, leaving you to foot the bill.

Will they charge more to cover me?

Once you declare a pre-existing medical condition, an insurance provider will do one of two things - either decline to sell you a policy entirely, or offer you cover with a significant premium added on top. Most general travel insurance providers are not set up to mitigate the potential risks and costs related to individual conditions and their treatments in any kind of scientific way, so they protect themselves by ramping up the price of the policy considerably.

Is there any way to avoid paying high premiums?

Buying travel insurance when you have a pre-existing medical problem is always going to cost more than purchasing a low-cost general policy because there is a heightened risk of you needing to access more expensive medical assistance while you are abroad. However, that does not mean you have to accept the first elevated premium you are offered.

The best option is to shop around for a provider which specialises in bespoke policies for specific medical conditions. These insurers base their business on having an in-depth knowledge of different treatment costs and risk ratios and are therefore able to formulate policies to offer better value than the premiums charged by more mainstream providers. They will also often tailor policies to individual needs, perhaps partnering with a medical expert and asking to carry out an examination so they can build a policy matched to your specific requirements. Not only does this save you money, it also provides extra peace of mind.

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*This post is sponsored by Avanti Travel Insurance