[MartynSinclair]

Thank you so much theflyingnurse for your extremely helpful additional information. Your comment below did surprise me.

“I have spoken with a friend who is the CEO of an assistance company and in his many years of experience in the industry he knows of no UK insurer who underwrite at point of purchase or point of travel”

Travel insurance must be the only insurance policy that can be cancelled by the insurer after the premium has been paid and before a risk has begun has begun.

I did have another chat with Amex’s insurers and even offered to send through the consultants report along with blood tests before and after statins. I was told this is not necessary. I do feel fairly confident I will not have a problem with Amex, despite the vagueness of exactly what would/may not be covered in the event of a claim, if claims handlers were to suggest an event occurred due to me taking statins.

I have in the meantime been contacted by another poster, who sadly has a far more complicated medical history than me. He gave me a suggestion about a broker to call who covers him & for far less than I was quoted through Staysure. The other suggestion was not to include countries I don’t go to anymore which includes USA. He suggested if I did need to go to the states, it is likely to be cheaper to pay for a one off visit, if I did have go, rather than as part of an annual policy (which is exactly what he did).

I will let you know how I get on.

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theflyingnurse

[stevescoots]

Like RoyC, i also use Natwest Gold and have the “free” travel cover. Touch wood never needed it but i have spoken to them to confirm a couple of health issues, post cancer treatment and elevated BP and if cover would be affected The BP they they confirmed not. The cancer one they did say not covered for related issues until i got the all clear for 5 years which thankfully i hit a year ago.

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ASK1945

[BPP]

There is an issue here. My travel insurance included with my bank acount costs £14.95 a month – £179.40 a year. (this also includes breakdown etc. etc). I have two cronic medical conditions requiring daily medication which are both incuded in the list of ‘conditions not neccessary to declare’.
Out of interest I recently approached several insurers for a stand alone policy. The cheapest was over £700!! What’s going on?

[MartynSinclair]

Following much research and I have found a solution. My main focus is to ensure I have comprehensive travel insurance, to include medical disclosures. I mentioned above, I do remain fairly confident, having spoken to AMEX that I will not have a problem with a claim that can be linked to taking statins.

However, thanks to a very helpful poster, he put me in touch with an online broker and I made an application, answered the very basic questions, disclosed two issues and received a very acceptable premium of less than £230 for worldwide cover for an annual policy. Interestingly, I had to include USA, because the broker considered Thailand as expensive as USA for medical treatment.

I do not intend cancelling the AMEX Plat card and understand that any claim is likely to split between the two insurers, but, I have a policy document that shows clearly what I have declared and what has been accepted as part of the policy benefits.

The Trust Pilot reviews however, were not very complimentary of the claims handlers and there is a clause within the new policy that the insurer does reserve the right to place me in a public hospital, not private hospital, depending on circumstances.

At the end of the day, my main objective was to ensure a possible shortfall in cover in the AMEX travel policy was covered (or supported) by a second policy.

I would be interested to hear if anyone feels my double cover could cause any issues, I may have overlooked.

FYI the broker is goodtogoinsurance.com and the travel policy has been underwritten by Red Sands Insurance Europe Ltd and the claims handlers are Global Response.

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cwoodward, ASK1945

[theflyingnurse]

Hello MartynSinclair,

Good to hear that you have found a company that has a reasonable premium that will give you Worldwide cover.

I agree that you should not cancel the AMEX policy. It is commonplace when someone makes a claim on travel insurance that the insurer will ask you if you have cover with anyone else, through credit cards etc. This as you probably are aware is to mitigate their costs.

I would be really surprised to hear that AMEX would not cover you in the event you made a claim. I do not see how they could directly link a claim to taking a statin, unless your medical issue was perhaps a well know side effect of the particular drug. Taking this type of medication preventatively is commonplace and is highly likely to considerably reduce the chance of a cardiac event occurring. If at any point you do have a diagnosis of high cholesterol, (or anything else), please declare this to the relevant insurer.

Regarding the Trustpilot reviews you mention, I have read these this evening and they are on the whole not impressive. Interestingly the bad reviews are all very recent and the better ones go back some time it seems. It is important to remember that there are some travellers who have very high and sometimes unrealistic expectations of the limitations of travel insurance and this can sometimes be reflected in reviews.

I have asked about Global Response and have been told by a friend in the Industry that “They are ok, but got hammered (financially) during covid and so are very conscious of cost containment”. I have read their policy wording which as you say mentions that they will not cover treatment in private facilities abroad. This is fairly commonplace but there are some underwriters who are not too concerned about it and keep in mind that there are some countries where you will be much safer in the public sector. What would concern me is if a patient was not well enough to be moved from an adequate private facility and the assistance company still insisted on it despite the clinical risk to the patient. Overtreatment is a big issue in the private sector in some countries so again the underwriter will be mindful of this.

It sounds like you have everything “covered” so to speak. Safe travels

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ASK1945, MartynSinclair

[MartynSinclair]

A final thought on Travel Insurance – this is a policy frequently bought on costs & not based on a full understanding of the benefits. It is in many cases the last part of a trip travellers consider, when it should be a priority.

I still read far too many articles involving people who have travelled with no travel insurance or who have non disclosure issues on claims.

Thank you all who have assisted with the query….

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ASK1945, theflyingnurse

[BARRYTRAVELS]

I have a worldwide travel insurance for myself & my wife via the Nationwide Building Society Insurance @ £13 a month for both , not each.

I pay extra for skiing, Scuba diving and travel in excess of 31 days.

Also extra are the supplements for my wife’s medical conditions

I take a minimum level statin & allopurinol for gout. Any claim relating to this can be covered for £25 a year

It is very cost effective for a 75 & 68 year old

I have researched LOTS of travel insurances and this is by far the cheapest & most comprehesive

Hope this is of use to the readers

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pdwtrip

[DavidDab]

I gave up trying to use credit card related ‘free’ travel insurance years ago, as a frequent business traveller. I opted for CoverMore Travel Insurance instead, available online. They offer a 1-year policy for business travellers with the option of covering all pre-existing medical conditions, following an online questionnaire. Their business policy allows for trips up to 90 days at a time, multiple trips per year and I have never had a medical claim refused, including emergency dental treatment for a broken crown. They insure up to age 75 and while the policy is not cheap, it gave total peace of mind, and easy online claims procedure. My policy was for travel out of Australia, and they had higher rates for travel to Africa and North America.

[SimonRowberry]

Hi Martyn,

As we know each other socially, you are well aware of my somewhat complicated medical history…

I too never had a chance of being accepted for the Amex Platinum insurance. However, I have used a company called AllClear. I declared all my conditions (which you know of, but I won’t rehearse in a semi-public forum – suffice it to say that they are pretty off-putting for any underwriter!

However, I got Worldwide (including US) cover from AllClear for around £500.00 a year (£439 at last renewal). This does not include cancellation insurance, but covers for £10m in medical costs, which is the most important.

Get in touch directly through the usual means if you need further info.

Cheers,

Simon

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ASK1945

[ASK1945]

“I got Worldwide (including US) cover from AllClear”

Simon, thanks for this tip. They have good ratings on Trust Pilot and Defaqto.

[SimonRowberry]

Hi ASK,

The Region to go for is Region 12 (Worldwide, including US, Mexico, Caribbean and Canada). Cancellation insurance is extra, and my policy includes a modest excess.

The positive is that I have a list of medical conditions – these are all listed in my policy document, and don’t affect my £10m medical cover, and nor does the policy exclude medical costs related to an existing condition.

It was set up online and there was no need for any medical statement from my GP or any other form of documentary proof of the conditions.

Hope that helps – it really has given me peace of mind.

As a comparison, I have exactly the same insurance for my wife and son, neither of whom have any existing conditions, and the premium for each was around £250 a year. Mine was just under £500. I don’t think a doubling of the premium was a bad deal at all, given the level of risk that I represent to the underwriters!!!

Safe travels,

Simon

[ASK1945]

Thanks Simon. For the moment I am able to stick with my RBS/NatWest insurance but we will see what happens to my premium at the next renewal, in July. The big crunch will be in a few years when I have a special birthday just before a further renewal.

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SimonRowberry

[SwissExPat]

@ Swissdiver….

What have you found to be the best availble to Swiss business (& leisure) travellers?

In the past I used premium Credit Suisse cards and managed to get paid out for “inconvenience’ evente i.e planes arriving > 3 hours late and delayed baggage.

I recently obtained a cornercard platinum (CHF 500 per year, unlimited PP access + guest, 1.5% cashback) expecting it to be comprehensive but was aghast when my bag was delayed > 24 hours only to find there was no cover at all!!

May need to rethink.

[Vistaro]

Rise above it, you don’t need to justify to anyone

[Swissdiver]

@SwissExPat, as you probably know, most of the family insurance policies exclude business travel, in a more or less clear way (I had to ask mine to clarify the situation as the T&Cs are unclear).
I have an offer on my desk from https://www.europ-assistance.ch/entreprises/voyage/voyages-professionnels: their “Essential” package at CHF 420 for one person (USA included, Russia & co excluded). Still looking around…

[Author]

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