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Comparing pre-existing medical condition travel insurance

If you have a medical condition, you may have found that it pushes up the price of your travel insurance or that it’s difficult to find the cover you need.

The reason is that some health issues make it more likely that you might need medical assistance on holiday. While in the UK we’re lucky to benefit from free medical care, overseas we would usually be charged, and the price of even pretty standard procedures can run into thousands of pounds.

That’s why insurers may not cover you or charge higher premiums if they do, to help cover the cost of these expensive claims.

But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t shop around for cover. compare themarket .com can help you quickly compare prices across different providers, so that you can see if you could save money on your travel insurance with a medical condition.

What does travel insurance cover?

Holiday insurance not only covers you for cost of medical treatment abroad, it could also pay for you to get home in an emergency. Often you’re covered for a friend or relative staying with you during treatment, or flying out to support you if needed.

Travel policies also cover you if you lose your luggage or other possessions, or if they get stolen. Often you can get your money back if the trip has to be cancelled or cut short for some reason too.

Always declare your medical condition

When you compare and buy travel insurance, you’ll be asked about any health issues. It’s important that you do list any medical conditions and give insurers all the information they need because, if not, you might be charged more by your insurer or not be covered. If your insurer discovers that the medical emergency on your trip was linked to a condition you already had, they could refuse to pay your bills or add a cost.

So while it might be tempting not to mention things like high blood pressure or diabetes in your quote, you might be risking thousands of pounds. To get you a list of quotes, we’ll ask you a few questions about your health and get you to add in the names of any medical conditions. Not all of them will affect your premium.

Something to think about is whether you should buy an annual policy or single trip travel insurance. Often, if you take more than one holiday in a year, it is cheaper to buy annual travel insurance. But the best way to find out what would work best for you is to run a travel insurance comparison.

Where are you going?

When you compare travel insurance you first need to decide if your policy needs to cover you just for the UK, or for Europe, or the USA, Canada and Caribbean. If you’re going to the USA, Canada or Caribbean, or anywhere further beyond you’ll need additional cover. So if you will be going somewhere exotic, you should check that destination is covered.

By the way, your travel insurance won’t cover you if you are travelling to a country that the Foreign Commonwealth Office (FCO) doesn’t consider to be safe. If you’re not sure, check the FCO website.

Some people think that they don’t need travel insurance if they have a European Health Insurance Card (EHIC). While travelling within many European countries, the EHIC means you can get treatment at the same rate as people who live in that country. However, it will be on the basis you get taken to a public not private hospital. In the event of an emergency you will be taken to the nearest hospital. Also some policies will waive your excess if you have one.

But the EHIC isn’t a substitute for travel cover. It wouldn’t pay for getting you home or other costs linked to your medical emergency. They are also date-specific, so check the expiry on your card before you travel. Be aware too, that not all European countries recognise the EHIC.

Of course there’s no EHIC outside the EU, so in other countries it might be more expensive again to get medical support.

What will you be doing?

If you’re going skiing or snowboarding, or taking a cruise, or your trip is for business, not all travel insurance with medical condition policies will cover you. With winter sports you have a greater risk of injury, while on a cruise you might need specific cover like confinement to your cabin, or an emergency airlift to hospital. If you’re travelling on business not every policy will cover you.

Compare and save!

Next you’ll get a page full of travel insurance quotes. These are listed in price order with the cheapest travel insurance at the top.

You can also see all the main details of each policy – how well it’s rated by Defaqto, the amounts of medical, baggage and cancellation cover and how much excess you would pay if you did make a claim. You can filter your results to only show those over a certain limit, if you like.

To find out more about what is and isn’t included in the policies, click each one for more details.

Once you have found a travel insurance quote that suits you, click the button to go through and buy. But do make sure you read all the details. We hope you never need to claim, but you should make sure you have the right cover, just in case.

Don’t forget, if you buy your travel insurance policy through us, you will benefit from the fabulous Meerkat Movies! You can get 2 for 1 cinema tickets on Tuesdays or Wednesdays, every week for a whole year*. A great reason to choose us for your holiday insurance.