Renewing our annual travel insurance....

Well, any day now I'm expecting to receive our renewal quote from our insurance Company for our annual travel insurance. We have been with the same Company for almost five years and each year at renewal time I have something of a "skirmish" with them over the new price quoted. We're still with them but I'm beginning to ask myself if we're staying with them because its "easier" than shopping around. "Easier" because they know of mine and my wife's existing medical conditions ( pretty typical for a 74 year old man and a 68 year old woman) and I don't have to start the rigmarole of going through the quoting process again.

Anyway, I'm going to take time out this year to, as they say, shop around. I know that I've seen threads on travel insurance on this site previously, but up to date suggestions as to quality and competitive Companies who I can look to for quotes would be appreciated. We tend to cruise twice a year and that's about it for overseas travel.

Thanks in advance for any replies,

David.

Good morning,

We've always used World First https://www.world-first.co.uk/.

They seem to be very competitive...and helpful on the phone too.

Hope this is of help

Cheers

Try Eurotunnel. Don't do America for those of a more mature age, but great for pre-existing conditions. You need to phone them as they don't do online quotes but very easy 5 main questions that you're not travelling to obtain treatment or against doctor's orders. I've had Breast Cancer, hip replacement and husband has Type 2 diabetes, high BP etc. Aged 56 and 59 and our joint annual policy is £76. All pre-existing conditions are covered.

Try Eurotunnel. Don't do America for those of a more mature age, but great for pre-existing conditions. You need to phone them as they don't do online quotes but very easy 5 main questions that you're not travelling to obtain treatment or against doctor's orders. I've had Breast Cancer, hip replacement and husband has Type 2 diabetes, high BP etc. Aged 56 and 59 and our joint annual policy is £76. All pre-existing conditions are covered.

But do they cover helivac should the need arise?

Try Eurotunnel. Don't do America for those of a more mature age, but great for pre-existing conditions. You need to phone them as they don't do online quotes but very easy 5 main questions that you're not travelling to obtain treatment or against doctor's orders. I've had Breast Cancer, hip replacement and husband has Type 2 diabetes, high BP etc. Aged 56 and 59 and our joint annual policy is £76. All pre-existing conditions are covered.

From "jimsgirl"

$76 seems very low, given your medical history.

From experience it is ABSOLUTELY necessary that the ins. will pay for :-

Emergency medical care on board ship, transport to on shore hospital , all costs at that hospital (could be for over a week), cost of a nurse if need be to escort you back home to USA, cost of air fare (business class at least back to USA, cost of transport to your home town hospital (where hopefully Medicare/or similar will take over) Refund of the air you may have had at your normal debarkation. and refund of the days of the cruise you did not take. (in my case 12 days out of 29 days)

My Ins paid for all this , it cost the company $$$$$.They paid it without complaint.

The premium when I took out the policy was $100 per $1000 of the cruise cost.(just for that trip), but it was worth it.

.

I booked a b2b transatlantic today, travelling with my 85 year old mother who has a couple of medical issues. I have since been looking for insurance for her (I am covered by my bank). At first, premiums were coming out at an eye-watering £2000+ so I did a search on this forum to see if anyone could help. I tried one or two but the one I have just purchased cost £207 (single trip only) and the company, as recommended on here, was All Clear. Hope this helps.

It appears to be standard insurnace company practice to assume that you are too busy, too idle or too stupid to bother doing a price check. Sadly, too many of us fall for this logic.

I seldom get an insurance renewal (especially for car insurance) that isn't a chunk more than last year. Armed with a bit of on-line price checking, it invariably tumbles once I make the call but it's deeply galling that you have to waste time every year jumping though hoops just to get the same price as they are offering for new customers.

.

Try Eurotunnel. Don't do America for those of a more mature age, but great for pre-existing conditions. You need to phone them as they don't do online quotes but very easy 5 main questions that you're not travelling to obtain treatment or against doctor's orders. I've had Breast Cancer, hip replacement and husband has Type 2 diabetes, high BP etc. Aged 56 and 59 and our joint annual policy is £76. All pre-existing conditions are covered.

Hi there,

Just had a quick look at this online, but it appears to only cover Europe, unless there is an extension to the policy that you can take?

I have Nationwide Flexi Plus Insurance Which is underwritten by UK Insurance which is underwritten by Directlinegoup Insurance, But declare absolutely everything no matter how slight that it may be for the last 15yrs, That's how far back they checked before they paid my claim for $292,000 that was for 3 weeks in Hospital & 2 Air Ambulances back to the uk, So please don't skimp on the Insurance get a good one for when you need it its the only lifeline that you have.

My nan was able to keep travelling well into her 80s thanks to Age UK (formerly age concern) insurance.

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Try Eurotunnel. Don't do America for those of a more mature age, but great for pre-existing conditions. You need to phone them as they don't do online quotes but very easy 5 main questions that you're not travelling to obtain treatment or against doctor's orders. I've had Breast Cancer, hip replacement and husband has Type 2 diabetes, high BP etc. Aged 56 and 59 and our joint annual policy is £76. All pre-existing conditions are covered.

Would that be for Europe or worldwide?

Sounds amazingly cheap.

Try Martin Lewis the money saving expert dot com

There is stuff on elderly travel insurance including existing medical conditions.

I got a good deal from a site using MSE to find companies.

I have Nationwide Flexi Plus Insurance Which is underwritten by UK Insurance which is underwritten by Directlinegoup Insurance, But declare absolutely everything no matter how slight that it may be for the last 15yrs, That's how far back they checked before they paid my claim for $292,000 that was for 3 weeks in Hospital & 2 Air Ambulances back to the uk, So please don't skimp on the Insurance get a good one for when you need it its the only lifeline that you have.

We also recently got the Nationwide Flexplus annual insurance and are going on a cruise in May. I added several pre-existing conditions which cost us an extra £120 for the year. They only wanted to hear about conditions for which we are taking medication or have seen a specialist or received treatment by a GP in the last year. Certainly no mention of the last 15 years .... I am a little concerned now, especially as your experience sounds horrendous .... and could lead to financial ruin if the company doesn't pay.

This is the relavent clause from the Nationwide policy.

http://www.nationwide.co.uk/~/media/MainSite/documents/products/current-accounts/flexplus/P2222-flexplus-travel-insurance-policy.pdf

I would read this carefully and check that none of them apply in your case. medical conditions that are not being presently treated???

DAVID.

Not many can say they have not had a doctor prescription in the last 12 months.

The Nationwide policy is invalid if you have.

David

Not many can say they have not had a doctor prescription in the last 12 months.

 

The Nationwide policy is invalid if you have.

 

 

David

I haven't had a script for at least 5 years!

Not many can say they have not had a doctor prescription in the last 12 months.

 

The Nationwide policy is invalid if you have.

 

 

David

Thank you for your two replies! I have studied the leaflet again. I will phone Nationwide about the "medical statement" again next week. I declared the conditions for which I have had prescriptions in the last year and told them about other doctors' visits in the last year, too ( resulting in £120 extra payment).They were not interested in some of them as they did not result in treatment. That does not sound very strict ( others are interested in the past 5 years), so I am surprised and alarmed to hear about zider's experience with 15 relevant years.

We stopped having annual policy's cause my wife health and medicine just kept changing and insurers would want extra ££ or they cancelled the policy when her doctor wanted her to try a new tablet, so now just single policy every time which is up to date with her conditions..

We were told by insurers to declare any condition that is controlled by medication from a doctors prescription or any medical condition that required hospital either in or out patient.

Shop around they vary massively, my son is hydrocephalus some insurers want £500 for a 2 week holiday but the one we use is only £33 exactly same cover..

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Hello,

Here across what was once the Old Cod Pond, now nomore as overfishing has caused he cod fishing now to be illegal...

On any Insurance. That four letter word so applies. READ!

Fine print ask your barrister/lawyer, family, and/or informed friends on any leagiZe too. As it does matter quite a bit.

On medical here, in the US, Policies it is recommended the party acquire a Primary Policy as so shenanigans/henanigans occur betwen policy firms.. yes the old he said she said ..

On perscriptions so far the only one i ever had was for a lotion to help stop that dang blasted itching when I had met Miss Poison Ivy havin done a overgrowth clearing of my 1/4 road in rural Virginia, years ago.

You may know of the , IMHO, exhorbident costs.. EG: My XYL was having last April 2016 a.d. her Tetnus shot updated. We got a Bill for it.. $200.00 USD.. ?? No not a mistake last year the preventative shot is not even covered on any of our Insurance Policies either.. It was not a Highway Medical store.. so I can't say Highway Robbery ..may I??.. Just under 10 yrs ago I had that Booster and it cost $5.00 USD for that Tetenus booster shot. As you see the Afforable Care Act ( Obummer Care) did not and is not working well..

I go through John Lewis. My annual multi-trip insurance, taken out in April 2016, cost me £174 to cover worldwide. (That's what it says. I thought I arranged for Australia but not USA but I must be mistaken.) It is underwritten by Ageas Insurance and allows 45 days maximum on any one trip, but as many trips as I like. It includes personal possessions.

I have two pre-existing conditions but they are not the sort that would cause hospitalisation (e.g. asthma, ME/CFS) so the company and I decided that they are simply not covered by the policy.

When I arranged this last year, I knew I would be in Australia for March and early April this year (my mother's 90th birthday) and wondered if it would be cheaper to just take out cover for Europe and get an additional policy for this Australian portion. They checked prices and the cover for 4-5 weeks in Australia came out more expensive than the annual multi-trip. Very strange!

I received a mail shot from Nationwide just this week entitled..." Your last chance to get free Travel Insurance'.

Until this year I have always been satisfied with a company called Staysure. They had a great system whereby if you had a pre-condition you could 'opt out' of cover for that condition. This gave a considerable saving particularly as the particular condition I had to declare happened in 2007, was Scuba Diving related, and I have continued diving since.

This year's renewal of course collided with reaching septuagenarian status and there was a 40% hike in premium which I queried and they offered a small reduction which frankly only rubbed salt into the wound.

So I returned to Saga who for full cover matched the Staysure price.

Frankly my time is far more important to me than spending hours shopping around though having received the nationwide offer I did peruse the enclosed brochure.

It was consigned to the bin after 4 minutes when on page 2 I read words to the effect..."'The policy provides multi trip cover for trips in Europe of up to 31 days"

On side note to all UK cruisers, don't rely on the EHIC medical card while on a cruise as it does no cover us even while cruising the Mediterranean as a cruise ship is its own floating country..

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On side note to all UK cruisers, don't rely on the EHIC medical card while on a cruise as it does no cover us even while cruising the Mediterranean as a cruise ship is its own floating country..

 

 

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What if taken ill/ having a fall during an excursion on land?

I received a mail shot from Nationwide just this week entitled..." Your last chance to get free Travel Insurance'.

 

Until this year I have always been satisfied with a company called Staysure. They had a great system whereby if you had a pre-condition you could 'opt out' of cover for that condition. This gave a considerable saving particularly as the particular condition I had to declare happened in 2007, was Scuba Diving related, and I have continued diving since.

 

This year's renewal of course collided with reaching septuagenarian status and there was a 40% hike in premium which I queried and they offered a small reduction which frankly only rubbed salt into the wound.

 

So I returned to Saga who for full cover matched the Staysure price.

 

Frankly my time is far more important to me than spending hours shopping around though having received the nationwide offer I did peruse the enclosed brochure.

 

It was consigned to the bin after 4 minutes when on page 2 I read words to the effect..."'The policy provides multi trip cover for trips in Europe of up to 31 days"

Nationwide also do a worldwide annual travel insurance that comes free with their Flexplus current account for account holder and partner. There is another Nationwide current account that comes with free Europe wide travel insurance. We think that the worldwide cover is a great deal , even with additional payment for pre-existing conditions ..... but, as a lot of our holidays are within Europe, we are probably paying more for the pre-existing conditions as they are based on worldwide cover (?).

Snowy01, I remember one year when I had bought European travel insurance and then found a good last-minute Transatlantic, so had to get Worldwide cover. I was able to have it added on for a small price. If you are regularly not taking advantage of the worldwide part, you could have a conversation next time you renew, to see if it's possible to add it on as and when needed.