Travel insurance when travelling for medical treatment

Hello all

Another request for shared wisdom & experience...

In planning for my likely trip to Tampa, I've been looking at travel insurance.  The other day I tried filling in a couple of online quote forms.  They were both companies which do cover some "pre-existing conditions". 

There was a question like "would you be travelling against doctors' advice, or in order to receive medical treatment".  For me, the answer to the first of those is no...  but the answer to the second would of course be "yes that's the point"!  Both of these different companies' online forms came back with something like:  we can't give you a quote, because you ticked that box. 

I could do some more research, but then I thought, wait a minute, some people on the parathyroid forum will have solved this problem already, don't reinvent the wheel :-)

So I'm wondering... people who have travelled from the UK to the US for parathyroidectomy... where did you get your travel insurance? 

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Dora

If it helps, I have a long list of medical problems and have had annual travel insurance with Citybond Suretravel http://www.citybond.co.uk/

They have covered my medical conditions, but there is a surcharge.

Edwin

Thanks Edwin.  I just had a look and their policy has the same exclusion as the others I found.  It says "we will not pay claims if (blah blah) ... travelling to get medical treatment abroad".  Thanks for thinking about it though!

Dora

Hi Dora

Before I travelled to Tampa I looked at a few insurance companies who specialise in providing insurance specifically for people travelling abroad for surgery, to cover complications of surgery, extended stay in hospital as a result, extra hotel costs for travel companion, repatriation etc, mainly because mine was a complex 're-do' case and I had been refused a second surgery here in the UK because of the risks, although Dr Norman accepted me as a patient without hesitation.  I was a bit alarmed at the quotations (cheapest was around £600) so I emailed Dr Politz in Tampa (who would be assisting Dr Norman with my surgery) to ask if, in his opinion knowing my complex surgical history, he felt it would be wise to take out this extra insurance to be on the safe side.  He emailed back that he didn't think it would be necessary so, with having that in writing from Dr Politz, I didn't take it out and saved myself that expense, and all was well anyway as Drs Norman and Politz promised it would be.  I got bog standard travel insurance with the usual cover for declared medical conditions from Staysure.  Not the cheapest but at least they do cover all my medical conditions - PHPT, hypothyroidism, mild coronary heart disease, osteo arthritis, high blood pressure.

Hope this helps?

Jasmine x

Dora E wrote:Thanks Edwin.  I just had a look and their policy has the same exclusion as the others I found.  It says "we will not pay claims if (blah blah) ... travelling to get medical treatment abroad".  Thanks for thinking about it though!

Dora

Hi Dora
This is Edwin.  I am using Nelly's account because I have a password problem and am waiting for it to be reset (again).

I have been using Citybond for several years.

Somewhere in the process, you have the option to cover the excluded declared medical conditions.
This option takes you to Healthcheck247 (www.healthcheck247.com), where you declare and pay for the top-up cover for the declared medical conditions.
The result is that the Citybond policy has an endorsement that refers to the Healthcheck247 top-up and it means that your declared medical conditions are covered.

Edwin

Somewhere in the process, you have the option to cover the excluded declared medical conditions.
This option takes you to Healthcheck247 (www.healthcheck247.com), where you declare and pay for the top-up cover for the declared medical conditions.
The result is that the Citybond policy has an endorsement that refers to the Healthcheck247 top-up and it means that your declared medical conditions are covered.

Hi again Edwin, thanks for the clarification... but I'm not sure if we're maybe talking about two different things. 

There's having a medical condition (and travelling somewhere, e.g. on holiday), that's one thing.  And then there's travelling for the purpose of getting medical treatment, that's another thing.

On the Citybond insurance policy, did you ever take a trip abroad so as to get medical treatment, similar to going to the parathyroid centre in Tampa?  and the Citybond people knew that, and it was written in the insurance policy "purpose of trip: medical treatment"? 

Or are you talking about going on a holiday or business trip, and some companies wouldn't sell you insurance because of your medical conditions whereas Citybond would (for a little extra money), and in the question & answer bit it would say e.g. "purpose of trip: holiday" or "purpose of trip: business"?

If you could just add that bit more explanation, I'd feel more sure about what you mean. 

Thanks :-)

Dora

Hi Dora

No, I am only talking about business trips, for which I had cover for all of my various ailments as an add-on to the Citybond insurance policy.
In my case, the cost of the Healthcheck247 add-ons was significantly higher than the cost of the insurance premium.

Sorry.

Edwin

Admin wrote:No, I am only talking about business trips
<snip>
Sorry.

No worries, thanks for the answer...

Jasmine2 wrote:Before I travelled to Tampa I looked at a few insurance companies who specialise in providing insurance specifically for people travelling abroad for surgery <snip> 

I was a bit alarmed at the quotations (cheapest was around £600) <snip> 

I got bog standard travel insurance with the usual cover for declared medical conditions from Staysure.  Not the cheapest but at least they do cover all my medical conditions - PHPT, hypothyroidism, mild coronary heart disease, osteo arthritis, high blood pressure.

Thanks Jasmine, I've been thinking about your post. 

On one level I'm actually a bit retrospectively-concerned about it, because I think it's possible your Staysure insurance had an exclusion in the small print similar to what I've been seeing, and it's possible that if you'd had some random problem (like your luggage being stolen), they'd have said "ahahaha but you were travelling for medical treatment and so your claim isn't covered"! 

I know common sense says your luggage could've been stolen exactly the same on an ordinary holiday, but insurance companies don't always play fair with the common sense like that - they may have people specifically looking for reasons not to pay out.  So I'm not sure if maybe you had a lucky escape in not having anything happen that would've led you to try claiming. 

On another level... I'm interested in finding out more about those specialist companies, even though they were so expensive.  Can you remember the name of that £600 one?  Or how did you go about finding them? 

Dora

Hi Dora

Sorry, I made a mistake, our insurance was with AllClear not Staysure.  Yes, I had the same thoughts as you prior to taking out the insurance and phoned Allclear to clarify everything.  I told them what I was going abroad for and my concerns about insurance loopholes etc and they confirmed that, as long as I had declared ALL my medical conditions and intentions (including PHPT, although they wouldn't cover me for that obviously), I would be covered for everything else included in the policy, UNLESS I became ill with one of my other medical conditions as a direct result of the HPT/PT surgery.  According to how I was advised, problems usually only occur with claims in instances where things haven't been declared and therefore it voids the whole policy.  I was also told that you can choose to NOT be covered for certain medical conditions to keep the premium costs down but you still must declare them.

I think the crux of it all Dora is to speak to the underwriters and get a written document from them to confirm what is covered and under what circumstances, which is what I did.  A belt and braces approach ...

Regarding the specialist insurers for surgery abroad, I don't have the quotations any longer and can't remember the names of the companies, but as I recall they were all US companies.  I did a Google search initially and it took quite a bit of research to get to what I needed.  I'll try and find it again and post the link.

Jasmine x

Hi again Dora, I remember now that I got onto a UK website called Treatment Abroad and they have a page on specialist travel insurance. Here is the link:

http://www.treatmentabroad.com/services/medical-travel-insurance/get-a-quote

Hope this helps.

Jasmine x

Oh thanks Jasmine... and thanks to everyone who makes & made this forum work... so happy to have this place to swop ideas & knowledge in!