Does PCa affect travel insurance?

Chris

That's interesting; I am on AS and like many, no symptoms at all. I called my insurance company who put me through to medical screening to go through some questions. The result was a total non-event. They recorded my diagnosis and sent me an updated schedule declaring I was covered at no extra cost: insurance is AXA via my Smile More Account.

No but if you had a big holiday booked and then the hospital said you needed surgery on the kidney now rather than later, and they had a space, you would want to be covered for the cost of the cancelled holiday. You would probably also want to be able to claim the lost money for your wife / partner / companion who may not feel like going without you. 

Plus, if you hadn't disclosed it, went away, fell off a cliff and broke your leg and the insurer then discovered your cancer diagnosis had not been disclosed, they could refuse to cover you for the broken leg & associated costs. 

That's exactly why I wanted to make sure I was "following the rules", Lyn, and notifying my insurers! And the outcome's been just what I was hoping for, that my insurance cover continues, but the cancers are now excluded. They did say I could be covered for them for another £130 a year, but at present I see no need for that.

Chris

Edited by member 13 Jun 2018 at 19:34  | Reason: Not specified

My dad also keeps the cancer covered as he is a little fearful of ever going into retention again. It happened once nearly 20 years ago but he said it was so awful he wouldn't risk not being able to claim if he ever had to go to an overseas hospital.

We are probably a bit more risk-averse than most since my brother died abroad when he was 27 and it cost us many, many thousands of £££s to have his body flown home due to him not making a full disclosure to his insurer. The last time we took my mother-in-law to Australia, the flight cost £3000 and the insurance cost £4,500 but she had cancer, dementia, new knees, had just had her gall bladder removed, diabetes and Lord knows what else. Was worth it though as she died 2 months after we came back.

https://www.theguardian.com/money/2018/jun/11/travel-insurance-terms-conditions-claim-small-print

This may not be 100% relevant, but it does show how insurance companies work.
Personally I would try to avoid any exclusions on a medical policy which may be "twisted" in the event of a claim.

Alan

Edited by member 14 Jun 2018 at 12:24  | Reason: Changed format of link text

Some 24 years ago, I had a serious heart attack, which left my heart quite badly damaged. We still wanted to go abroad on holiday however, so we trawled various insurance companies and found a policy which covered us for all events, including any heart events, for £85 for my wife and I. we used this company many times in subsequent years.

Fast forward to 2016, my onco suggested that if I had any bucket list items, I should do them sooner rather than later. So we began to plan a modest holiday abroad. Once again I trawled all insurance companies I could find, including those promoted by MacMillan. Only two companies were willing to cover me at all and they each wanted in excess of £2,500. We cancelled all plans after that.

I would have thought heart problems would have been considered to be much more risky than PCa on a short term holiday, but it seems not.

I believe I am not fit to travel anywhere now and so it is academic to me, but I never did manage to understand the justification for the premium.

Best wishes to all

Debby

Thanks for the recco for Holidaysafe. I have been offered an annual worldwide policy for £59, excluding PCa (which hopefully I don’t have anymore, having had it removed three weeks ago). I am 62 and for the purpose of the quote and speed that was the only medical condition I mentioned. I also have others which I will fully declare when I buy a policy.

They refused to quote on-line, but having called a nice lady and explained everything, they stuck with their original quote with the exclusion. She said they would offer more cover for recurrence of PCa the longer I am “in remission”. And there was me thinking I was “cured” :-) !

Cheers, John

Edited by member 28 Jun 2018 at 14:40  | Reason: Not specified

Sometimes it's worthwhile pushing for a more personalized result - well done.

Diagnosed 29th August, Gleason 7, PSA 4.2

Very grateful to LynEyre, Merrivale and Ulsterman for their posts. We also have Flex-Plus Account, and with an immanent holiday in Mallorca, was concerned whether to declare or not. I did so, and UK Insurance added cover for P/C, on Annual Worldwide for extra £40.00

Mind you, I may shop around when due for renewal, following some of your suggestions, as total for over 75yrs, asthma and Atrial Fibrillation, is £268. But better than no insurance?    David 

I’ve had PCa and am now in remission,my travel insurance is free with my bank account HSBC , I got in touch explained everything and they say it’s on file and there’s no problem or extra cost , they even sent me a letter confirming that l informed them and I’m fully covered worldwide.

I am also with Nationwide and have a flex account with the insurance. I will be keen to know how much my pc will alter my conditions and if they require extra payments to cover. I will make enquires when I get my results of PSA levels at the end of this year.( 12 weeks after then end of radiotherapy)

Edited by member 10 Sep 2018 at 16:51  | Reason: Not specified

I have just arranged an annual travel insurance following my initial quote of £59 from Holidaysafe (excluding anything to do with PCa). They claimed not to know anything about it and referred me to their sister company Insurancewith.

Following a lengthy interrogation regarding the state of my health, they offered me an annual worldwide policy for £181, including cover for PCa related claims, subject to an additional excess in the event of a claim. I declared a few other medical conditions I had not mentioned on the original £59 application, such as hypertension and cholesterol.

That price also includes an additional premium for ‘cruise cover’, as cruise ship doctors are amongst the worst pirates at sea. If you are unfortunate enough to croak on board, the cheeky buggers charge $150 for what they term ‘post-mortem care’, i.e. ram cotton wool plugs up every orifice, bung you in a body bag, and stick you in a fridge until they can disembark your corpse at their earliest convenience. Burial at sea would be preferable!

So quite pleased and very reasonable.

Cheers, John.

Insurancewith

Edited by member 05 Nov 2018 at 12:22  | Reason: Not specified

Fortunately the policy was taken out before my diagnosis so all should be ok but will make sure I check before making any more holiday bookings.

I am due to pay the balance of the holiday this month but have just received my Oncologist appointment for 8th January when I happen to get dates for my RT which looks like may be before or same time as the holiday.

Hopefully the travel agent can put of payment for a week or two to save having to claim on the insurance if I can’t get treatment postponed.

Bob

I wonder if the high cost is because it is Egypt rather than anything else? Many companies still won't fly in there, will they, so perhaps the insurer is jumpy? Or the area where you are staying is secure but if there were problems you might have to transfer to a hospital in a not so safe area?

You could try insureandgo; they have been brilliant with us. His PCa covered for about £120 annual worldwide (excluding USA) for both of us, and even when he climbed Kili after the recurrence but before salvage RT, it was only about £30 extra.

Thank you Matron. We have had to cancel all holidays this year due to my little difficulty down below, so I didn’t take out the annual policy.

We are back up and running now, so a few trips planned, and we will go somewhere nice for Her Loveliness’s 60th next year.

I checked with Insureandgo (who class Egypt as ‘Europe’, not ‘Rest of the World), and it’s looking good, but I have to call them after 9 am to give them details of my ‘infirmity’ over the phone, as it can’t be done on-line.

Cheers, John.

Edited by member 10 Dec 2018 at 05:58  | Reason: Not specified

Thanks for that Ulsterman looks like you may have saved me from losing money. 

Have spoken to my Insurance Co (Aviva) I am covered for the deposit that was paid for before diagnosis but would not be covered for any monies paid after and they will not offer cover at extra cost.

unfortunately it looks like we will have to cancel the holiday.

Bob

Would recommend them. Thanks again Matron.

If you go online, the basic cover won’t allow you to declare any conditions, so you need to go to the next one, Silver, I think.

Cheers, John.

Exactly what I've done Lyn. Holiday in January scheduled (with the full approval of both my kidney surgeon and oncologist) before RT in Feb.

Chris

Chris

Good evening everyone...been worried about insurance as we are off to Vietnam & Cambodia in April, rang Nationwide as we have free travel insurance with them and it took about 5 minutes and he's fully insured and it only cost me £84. And that's worldwide and for a year.  So relieved