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Travel Insurance - Crazy Quotes!Hey all, It's been a long time since I was last here but I'm still

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User
Posted 08 Jul 2022 at 08:48

Hi all,

It's been a long time since I was last here but I'm still here! :-)

Quick background update, diagnosed in April 17 (aged 49), Prostatectomy in May 17, Radiotherapy late 2017... the thing then came back in 2019 and I had Chemo in May --> Sept 2020.

I'm now 55 and on hormone treatment (daily oral medication) and my last PSA result was 0.4 which is great!

Ok... I'm planning a little road trip to Spain at the end of August, driving down with my dog and staying for 3 months, however, I was shocked to receive travel insurance quotes starting at £750 and going into the high 5 figures... crazy!!

If I do a quote and omit my prostate cancer, then the quote for 3 months of travel insurance is circa £80!

So my question is, bearing in mind my PSA is 0.4, I don't have any issues (relating to PC) at the moment, should I consider not disclosing the fact that I have had PC or by doing that, am I completely voiding my insurance?

Also, does anyone have any recommended travel insurance companies that I could try? I've heard that there are companies that you can disclose a condition (such as PC) but not be insured for it...

The simple fact is that if I developed any issues that I thought were related to my PC, I would just drive back to the UK!

Cheers!

Andy

User
Posted 08 Jul 2022 at 22:58
Try "All Clear" insurance. They specialise in medical stuff and you speak to a real person. I got an excellent quote from them for a month in Egypt I'm planning this winter.

Best wishes,

Chris

User
Posted 08 Jul 2022 at 11:40

You can get insurance which excludes existing conditions i.e. prostate cancer for you and you will be back down to £80 . I am told that rather than get online quotes, if you speak to a real person you can get insurance which will cover your prostate cancer and it won't be too expensive. Another option is no insurance at all, might be troublesome if you fall down a flight of stairs or have your camera stolen.

The only option which is an absolute NO is not disclosing the prostate cancer. If you have your luggage stolen or fall down a flight of stairs they will not pay because you lied on the insurance application, this is so well established in case law that you have no chance of getting paid. You may also find yourself unable to get house or motor insurance in the future.

As you know yourself, your prostate cancer is well controlled and you can easily drive back to UK if you had a problem.

 

Dave

User
Posted 08 Jul 2022 at 12:52

Hi Andy,

Good to hear things are going well for you.

I booked travel insurance in March for a week in Portugal with Battleface, they will insure you but just don’t cover you for any existing issues. Like you say nothing is really going to happen that quickly that you can’t make it home.

I have since got an annual policy with another company and paid approx £600. My husband had started with heart palpitations so this was my main concern and didn’t want to not declare something with the heart so included PCa aswell.

Enjoy your holiday, can’t beat a road trip 👍

User
Posted 08 Jul 2022 at 14:51
Insureandgo and Staysure are usually very good for cancer patients but as Dave says, better to speak to someone than to complete all online - that way you can get quotes including and excluding the cancer. Also, I wonder how you have described yourself on the online forms - did you say that you were incurable or terminal?

Re the question of whether you could just not mention the cancer - Dave is quite right that you would invalidate your insurance completely and would then struggle to get other kinds of insurance. I have discovered recently that when we do online insurance quotes, the different parameters that we have input are retained - if there was a claim, the insurer may be able to access the information from your search and see that you had searched with and without the cancer. This came to our attention through a slightly different situation - we have a refugee living with us and have given him a car which we then needed to insure. Having done online searches (moneysupermarket and comparethemarket) we were shocked at how expensive the insurance was - he looks like a new driver as he has only had a British driving licence for a few weeks although he has had a driving licence in his own country for 25 years. So I did the obvious thing and searched again, stating that he had had a licence for 25 years, just to see how much cheaper it might be. When he phoned the chosen provider to talk through the application (stating that he has had a licence for a few weeks) he was asked why he had provided conflicting information while doing the online searches. Cookies ... they track everything!

"Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards." Soren Kierkegaard

User
Posted 09 Jul 2022 at 09:48

I've always felt the quotes by Staysure were pretty reasonable. I've never though had to claim. Might be worth giving them a ring (or AN Other) and talk it through. They all seem to use a diagnostic / risk tool so should be "matter of fact".

Best

 

Flexi

User
Posted 09 Jul 2022 at 20:13

I did my travel insurance before going to Turkey a month ago. Obviously no "mainline" insurer would touch me once I mentioned the C word. I'd seen many members on here recommend Insure With. They quoted me a reasonable £180 for an annual policy for me and my wife.

After sorting the policy out my wife was prescribed Butrans patches for pain management.She has painful joints. I thought I should let the insurance company know. Upshot was they wouldn't cover us now! They gave me another companies details who would cover us for the princely sum of £450 per annum. Hobsons choice!!

After 4 weeks my wife became allergic to the patches!!!

Edited by member 10 Jul 2022 at 12:40  | Reason: Not specified

User
Posted 09 Jul 2022 at 22:31
Travel insurance works on the "computer says no" principle, and you have to work round that.

A year ago when we renewed our annual policy (via Nationwide) there was no supplement for my prostate cancer, they were happy with me being five years out from surgery. This year having had a PSA rise which will necessitate salvage RT they wouldn't insure the prostate cancer at all since it counted as "diagnosed problem not yet treated".

So we will be going away as much as possible with the prostate cancer as a condition not covered, but accidents etc still insured. It is surely extremely unlikely to cause problems while away given PSA has already dropped to undetectable with the hormone therapy in advance of RT. The way I see it there is an extremely small risk which we have to take rather than insure against.

User
Posted 10 Jul 2022 at 00:35

Originally Posted by: Online Community Member
It is surely extremely unlikely to cause problems while away given PSA has already dropped to undetectable with the hormone therapy in advance of RT. The way I see it there is an extremely small risk which we have to take rather than insure against.

I don't think the insurance companies are worried that you will suddenly drop dead from prostate cancer - they are mitigating against the risk of you having to cancel a trip because the onco decides that you need treatment, or your treatment plan changes, or you haven't recovered in time to travel. 

"Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards." Soren Kierkegaard

User
Posted 11 Jul 2022 at 16:25

I have had reasonable quotes from insurancewith.com and covered2go.co.uk. I have a biochemical recurrence of my cancer and am back on Zoladex. I also have hypertension and am aged 81.

I paid covered2go.co.uk £171 for 2 weeks cover in Turkey for a yachting holiday.

Tom

 

Edited by member 11 Jul 2022 at 16:42  | Reason: Not specified

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User
Posted 08 Jul 2022 at 11:40

You can get insurance which excludes existing conditions i.e. prostate cancer for you and you will be back down to £80 . I am told that rather than get online quotes, if you speak to a real person you can get insurance which will cover your prostate cancer and it won't be too expensive. Another option is no insurance at all, might be troublesome if you fall down a flight of stairs or have your camera stolen.

The only option which is an absolute NO is not disclosing the prostate cancer. If you have your luggage stolen or fall down a flight of stairs they will not pay because you lied on the insurance application, this is so well established in case law that you have no chance of getting paid. You may also find yourself unable to get house or motor insurance in the future.

As you know yourself, your prostate cancer is well controlled and you can easily drive back to UK if you had a problem.

 

Dave

User
Posted 08 Jul 2022 at 12:52

Hi Andy,

Good to hear things are going well for you.

I booked travel insurance in March for a week in Portugal with Battleface, they will insure you but just don’t cover you for any existing issues. Like you say nothing is really going to happen that quickly that you can’t make it home.

I have since got an annual policy with another company and paid approx £600. My husband had started with heart palpitations so this was my main concern and didn’t want to not declare something with the heart so included PCa aswell.

Enjoy your holiday, can’t beat a road trip 👍

User
Posted 08 Jul 2022 at 14:51
Insureandgo and Staysure are usually very good for cancer patients but as Dave says, better to speak to someone than to complete all online - that way you can get quotes including and excluding the cancer. Also, I wonder how you have described yourself on the online forms - did you say that you were incurable or terminal?

Re the question of whether you could just not mention the cancer - Dave is quite right that you would invalidate your insurance completely and would then struggle to get other kinds of insurance. I have discovered recently that when we do online insurance quotes, the different parameters that we have input are retained - if there was a claim, the insurer may be able to access the information from your search and see that you had searched with and without the cancer. This came to our attention through a slightly different situation - we have a refugee living with us and have given him a car which we then needed to insure. Having done online searches (moneysupermarket and comparethemarket) we were shocked at how expensive the insurance was - he looks like a new driver as he has only had a British driving licence for a few weeks although he has had a driving licence in his own country for 25 years. So I did the obvious thing and searched again, stating that he had had a licence for 25 years, just to see how much cheaper it might be. When he phoned the chosen provider to talk through the application (stating that he has had a licence for a few weeks) he was asked why he had provided conflicting information while doing the online searches. Cookies ... they track everything!

"Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards." Soren Kierkegaard

User
Posted 08 Jul 2022 at 22:58
Try "All Clear" insurance. They specialise in medical stuff and you speak to a real person. I got an excellent quote from them for a month in Egypt I'm planning this winter.

Best wishes,

Chris

User
Posted 09 Jul 2022 at 02:10
I think you said you were taking me to Egypt with you, Chris? Should I book my flights?
"Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards." Soren Kierkegaard

User
Posted 09 Jul 2022 at 07:09
Definitely! 😁

User
Posted 09 Jul 2022 at 09:48

I've always felt the quotes by Staysure were pretty reasonable. I've never though had to claim. Might be worth giving them a ring (or AN Other) and talk it through. They all seem to use a diagnostic / risk tool so should be "matter of fact".

Best

 

Flexi

User
Posted 09 Jul 2022 at 20:13

I did my travel insurance before going to Turkey a month ago. Obviously no "mainline" insurer would touch me once I mentioned the C word. I'd seen many members on here recommend Insure With. They quoted me a reasonable £180 for an annual policy for me and my wife.

After sorting the policy out my wife was prescribed Butrans patches for pain management.She has painful joints. I thought I should let the insurance company know. Upshot was they wouldn't cover us now! They gave me another companies details who would cover us for the princely sum of £450 per annum. Hobsons choice!!

After 4 weeks my wife became allergic to the patches!!!

Edited by member 10 Jul 2022 at 12:40  | Reason: Not specified

User
Posted 09 Jul 2022 at 22:31
Travel insurance works on the "computer says no" principle, and you have to work round that.

A year ago when we renewed our annual policy (via Nationwide) there was no supplement for my prostate cancer, they were happy with me being five years out from surgery. This year having had a PSA rise which will necessitate salvage RT they wouldn't insure the prostate cancer at all since it counted as "diagnosed problem not yet treated".

So we will be going away as much as possible with the prostate cancer as a condition not covered, but accidents etc still insured. It is surely extremely unlikely to cause problems while away given PSA has already dropped to undetectable with the hormone therapy in advance of RT. The way I see it there is an extremely small risk which we have to take rather than insure against.

User
Posted 10 Jul 2022 at 00:35

Originally Posted by: Online Community Member
It is surely extremely unlikely to cause problems while away given PSA has already dropped to undetectable with the hormone therapy in advance of RT. The way I see it there is an extremely small risk which we have to take rather than insure against.

I don't think the insurance companies are worried that you will suddenly drop dead from prostate cancer - they are mitigating against the risk of you having to cancel a trip because the onco decides that you need treatment, or your treatment plan changes, or you haven't recovered in time to travel. 

"Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards." Soren Kierkegaard

User
Posted 10 Jul 2022 at 21:50
Fair enough LynEyre, we have planned round my RT including not booking anything afterwards but nevertheless thinking of doing something a couple of weeks later if I am not too badly affected and we can arrange something at short notice. We do however have a booked holiday between the planning scan and the first session, it is the only week when we could have a family holiday with our daughter but we agree there is a (small) risk.
User
Posted 11 Jul 2022 at 16:25

I have had reasonable quotes from insurancewith.com and covered2go.co.uk. I have a biochemical recurrence of my cancer and am back on Zoladex. I also have hypertension and am aged 81.

I paid covered2go.co.uk £171 for 2 weeks cover in Turkey for a yachting holiday.

Tom

 

Edited by member 11 Jul 2022 at 16:42  | Reason: Not specified

 
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