Thank you to Holidaytruths for this topic. After getting an enormous quote from M&S, who are usually our preferred insurer, and similar inflated quotes from others , I have got a fab quote for the family with all our pre existing medical conditions covered with Insureandgo. For some of the pre existings, where others have loaded us, they have made no charge at all. I can recommend this company for their competitive price and helpfulness on the phone.

Great news. However be aware that Insure and Go are one of the companies who are not paying out due to the volcanic ash.

However that may change as Direct Travel were not paying out originally, but have since updated their site to say that they are now treating it as weather related.

luci

Hopefully the ash has settled by now Luci !! Also, since my last post I asked them to quote for me.I have only just finished radio iodine treatment for thyroid cancer and was quoted some horrendous premiums.Other companies wouldn't quote at all. Insure and Go couldn't quote either but they found me an amazing quote with one of their partner insurers Marble for an additional premium of about £17 ontop of the single trip rate. I am thrilled.

Hi all,

Im going to Tunisia and Turkey this summer and I haven't bought my travel insurance yet. With this volcanoe and going 2 holidays 5 weeks apart Im just wondering who should I get insurance from?

any suggestions would be much appreciated

Hi Greenshoes, I'm not going to recommend any companies to you as there are so many out there to choose from and everybody's circumstances are different. There is a thread here dedicated to insurance company recommendations.

What I will recommend is that you get it sorted asap, as if anything happened to stop your holiday before you purchase insurance you will lose your money. for example, if this volcano business kicks off again and your holiday is cancelled.

My husband has had two biopsies which were all clear. Would an insurance company class this as an operation? Thanks for any help.

Hi greenshoes ... you will find loads of recommendations on page 1 of this topic.

Hi digby ... insurers use various terminology when indicating circumstances which you need to make them aware of. This may include hospital visits, consultations, procedures, treatments, surgery, etc. I'm not sure which of those a biopsy would be classified as, but certainly something which would need to be declared depending on how recent it was.

David

Thank you, David for your advice. He has had all the things mentioned there so I'm afraid our insurance would be astronomical! Have had a p.m from Luci too with good advice, so thanks to both of you for help.

I was told that they would not cover any condition where you were still undergoing tests.Once you have finished the tests and they are either clear or indicate a confirmed medical condition then they will quote. Just disclose everything, go through the medical screening questions and you may find that they will insure the condition and just charge an additional premium ontop of the standard premium I was heartily fed up of repeating the same old stuff to different insurers so I wrote it all down and read from the script. That was for four people all with pre existing medical confitions

Hi, hbrac. Thanks for help. Will definately write a script as you suggested. Tests are ongoing at the moment, but inconclusive so far. Will not be needing insurance until later in the year, all depending on results later,as the tests meantime are ongoing.

A timely reminder of the importance of declaring ALL PEMC's when buying travel insurance.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/sussex/8654175.stm

luci

Absolutely Luci. For anyone newly diagnosed with any form of cancer, they will only quote for single trip policies. That may be for the first year post diagnosis. I'm not 100% sure but you will need to check with individual insurers. A couple that I tried told me the same. So this is potentially expensive if you want to get away more than once in a year

Hi, Luci. Now doesn't that newspaper article say it all? I would be very sure of insurance cover before going anywhere.

Something else to take into account with travel insurance is where you're travelling to. This is more true for annual worldwide policies. as once you've bought the insurance you don't need to inform the insurer of where and when you're going on future trips.

For example, I have an annual worldwide policy with Boots (underwritten by Chartis Insurance UK Ltd). However, it does not provide cover to (or through) Cuba, Afghanistan, Sudan and Liberia. While the last three are unlikely to be an issue for most holiday makers, Cuba is obviously a very popular destination and I'm sure many insurers don't exclude it. So it's always worth checking the small print for destination exclusions too.

Further to this, and I suspect common to most insurers, is that you will not be covered for travel to a country or area where the FCO has advised against all but essential travel before your trip. As this is constantly changing it's worth checking this as it can effect popular destinations (one current example is Thailand). There are also many tour operators offering tours in less well known and more adventurous destinations some of which may be on the FCO's lists. They are likely to have experienced staff in situ keeping an eye on things so your safety will not be compromised - but your insurance cover may be.

Check the FCO advice here:
http://www.fco.gov.uk/en/travel-and-living-abroad/travel-advice-by-country?action=essentialTravelParts#essentialTravelParts

hi there just wandering if anyone can help me.my son has been backpacking in australia exactly a year today,his travel insurance has just ran out i told him it needs renewal and he said im not bothering mom as all the medical treatment here is free.the reason he says this is he was on a trip to fraser island and cut his foot in the sea it become infected and needed hospital treatment they kept him for the night and he didnt have to pay a penny or use his insurance. regardless of what he is saying i think its silly to go without travel insurance so i told him im going to buy it, he went barmy saying im wasting my money and most of the guys out there havent got it.well i phoned the people he was insured with to renew it and guess what they wouldnt do it without speaking to him thereselves.will all insurers say this ive tried ringing a few more but they are closed till tommorow.is there a different type of policy i can take out to cover him any advice will help thanks all

I don't know if insurance for backpacking is different to normal insurance. I do know that a couple of years ago my son went to Portugal for a week and ended up staying for three. He only had insurance cover for the week. When I tried to take a policy out to cover the other two weeks I was told I couldn't do that because the trip had to start from the UK and the cover couldn't be taken out because he was already abroad. I have no idea if that would apply to an annual renewal or if, as I mentioned, earlier there is some sort of different cover for backpacking.

thankyou perhaps thats why they wouldnt do it then.she told me she just wanted to know if his health had changed and a few other things so annoying i dont feel secure knowing he has no travel insurance.i feel like just doing it online grrrr thanks

When my son was in Portugal we were in Jamaica. I just went online and took a policy out. For some reason, can't remember what now, I rang them and that was when they told me it wouldn't be valid. They did say that under the circumstances they would refund my premium. If I hadn't rung them I would never have known.

What about the insurance you can buy from Tesco/Boots, or online - you would be able to buy that for him wouldn't you? Don't know if it covers backpacking on the other side of the world though! and of course, strictly speaking it would be illegal for you to buy insurance 'pretending' to be him.
Personally I would get in touch with him and tell him even though medical help is free in Australia, the cost of getting him home if he was seriously ill or injured or indeed died abroad, isn't free and would leave you with a bill the size of a mortgage, and he owes it to you and your peace of mind to be adequatly (sp) covered. Kids ehh?

Denny