Anyone recommend any good reasonable travel insurance at the moment?

Hi sunseeker1 ... in case you haven't seen it, the second post on page 1 is regularly updated with member recommendations.

David

Sue,

you mean there are no Spanish companies providing medical insurance for Spanish residents travelling to the USA??? That sounds very odd. Maybe you shoud psot in the Ex-Pats section and see what they know.

Thanks steve, I'll post over there. So far I can't find anyone here to help me. Well, actually I do fib. I have been quoted 300€ for a policy so far, that will give me what I'm looking for I would use the website I found if I could get some feedback from anyone.

Ummmmmmm, why is it that alot of these travel insurance companies will not allow you to get a quote if the holiday is over 12 months away?

What concerns me is now the cruise is booked, what happens if there are any mis-haps before I can actually purchase the policy?

The cruise is booked for November 2012

On a simple travel policy you'd pay a premium for a couple of weeks and get cancellation cover for the time between purchase and departure at no "extra" cost (wouldn't matter if you bought it 3 months or 3 days before departure, the price would be the same). The risk of insuring a single holiday for more than a year isn't worth it since the chance of something going wrong is so much more. Back to back annual polices from the same company might provide cover, as might continuous cover through the insurance you get with some bank accounts.

It's probably possible to get a special policy specifically covering the cancellation risk for the year but you'd need to deal with a specialist broker, I'm surprised the cruise operator hasn't given any advice on that. And then you'd still need to get a proper all risk policy before you travel.

As you have realised, you've committed a large amount of money and if you have an uninsured accident and can't travel you'll lose the money.

My husband and I have travel insurance with a bank account as you have mentioned.

This policy also covers your family if they are up to the age of 23 in full time education. Our youngest is 16 and does not qualify as he is doing an apprenticeship and only one day at college. Other son has left home anyway so will not qualify.

So as I booked the holiday I take it I am only covered with my husband for unforseen cancellation and not the others?

So I need another 2 seperate policies, one single and one family. Could I not just get a "group" insurance for all of us, even though ours is free may worl out better!

Am I just confusing myself now?

You may be confusing yourself, but it's a good question.

First, if the sons are going with you on the holiday they aren't covered by that policy, as you realise, so if something not serious but enough to stop one of them travelling occurs then you will lose the money for his part of the holiday. Oddly, if something very serious that required you as parents to stay with the injured person happened your part of the money would probably be covered even though his isn't! Most policies have an allowance to cover your loss due to cancellation caused by serious issues with others in your holiday party or close family (even if they aren't going with you). But check your policy's wording on that - never assume anything with insurance small print. You also need to confirm that they will definately cover cancellation of things way in the future. And where is your cruise going to? The earlier one mentioned USA - some free bank cover is Europe only so you need to check that you are in coverage area.

Getting another policy that covers you all as a group may not be a good idea. First, presumably such a policy would not be available any earlier than a single person policy so you still won't fill the gap in cover for holidays booked over a year in advance. Once you reach the date when they will start cover the sons can get their policies and all is covered OK if your own policy has the right area coverage. If you double cover yourself it could introduce a new problem in the event of a claim, insurers like to get out of paying money and one way is to say you have split the cover so the two insurers should split the payment. You could have to make to two claims for part payment with double paper work and probably two lots of excess payments. This is potentially such a problem that Nationwide actually advise their customers with automatic free account based insurance to write to them and formally cancel it if they decide to get a better policy elsewhere.

Thankyou for your help.

I went into First Choice yesterday and took out insurance cover on the 2 boys, grandson and son's girlfriend. This started from yesterday and covers Europe (cruise is Canaries, Portugal and Spain)

I think i was confusing myself as i said, sorted now

My friend and her husband went on holiday with basic travel insurance, they did not declare any medical problems. Her husband ended up in hospital for a few days. They paid the excess, and now insurance company have asked for permission to have medical records from GP, Where do thay stand if they dont give permission?, he has been to Doctors over the last year for different things and had tests. Will they be liable for the rest of the bill?

They should have declared any pre existing conditions to the insurance company. They ask permission to access medical records to check that the problem on holiday was not related in any way to something they had seen a doctor about and/or had tests/treatment for.
Did the insurance company pay the hospital?

they did not declare any medical problems

Always worth mentioning anything that could have an impact on your insurance cover, so any tests or referrals to specific consultants or clinics should be declared.

Did the insurance company pay the hospital?

Depending on what exactly has not been declared could be regarded by the insurance company as the insured trying to avoid paying increased insurance cover charges for pre existing medical conditions, if this is the case regardless if the hospital has been paid already or not it could ultimately mean the they will be left to meet ALL the medical charges.

I hope that the previous referrals & tests are not in any way related to the hospital stay and the insurance company does cover the medical expenses.

Kiltman HT Mod wrote:

they did not declare any medical problems

Always worth mentioning anything that could have an impact on your insurance cover, so any tests or referrals to specific consultants or clinics should be declared.

Did the insurance company pay the hospital?

Depending on what exactly has not been declared could be regarded by the insurance company as the insured trying to avoid paying increased insurance cover charges for pre existing medical conditions, if this is the case regardless if the hospital has been paid already or not it could ultimately mean the they will be left to meet ALL the medical charges.

I hope that the previous referrals & tests are not in any way related to the hospital stay and the insurance company does cover the medical expenses.

Not disagreeing with you there, I was just curious. Some companies will check before paying any hospital bills, but it would appear this one doesn't. If there is any way the holiday problem is related to anything that he had tests/treatment for, or consulted a doctor, I think the insurers will be looking for their money back.

Also if they refuse to allow access to the medical records I think they will be doing the same thing.

whether the undisclosed condition has any real connection with the problem that put him in hospital doesn't really limit the insurers. If the hospital bill was a large one and/or the insurers are being strict they may have a simple get out. They could say that if the first problem had been disclosed they would never have offered cover so the contract is void and nothing else was covered either. For instance, if the first problem was a heart issue and he tripped and broke his wrist whilst away you might think there is no connection but if they say they never cover people with known heart complaints then the whole deal is off and the cover never applied. Theoretically the same could even be true for theft cover in the same policy! If they do void the contract they should return the premiums but that isn't going to make much of a hole in the hospital bill.

Hi sunaddict, My friend only had a reciept for the £200 excess she paid , she dosent know how much the bill was or if that was what she paid the £200 for the whole of his stay in hospital. He was being treated for gout for a few months which he did not have in the end he actually was admitted with high blood pressure, he had to stay in for 2 days, was on a drip and medication to bring his blood pressure down.

Do you know which company the insurance is with so that we could look at the policy wording to see if it may be covered?

luci

I think it was with Top Dog.

£200 is a very high excess, but it is unlikely to have been the whole cost of treatment. There is no way to check retrospectively if he had declared other medical conditions if they would have covered him and what for and at what price. I really don't think they have any choice but to approve access to medical records, and keep their fingers crossed!

Assuming the policy was taken out before the middle of September, this is the relevant section of the policy. They require that any consultations or investigations in the past 2 years be declared. Gout is on their Accepted Conditions list, but it appears from what you have said that it wasn't diagnosed as gout.

However the policy states that the excess is either £65 or £100 for Silver cover, there is no mention of £200.

Page 18 Important conditions relating to health -
http://www.topdoginsurance.co.uk/Policy/TopDog%20Insurance%20Policy%20Wording%202011.pdf