Holidaymakers who encounter health problems requiring medical treatment can find themselves in a stressful situation, made worse if they discover their insurance doesn’t cover them.
This could result in a bill for hundreds or even thousands of pounds.
Neglecting to declare a pre-existing medical condition or providing inaccurate information could invalidate your insurance policy if you need medical treatment while on holiday.
Grant Winter, a compliance officer at specialist travel insurance provider Good to go, offers his advice to ensure you’re not left without coverage, reports MirrorOnline.
From failing to declare medical conditions, purposely leaving out information, and incorrect dates, here are just a few mistakes which could invalidate your insurance.
Failing to declare medical conditions
He warns that failing to disclose pre-existing medical conditions when purchasing travel insurance could invalidate your policy if you need to make a claim, potentially resulting in your claim being partially paid or rejected outright.
Grant explained: “In many cases, people simply forget about a longstanding medical condition, or don’t think it’s necessary to declare. These conditions often include medical conditions where the person has been taking medication for years, like high cholesterol or high blood pressure. A simple rule of thumb is that if you’re taking prescription medication for something, you will need to declare it.”
Providing incorrect travel dates
He also cautioned against entering incorrect travel dates.
“Entering incorrect travel dates can result in you being uninsured for part of your holiday, and therefore unable to claim should you need medical treatment on these dates,” Grant explained.
“This is also important if you’re doing a multi centre holiday, and visiting multiple countries, where you will need to confirm when you will leave and return to the UK, and the countries you will be visiting. If you have an annual policy, whilst you don’t need to tell your insurer when or where you will be travelling, you will need to book your trip in advance, and it must start and end in the UK for the policy to be valid.”
Making intentional omissions
“People will sometimes omit medical conditions, or information about the nature of their holiday, as a way of saving money on their premiums, but this is a false economy, which can result in medical bills of hundreds, or even thousands of pounds, should you need to claim,” Grant continued.
“It’s never a good idea to intentionally omit information, so always remember to disclose medical conditions, or activities which may be excluded, such as skiing. Failure to declare any of this important information could result in your policy being voided.”
Getting private medical treatment
Unless explicitly stated, your travel insurance may not cover private medical treatment while on holiday.
“Of course in an emergency, if there are no public hospitals within a safe distance of your location, then private healthcare will also be covered,” Grant clarified.
“To avoid risking a declined claim, if you have the choice and the situation isn’t an emergency, you should call your insurer’s emergency helpline for advice on where to get treated.”
Change of circumstances
Not updating changes to your circumstances is another common mistake.
Any incidents or developments in your health that change your circumstances mean that your insurance needs to be updated too.
Grant said: “Changes to your health or personal circumstances between the time you took out your policy and the time you travel, need to be shared with your insurer before your date of travel. Otherwise they will not be covered by your policy.
“This is especially true in the case of annual insurance policies, where there is more likelihood of your circumstances changing in the duration of the policy.
“You will need to tell your insurer if you speak to a medical professional about an illness or symptoms which have not been previously declared on your insurance, even if this has not yet been officially diagnosed. When in doubt, speak to them through a live chat, or call their helpline.”
Forgetting past, or ongoing diagnoses
Securing travel insurance can be a tricky task, with the challenge of remembering all the necessary details to disclose.
“It can sometimes be confusing to know what you do and don’t need to declare on your travel insurance, especially when it comes to past medical conditions, or ongoing diagnoses,” explained Grant.
“You may not be suffering from a condition any more, or experiencing symptoms, but past instances of cancer or a history of heart conditions, for example, will need to be declared with your insurer.
“Similarly, if you’re in the process of being tested for an illness but have not yet been diagnosed or if you visit a medical professional to discuss an ongoing illness, you will need to make your insurer aware, as it is not possible to provide cover for undiagnosed conditions.”
He warned: “In the event that you need medical care due to a past illness or an ongoing but as yet undiagnosed condition that you did not declare, you risk being left uncovered by your insurance provider.”
