The press is full of stories about people stuck overseas facing big medical bills. They’re unable to come home because they need a specialist medical evacuation and they can’t pay for it. Many of them didn’t have travel insurance though there are also many who did. In the latter case their insurer refused to pay their medical bills leaving them high and dry.
Stories like these don’t endear us to insurance companies and sadly if they have a reason not to pay they’ll use it.
We guarantee that all the cases you read about will have one thing in common. That’s a condition that the insured had and didn’t disclose to the insurer. They may have had it at the point of application or it could have been a diagnosis that came later. It doesn’t matter it’s a reason for the inurer not to pay.
People refer to the fact that they weren’t asked any medical questions when they applied. This may well be true and yet here’s a word of warning. If you apply for travel insurance and you don’t get asked medical questions, be suspicious.
People think that it’s a good thing when this doesn’t happen, it isn’t! We don’t like it because we find it stressful. There’s a chance we can get rejected and nobody likes that. Though it’s better to get rejected and know that you’re not covered. Paying premiums then thinking you’re covered and then ending up stuck.
When you apply for travel insurance, give a detailed account of your medical history. Disclose any medication that you may be taking now and any procedures you’ve had.
If you have a multi-trip annual policy and find out you’ve got a condition after it’s set up. Then make sure that you tell your insurer about it. It’s better to face a higher premium next time around than to find out you don’t have it when you need it.
Do this and you won’t have a problem!
