Travel insurance for medical conditions provides specific cover when you’re living with pre-existing health conditions. That’s one less thing to think about when planning your next holiday!
What is medical travel insurance and do you need it?
Medical travel insurance is a specific type of travel insurance that covers your pre-existing health condition while you’re abroad.
If you’re travelling without insurance, or haven’t declared all your pre-existing conditions, you might find that you’re out of pocket should anything happen while you’re away.
- The UK Government estimates 10 Brits are hospitalised abroad every day. While medical travel insurance is something we all hope we won’t need to use, it’s there for us in an emergency.
- Travelling to the US? Medical cover is extremely expensive there. In the US, the a night in a hospital can cost $10K dollars!
- Pre-existing conditions are more common than you think. If you have conditions like asthma, diabetes or a heart condition, you’ll need travel insurance that covers these conditions.
While all travel insurance should cover medical emergencies, medical travel insurance specifically covers you if you have a medical emergency related to your pre-existing health conditions.
Pre-existing medical conditions describe any illness or condition that has occurred before you take out an insurance policy, ranging from asthma to cancer. Your policy won’t always cover you for existing medical conditions as standard, however, and you’ll need to declare them when you buy your policy.
At InsureandGo, we’ll consider all existing health conditions and offer a medical travel insurance policy that suits you.
Get a quote today:
What does InsureandGo’s medical travel insurance cover?
Our medical travel insurance typically includes cover for:
- Emergency medical expenses: This covers the costs of medical treatment and hospitalisation in the event of illness or injury during the trip.
- Emergency evacuation: covers you if a medical emergency requires the insured person to be transported to the nearest adequate medical facility or even repatriated to their home country.
- Trip interruption or cancellation: In some cases, medical travel insurance may also cover trip interruptions or cancellations due to unexpected medical reasons.
- Accidental death and dismemberment: Provides cover in the event of accidental death or serious injury during the trip.
Make sure to check the details in your specific policy, as each policy is different.
What’s covered
All our medical travel insurance policies include:
- Emergency medical expenses cover
- Our 24-hour emergency assistance team, available to call, day or night
- Cover for cancellation of your trip
- Over 100 sports and activities covered (see your policy wording for a full list of activities)
- Personal belongings and baggage cover
- Personal money, passports and travel documents cover
- Legal expenses cover
- Delayed departure cover
- Personal accident cover
Find out about our optional add ons for activities like extreme sports, hiking, cruises and golf. The excess and amount of cover available varies depending on the level of medical travel insurance you buy. Look at our policy wording to see the full terms and conditions.
What’s not covered
There are some situations travel insurance cannot cover. For example:
- Events or reasons to claim which took place before you booked the trip or the insurance was bought cannot be covered. Insurance exists to cover unexpected events outside of the insured’s control.
- Claims which are less than the excess for that section of cover. For example, you cannot claim a £40 lost item if your baggage excess is £60.
- All of our travel insurance policies include cover for cancellation of your trip, but there may be some exclusions. For example, you won’t be covered to cancel if you simply decide not to go.
Which pre-existing medical conditions are covered?
Examples of the types of health conditions travel insurance can cover include:
The best pre-existing medical condition travel insurance for your trip
Don’t let a pre-existing condition get in the way of your perfect holiday. You can cover your pre-existing medical conditions with a travel insurance policy that suits the needs of your holiday.
- Annual travel insurance: Perfect for those who take more than one holiday a year.
- Cruise insurance: A must-have for anyone who is heading off on a cruise, as it covers cruise-specific problems, like a missed departure or cabin confinement.
- Activities and sports travel insurance: You can tailor this to a specific hobby, such as golf or hiking, or even get travel insurance for extreme sports.
How to book medical travel insurance for pre-existing conditions
There’s plenty to do when booking a holiday, so we make getting medical travel insurance policy as easy as possible.
1 . Let us know about your trip
We need to know a bit about your trip, who you want to cover and when you want the policy to start. We will also ask you about any pre-existing medical conditions so we can provide you with the right level of cover.
It’s quick and easy to give us this information, either online or by calling our team:
2 . Get your quote
Once we have all the details we need, we will send you your quote. At this stage, you can go ahead and buy your policy, or save the quote for the future.
“Getting travel insurance which covers your pre-existing medical conditions lets you focus on enjoying your holiday. If anything goes wrong, you’ll have access to a 24/7 medical assistance helpline and cover for your medical costs, including repatriation. You’ll even have cover if you need to cancel your holiday due to your medical conditions.”
Letitia Smith – Travel insurance expert
Frequently asked questions on medical travel insurance
How much medical cover do I need for travel insurance?
The amount of cover you will need depends on where you are going and a number of other factors. Medical costs overseas can often reach tens of thousands of pounds, even for relatively simple procedures. With this in mind, you should always look for travel insurance with as much medical cover as you can find.
Do I have to declare medical conditions for travel insurance?
Yes, you will need to declare any pre-existing medical conditions that fit into your medical warranty when you take out a travel insurance policy.
When you get a quote for your travel insurance, we’ll ask you about your previous and current state of health. There are a few easy-to-answer questions that lead to a medical screening process where you’ll need to declare pre-existing medical conditions. This includes recurring illnesses or injuries, ongoing or lifelong conditions, previous surgeries and any conditions you are living with.
We’ll then use this information to work out the cost of your insurance.
You must declare all pre-existing medical conditions before you buy your policy.
View our policy documents for more information
Does travel insurance for medical conditions cost more?
It can do. If you have a pre-existing condition, we’ll need to ask you a few questions about it to make sure we offer you a quote that covers all your medical conditions.
What happens if my medical situation changes after I get my travel insurance?
Changes in your medical condition could affect your policy. For example, if you have a new health concern after taking out insurance, you’ll need to tell us about this change. In many circumstances, you may find this won’t affect your insurance, but you must check with us first.
Changes in your medical condition could affect your policy. For example, if you have a new health concern after taking out insurance, you’ll need to tell us about this change. In many circumstances, you may find this won’t affect your insurance, but you must check with us first.
While no policy can cover every eventuality, we’ll still often provide cover for issues relating to or arising from a declared condition.
If you’ve got insurance with InsureandGo and your situation changes, you should contact us as soon as possible.
Is pregnancy a medical condition for travel insurance?
We do not consider pregnancy or childbirth to be an illness or injury.
Cover is automatically provided under section 1 (Cancellation), section 2 (Curtailment) and section 6 (Medical emergency expenses) for complications of pregnancy and childbirth which existed at the time of taking out this policy or developed at a later stage, provided your doctor and midwife are aware of your travel plans and that you are not travelling against medical advice. Childbirth in or after the 32nd week for a single pregnancy (or 24th week for a multiple pregnancy) is not a complication and is not covered under any section of this policy.
See your policy wording for full details.
Do I need medical condition travel insurance if I have a GHIC?
A GHIC, formerly known as the EHIC or E111, is a medical card that can be used in most of the EU. It entitles you to free or reduced-cost medical treatment while in Europe.
However, the EHIC/GHIC card does not entitle you to free private healthcare. It’s not an alternative to medical travel insurance and does not cover the cost of travel if you need to return home because of an accident or illness.
Frequently asked questions
If you’ve got more questions about how our medical travel insurance works, or more general travel insurance queries, have a read through our FAQs.
Travel advice
Our travel advice section offers handy tips and guides to specific countries, from what documents you need to what you might visit while you’re there.
Travel insurance reviews
If you want to know what our customers think of us, and why they rate us so highly, have a read through some of the reviews they’ve left us.
Who can buy an InsureandGo pre-existing medical conditions insurance policy?
All our medical travel insurance policies are available to UK residents. This means:
- Someone who has been living in the UK or the Channel Islands for at least six of the last 12 months
- They must be in the UK at the time of buying
- All trips must start and end in the UK
Get a quote online or browse our policy documents for more information.