Jump to content
Cruise Critic Community

Can any one help with medical travel insurance

BillieB

By BillieB,
in Cunard Line

 Share

Recommended Posts

BillieB

BillieB

Posted
Posted

Please can anyone help. My husband has had bowl cancer which spread to his left lung, both the bowel and part of his lung has been removed, in July 2012 and his lung February 2013, and he has been discharged from the hospital 12 months ago for both conditions In 1986 and 1996 he suffered a heart attack and had a coronary stent inserted, he is on medication and controlled. In the past we have never had any problems with medical screening and although paid extra for the travel insurance we have managed both European and US and Canada on all three of the Queens.

 

We are now struggling to secure any form of travel insurance, and we would like to travel to the US and Canada on the QM2 in Septemeber this year. The Insurance companies we have tried and believe me we have tried many, at least 20 have turned him down each time. He is fit, no longer needs to visit any hospital, see specialist and isn't terminal. Staysure offered us single trip for £3000, which is nearly as much as one fare.

 

So if there's anyone out there who has had or has a similar condition and has medical travel insurance, I would love to hear from you.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Cruachan

Cruachan

Posted
Posted
Please can anyone help. My husband has had bowl cancer which spread to his left lung, both the bowel and part of his lung has been removed, in July 2012 and his lung February 2013, and he has been discharged from the hospital 12 months ago for both conditions In 1986 and 1996 he suffered a heart attack and had a coronary stent inserted, he is on medication and controlled. In the past we have never had any problems with medical screening and although paid extra for the travel insurance we have managed both European and US and Canada on all three of the Queens.

 

We are now struggling to secure any form of travel insurance, and we would like to travel to the US and Canada on the QM2 in Septemeber this year. The Insurance companies we have tried and believe me we have tried many, at least 20 have turned him down each time. He is fit, no longer needs to visit any hospital, see specialist and isn't terminal. Staysure offered us single trip for £3000, which is nearly as much as one fare.

 

So if there's anyone out there who has had or has a similar condition and has medical travel insurance, I would love to hear from you.

 

Have you tried Staysure? My wife has significant medical and related mobility problems but they took us on last year. It wasn't cheap (£476.80) for the pair of us, but at least they insured us.

 

J

Link to comment
Share on other sites
BillieB

BillieB

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Thank you for your replies. World wide say they'll insure us next year when he's been clear 2 years, staysure quoted £3000, Single trip, although we may try them again. Yes we have tried a broker. It's very frustrating as you can imagine.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Cruachan

Cruachan

Posted
Posted
Thank you for your replies. World wide say they'll insure us next year when he's been clear 2 years, staysure quoted £3000, Single trip, although we may try them again. Yes we have tried a broker. It's very frustrating as you can imagine.

 

Hell's flaming bells. I see your problem. You would be paying nearly as much for the insurance as you are for the cruise.

 

J

Link to comment
Share on other sites
chester8

chester8

Posted
Posted
Thank you for your replies. World wide say they'll insure us next year when he's been clear 2 years, staysure quoted £3000, Single trip, although we may try them again. Yes we have tried a broker. It's very frustrating as you can imagine.

Try Travel Direct,I think you only need to be clear one year with them.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Chunky2219

Chunky2219

Posted
Posted

I'm deeply sorry to hear about the medical problems and the associated hassle but glad you are going to get away on a cruise.

 

A couple of years ago we cruised with friends, one of whom had had a big old life experience with cancer and had trouble with insurance.

 

I spoke to our cruise company (a specialist) and they sent me a list of insurers who would cover even people with a terminal diagnosis and oldies up to 95+ years.

 

Unfortunately, forum rules don't allow me to tell you which cruise specialist, but if you can post an E-Mail I'll send you the list. Don't use your normal, everyday mail, I keep a "junkmail" account jsut for that purpose.

 

.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
2irisheyes

2irisheyes

Posted
Posted

Some insurance companies have refused to cover me and some have been extremely expensive. For my last few trips (outside Europe) I have used Able2Travel. In my case they were about half the amount quoted by most other insurers/brokers. It's a bit of a minefield. As I get older and reach certain age milestones it may well become prohibitive. I hate having to keep going through the same list of questions with each different company. I keep a list in front of me when phoning in case I forget anything and can anticipate their next question. Good luck.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
balf

balf

Posted
Posted

We have tried them all. No company will do any favours on travel insurance. OK if you are fit and young, but many pre conditions are looked at with suspicion.

 

For me, heart valve replacement 13 years ago means US and Caribbean are virtually no go, which limits cruising somewhat, though I am fit and have had no problems since.

 

We have used Saga for the past few years. £1000 PA and rising each year for outside US.

 

Don't know what the situation is with Americans getting ill in UK. Does the NHS send them a bill?

 

David.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
abo

abo

Posted
Posted

Not sure if this company is suitable for US & Canada, but one option for those travelling in Europe you might want to look at is EHICplus. We've used this for an elderly relative with pre-existing (heart) conditions and got a very sensible price. They have a specific cruise travel policy.

 

Do be aware though that this is not full private healthcare insurance - if required, you're treated in European state hospitals (which is why I suspect they might not cover US/Can) and this policy 'wraps' the travel protection around that (transportation to from medical facilities, repatriation, etc. plus the loss and cancellation elements). They obviously keep costs down by relying on state healthcare, but this might be an appropriate compromise for some (as it was for us).

Link to comment
Share on other sites
balf

balf

Posted
Posted
balf - I have had heart valve replaced twice plus other probs and have used All Clear and Able2Travel in the last few years. Able2Travel is my latest discovery. Saga didn't want to know or so I thought as their quote was so high.

 

Thanks for the info, I will def try them.

 

Thanks

 

David.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
ToadOfToadHall

ToadOfToadHall

Posted
Posted

You could try LV ( http://www.lv.com ). I know it's not on the same scale, but Mrs Toad has some health problems and I have a couple of things as well, but on our last two cruises they came out by far the cheapest.

 

On our last but one cruise we had to make claim (just a small claim, £150 or so) and they paid out with no problems.

 

So, as I say, not on your scale, but worth a try.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
balf

balf

Posted
Posted
balf - I have had heart valve replaced twice plus other probs and have used All Clear and Able2Travel in the last few years. Able2Travel is my latest discovery. Saga didn't want to know or so I thought as their quote was so high.

 

Just to say I tried All Clear and the quote looks very good, and includes USA etc which none of the others would talk sense on.

 

Thanks again for the tip.

 

David.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
BillieB

BillieB

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Thank you all for your responses. Sorry I've not been back before but my wifi has been down.

Chunky 2229. You can use my association email 999rma@googlemail.com and many thanks.

It really gets u not wanting to tell companies about the cancer, and we can't get thru to the companies that it's no longer there, that's he's been discharged, all gone. He doesn't have to see anyone anymore. Cardiologists, oncologists it's so frustrating. It's about time insurance companies came into the 21st century.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Josy1953

Josy1953

Posted
Posted
We have tried them all. No company will do any favours on travel insurance. OK if you are fit and young, but many pre conditions are looked at with suspicion.

 

For me, heart valve replacement 13 years ago means US and Caribbean are virtually no go, which limits cruising somewhat, though I am fit and have had no problems since.

 

We have used Saga for the past few years. £1000 PA and rising each year for outside US.

 

Don't know what the situation is with Americans getting ill in UK. Does the NHS send them a bill?

 

David.

My husband had a heart valve replacement 11 years ago and for the last 9 year we have insured with Insure and Go with only a very small icrease in cost each time regardless of where we have cruised.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in



Sign In Now
 Share
Go to topic listing
  • Forum Jump
    • Categories
      • Welcome to Cruise Critic
      • Hurricane Zone 2024
      • Cruise Insurance Q&A w/ Steve Dasseos of Tripinsurancestore.com June 2024
      • New Cruisers
      • Cruise Lines “A – O”
      • Cruise Lines “P – Z”
      • River Cruising
      • ROLL CALLS
      • Cruise Critic News & Features
      • Digital Photography & Cruise Technology
      • Special Interest Cruising
      • Cruise Discussion Topics
      • UK Cruising
      • Australia & New Zealand Cruisers
      • Canadian Cruisers
      • North American Homeports
      • Ports of Call
      • Cruise Conversations
×
×
  • Create New...