How do they determine who they will insure and for what premium? Simple. High risk, price us out of the market or refuse to insure us. Always their philosophy goes against what insurance was created to achieve. Instead of spreading the risk they are focused on minimising the risk of paying out. It applies to all insurances across the board. As people with pre-existing complaints are the highest risk, the insurer will base their policy decisions on what will maximise profits.
Sadly, we have become numbers and so rather than risk assessment being an individual, human consideration it is now an algorithm and getting a real person involved in the process isnât easy.
As for which system is better, thatâs tricky. I can appreciate that the young and healthy do not want to subsidise the old and falling apart and so I agree that those with higher risk should pay more. However, I also feel that we should not be left to the mercy of a computer, and that a real human being with first-hand knowledge of our health should be directly involved rather than relying on a statistical, generalised profile.
Iâd greatly appreciate it if you would share if you or someone you know well, had any actual experience with Credit card travel insurance medical claims
I cannot quote specifics - just anecdotal word of mouth. However, whether it be credit card insurance or card related, it all depends on the wording of the policy. How many of us read those interminable documents? They are getting better, but there is a long way to go, and there should be some sort of uniform code of practice and consistent wording applied across the board. I think health insurance is moving in that direction, and so should insurance.
Agree, in particular as we get older.
It would be great if there was real change to travel insurance so it could deal with the issues of age and personal health condition.
One set of statistics says most of us are living longer and healthier lives. Looking forward we should be lower risks, however itâs most likely insurers underwriters are always looking in the rear view mirror. Hence when we can get the cover required it may be unnecessarily high, due to outdated data sets?
Iâve always also looked at the destination/s and our planned activities carefully prior to deciding what travel cover is most appropriate. Pre-existing conditions and high risk factors may rule out some great destinations. Wreck diving or just a spot of fishing in the Solomons or waters around PNG? The cost of a medical flight from Cairns to pick you up before returning you to Australia will need to be on the want list for cover? Itâs likely just about any pre-existing condition will make finding cover difficult.
Even simple things like emergency dental work can be a challenge, so expect any travel insurance to ask a lot more questions. PNG has around 11 dental clinics. One is in Lae, the rest in Port Morseby. For everything else there is betel nut?
For mundane travel, could your GP offer an assessment? Probably.
Would there also be variations in assessments between GPs for similar patients? Inevitable.
In expecting better outcomes, is it worth noting travel insurance, unlike say Medicare, is not a universal or assured service.
Medicare and public hospitals donât discriminate based on health conditions. Is a similar universal cover for OS travel a realistic option?
Itâs also worth noting that once you step on to a cruise ship you can forget about Medicare - even if youâre still in Australian waters. The cruise ship doctors are generally sourced from overseas and as such are not part of the Medicare system, so you even if you have a problem while cruising the coast, you wonât necessarily have Medicare coverage - certainly not for the doctor!
We are in our 70s. Between us we have a number of preexisting conditions which many insurers say they wonât cover. insureandgo accepted all our preexisting conditions in a quote for annual cover for both of us for a year. It was quite expensive and we were not travelling straight away so I didnât follow up immediately. Insureandgo called us within a week offering a very substantial discount so we bought the policy. A week before we were to travel recently my partner broke his leg. The online claim system was very easy to use and Insureandgo paid our claim in full within a week. Very impressed. In a previous experience where we had separate insurance with two different companies and had to cancel through ill health. My insurer RACV paid up and my partners insurer Boomers did not. Boomers deemed it a preexisting condition. From this experience I learned that when you travel together your partners preexisting conditions are also an issue in the event of a cancellation.
Some information in this thread (and others) is first hand experience while some is anecdotal or 2nd or 3rd hand. As with events of the day anything other than hard fact (eg first person experience) can be misleading regardless of the best of intentions. Even if flagged as anecdotal or âmy best mate saysâ it tends to colour discussion or create pro/con prejudice.
OTOH anecdotal reports often lead to quality/accurate responses such as correction or reinforcement so just pointing out some readers might 'run with incorrect information, occasionally creating an alternate reality they depend on.
When researching and comparing insurance (and service products) reviews and commentary are great places to start, but the sole ârealityâ is what is written in the T&C, prospectus, or answers to questions about oneâs own circumstances. eg because company A did (or did not) cover Harold for X has no bearing on anyone but Harold when the claim might be for anything other than the âstraight and narrowâ.
As individuals with medical conditions, each buying our own travel insurance, we will each be assessed as high risk. The solution seems to me to spread the risk across a larger group which includes younger, healthier people.
I belong to a professional association that used to do exactly this but unfortunately stopped this service last year. Prior to that, all members were entitled to free travel insurance just through being a member of the association, with no requirement to declare pre-existing conditions. No pre-existing conditions were excluded as long as you were fit to travel. I always saw my GP shortly before a trip to check that this was the case. On one occasion I was declared unfit to travel due to an ear infection, and the insurer paid my cancellation expenses.
The interesting thing about this insurance was the low cost to the association - under $100 per year per member - and the cover included partners travelling with the member. Admittedly, the members if the association were predominantly in the prime of their working life so few would have serious medical conditions.
I have been browsing the Net to see if there are other associations that are providing similar travel insurance for members. I would happily join any association that would have me if they offered travel insurance cover for pre-existing conditions at a reasonable price!
The Probus club travel insurance does look quite generous re pre-existing conditions (though not included free with membership as mine was). Is anyone a Probus member who could tell us more about this travel insurance? The website says: Probus Travel Insurance Plan A** is for maximum trip duration of 120 days. Plan A provides coverage for most pre-existing conditions and has a set access fee which depends on your age, where you are going and how long you are travelling for. Plan A requires a fit to travel report from your doctor to be submitted with your application.
Great question. This method is generally known as âCommunity Ratingâ and itâs the basis of our Health Insurance system - everyone pays the same premium for the same policy in each state. Health funds canât discriminate based on health status, age or claims history.
All the other insurances however - travel, car, home, life - are risk rated. So youâre assessed based on age, health, destination etc etc.
To save on costs, the insurers either exclude all existing medical conditions or they use an algorithm to assess cover. As @boblorel points out, to our knowledge thereâs no insurer with a doctor assessing individual risk in every instance (Iâm happy to be contradicted if someone knows of an insurer that does).
Hi, just so you know that most general insurers are unable to pay for any medical cost in Australia that has Medicare attached when you purchase a domestic policy. This is due to the National Health Act legislation.
All the domestic travel insurance policies Iâve seen make it clear before you buy that they do not cover medical expenses in Australia. In this case pre-existing conditions cover would enable the insurer to pay back the cost of airfares, accommodation etc if I got sick due to the pre-existing condition and had to cancel before I left. Or if the pre-existing condition flared up while I was away and had to extend the stay and pay for extra accommodation, or alternative forms of transport home.
IIRC pre-existing cover can be used if a relative has a condition and you may need to cut short your trip and return early, but donât quote me on that one.
My wife and I are in our late 70s and are keen travellers (and have already visited the difficult countries, China, India, Russia, etc). We have now found it impossible to get travel insurance to cover our existing medical conditions, although our doctors are happy for us to travel.
So we now just travel to those countries with a reciprocal health arrangement with Medicare - these are UK, New Zealand, Ireland, Italy, Malta, Netherlands, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Belgium, Slovenia. Thatâs lot of countries to visit in Europe, and be fully covered for medical treatment for free.
We are willing to take the (small) risk of needing medical treatment en route between these countries.
On a recent trip we used Worldcare Travel (underwritten by Allianz). I chose them because I had a pre-existing condition (I had an operation in December) and was able to tick off lots of medical conditions on the website and therefore not have to pay extra. It was quick and convenient. However, my mother-in-law (aged 92) passed away a few days before we were flying out, so our trip was delayed. We werenât able to claim as Worldcare and all Allianz companies, I have since discovered, donât cover for family members over 84. As we still have a family member over this age, I wonât be using any Allianz companies.
If one gets sick in one of the countries with reciprocal health care arrangements it begs the question on how travel insurers would pay valid claims.
A common caveat in travel policies is the policy will not pay if you can recover from any private medical fund or similar government scheme and if you fall ill, you typically have to ring the insurer ASAP, who may then demand you be transported to or be treated under the reciprocal arrangement to the extent possible.
A simple case, if you become unwell in the UK and do not get treated by the NHS how does that go?
Have you tried to get cover for pre-existing conditions with COTA ( Council of the Aging)? I recently got cover for 3 pre-existing conditions at a reasonable cost when lots of others would not even consider it. They now have my latest medical reports and asked a lot more questions which was better for individual cases rather than the stock standard all the others ask. This is 7 months in advance of the trip, which is 5-6 weeks long in Europe and Scandinavia. They also have an unlimited cancellation amount whereas some like Covermore only have $10000 per couple which barely would cover airfares return to Europe on premium economy plus some smaller internal flights. 9 years ago I was hospitalized in the Phllippines for a week and unable to fly home. They covered everything and then asked the credit card insurance for half. As it is mostly a cash economy I just kept all the receipts and took photos of the transport ( jeepnees) and they paid everything as I was even buying drinks and bottled water.
Ms Ball notes a person would not be covered if an individual sought out medical help for symptoms of a condition yet to be diagnosed.
âGenerally, if anything arises from a pre-existing medical condition that you were aware of but didnât tell your insurer about, then you would not be covered,â she told Yahoo News Australia.
âThis can include seeking out treatment for a condition that is yet to be diagnosed.â
Bottom line is getting any treatment for even a headache (aspros anyone?) can be accounts threatening!
Now I have found COTA who do not use the run of the mill questions and actually do some personal stuff. I have sent them my last medical report for the meningioma and the doctor even rang me and had a chat. Insure and Go charge a lot more than COTA did and COTA is covering the 2 of us and from 9 months before the trip. After having been hospitalized in the Philippines for an undiagnosed illness and even thorough testing when I eventually came home I would not go without travel insurance nor would I omit anything as they check medical records if you try to claim.I was covered by COTA then and they paid everything then they asked the credit card people for half. Even something like a urinary tract infection is classed as a chronic condition and should be listed as a pre-existing illness.A friend got one of these on a 6 week cruise and the bill for the antibiotic drips was $10,000. RACV wanted her medical records. My daughter has a gene called MTHFR and that makes you prone to miscarriage and clotting. She only discovered it as doing IVF, lots of people have it and do not know. Even though she became pregnant naturally after they planned a trip, Covermore would not pay as they said she should have claimed it as a pre-existing illness.So my advice is to cover everything as they will try to wriggle out of paying if they can.
Travel insurance companies have a list of pre existing medicals they will automatically cover. Howevet, when you declare your pre existing condition which is not in their list, some companies will add it to their list for cover, whereas others say their list no longer applies because you have a medical condition outside their list. Why is this so and is it unteasonable?
