Is it time for a fair approach by insurers?

At the age of 47 I have never really had to worry about travel insurance and tend to use one of the insurance comparison sites to get the best deal.

I did this recently for my daughter who has just turned 18 and her boyfriend who is 20 for their weeks trip to Gran Canaria.

My daughter was diagnosed with Epilepsy in May 2016 and as such is a declarable illness to any insurer. When I was shopping around for a quote on the comparison sites the cheapest I could find was a Single Trip Policy for the two of them for £90.

Unfortunately, she then had a seizure so when I phoned to confirm the policy 4 weeks before they travelled the price jumped to £180!! What choice did I have? I paid it as many people do thinking I had no choice.

However, did you know that comparison sites are the worst thing you can do if you have any medical conditions?

Victoria Bischoff recently ran an article in The Daily Mail regarding insurance for people with medical illnesses and here is one of the findings.

The best deal a 50-year-old with breast cancer that had spread to their bones could get with MoneySuperMarket for a two-week holiday to Spain was £1551 with Saga. Yet a specialist firm Insurancewith can cover the same person for just £41 while Boots would charge £47. A saving of over £1510!

The problem seems to be that most comparison sites cannot tailor their policies and just by answering a question one way can make a huge difference to your premiums.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) praised Travel Insurance Facilities Group as an example of good practice. It’s screening tool ‘Protectif’, which is used by Insurancewith and Boots, looks at each customer as an individual, asking questions about medication and day-to-day activities.

Fiona Macrae, of Travel Insurance Facilities Group, says: ‘Much of the problem is down to some insurers perceiving certain medical conditions to be a higher risk when they are not. The actual travel risk of someone travelling with, say, a metastatic cancer (where a cancer has spreading the body) can, in many cases, be less than someone who travels with a condition such as high blood pressure.

I decided to put this to the test so I rang Insurancewith to see what they would quote for my daughter and her boyfriend to go to Gran Canaria in a months’ time and advised she had just had a seizure. Their policy would cost just £41.12! Lesson learnt for the future.

If you want to give Insurancewith a try or Boots their details are as below:

Insurancewith

Telephone: 020 3829 3875

Website: www.insurancewith.com

Boots

Telephone: 03451 253 880

Website: www.bootstravelinsurance.com

Let me know how you get on and if any of you have any success stories?