Post Office Launch Online Pre-Existing Medical Condition Travel Insurance Screening

NCD News: Post Office, Virgin, Flexicover Travel Insurance - 26.06.08

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Post Office Launch Online Pre-Existing Medical Condition Travel Insurance Screening: As travel barriers between EU members have fallen over the years, more Britons than ever are going on holiday overseas. While we reported in earlier articles that millions travel overseas uninsured (often mistakenly), the more prudent of them do check their travel insurance coverage before going. Yet, a 2005 Observer/Guardian report stated that despite such prudence, insured Britons travelling abroad nevertheless sometimes find themselves not covered or paying large excesses. This is due to one key factor: pre-existing medical conditions.

The issue may be confusing, because many of the insured going abroad have already been screened for such conditions in the UK, and their premiums factor in any pre-existing medical conditions. However, a pre-existing medical condition that is covered in the UK is not necessarily covered abroad as well. Your policy may account for a pre-existing heart condition in Britain, for instance, so you will be covered for a heart attack that occurs here. That does not mean that you will be covered for such a heart attack occurring while on holiday in Spain.

This holds true even when such a condition has been cured. In the Observer/Guardian report, for instance, Jill Phillip was charged £100 to renew a travel insurance policy, despite the fact that she had been found medically recovered from cancer. Thus, an insurer may charge more for travel abroad for pre-existing conditions, even if the potential or actual illness related to it is now absent or cured.

Since the 2005 report, many British travel insurers have moved to streamline their systems for covering policyholders going abroad with pre-existing medical conditions. They now have online systems so that when a person travels abroad, he or she is covered the same way as he or she is at home. The Post Office has an online screening system for travel insurance at www.postoffice.co.uk. There, visitors are asked to answer five key questions. If the answers to all are negative, the screening is essentially over, and the user can proceed to register for travel insurance. If one of the answers is positive, the user is directed to call a number on the site for further assistance. Other insurers offering online medical screening for travel include the AA, Virgin, Flexicover and All Clear.

Moneysupermarket.com maintains a site that is regularly updated with companies that offer medical screening for travel insurance (see www.moneysupermarket.com). Users can browse through the various companies there, comparing and selecting the insurer they feel is best for them. With some, like the Post Office or All Clear, users can be quickly screened online by inputting answers to a few questions. Others ask you to read information about pre-existing conditions for travel insurance, and then contact them by phone or direct you to a different website specifically for screening.

There are some things that many users will find regardless of the policy they ultimately choose, however. As with the aforementioned Ms. Phillip's situation back in 2005, insurers for the most part still will not "remove" costs or coverage conditions related to a pre-existing condition, even if the illness it could or did lead to is now cured or absent. Also, as we mentioned in previous articles, nearly all travel insurance you get from mainstream insurers will be limited in duration. If you register for travel insurance with a pre-existing medical condition, the duration of your coverage abroad may be even more limited.

Also, while most insurers will not require you to submit any health records during the screen, incorrectly or mistakenly answering any questions during the screen may negate its coverage if you have any accident abroad. In all cases, Britons are encouraged to make sure that their travel insurance includes adequate coverage for pre-existing medical conditions. †