Travel insurance with retinopathy

[vw_anni]

Hi everyone.

Wondering if anyone can give any advice on holiday insurance and flying long haul with retinopathy.

I wanted to book a holiday to Cuba on Friday (yesterday) so called my ophthalmologist first for his thoughts on flying. I have had around 5k lasers hits in my left eye (good eye) and 7k in my right eye ( problem eye). But I've had many bleeds over the last year that clear themselves and so far not had to go to the eye specialist in Edinburgh. My opthamoligist has written to the specialist in Edinburgh to ask his if he thinks I should be seen and issue me an appointment if he does want to see me. So far no appointment given. Think this is to get eye drained of floaters but at the moniker it's quite clear.


Anyway I couldn't get travel insurance at Thompson's as I asked about having to cancel before going incase I do get an app eventually. They said I need to see if this is still an ongoing medical concern and won't cover me for any of my health issues. Diabetes t1. Blood pressure and high cholesterol. This also means no cover for heart attacks strokes etc. Plus the basic cover was £189 before even mentioning health problems.


Called around to get some quotes today but no one will cover me if it's am existing case. But really I've just been having monthly check ups and no laser given for months as I've already had so much.

So has anyone had any problems like this before ? Have any of you guys flown long haul with retinopathy and had problems ?

Sorry for such a long question but this is doing my head in as really wanna book a holiday.

Thanks in advance.

 

[DavidGrahamJones]

Tricky one, can you remember the name of the company that advertises on TV? They keep saying how they insure for all sorts of existing conditions, sorry I can't remember who they are. If I see an advert, I'll write their name down.

I can see cancelling a holiday for a hospital appointment for an existing condition might be a problem though.

 

[noblehead]

So has anyone had any problems like this before ? Have any of you guys flown long haul with retinopathy and had problems ?

Never flew long haul when my retinopathy was active, only short haul flights and from memory I only declared my type 1 and didn't mention the retinopathy.

Perhaps it would be wise to wait and see what the specialist in Edinburgh has to say before booking your holiday, if they think it's best that you should come in and have a viterctomy op then hopefully the wait won't be too long.

 

[vw_anni]

Never flew long haul when my retinopathy was active, only short haul flights and from memory I only declared my type 1 and didn't mention the retinopathy.

Perhaps it would be wise to wait and see what the specialist in Edinburgh has to say before booking your holiday, if they think it's best that you should come in and have a viterctomy op then hopefully the wait won't be too long.

Thanks for the reply. I will ask the ophthalmologist what he thinks on Tuesday. But it's also the existing condition that's stopping me getting insurance. Don't fancy going to Cuba and taking a risk at all. Thanks for the info

 

[col101]

There are some specialist companies for preexisting conditions like staysure and insure and go. There are some threads on this forum discussing travel insurance with lots of advice and experiences so worth a search
Good luck with it

 

[himtoo]

Hi @vw_anni
I have recently booked a holiday to the USA ( about 6 weeks ago )
I applied at staysure ( online ) followed by speaking to them on the phone
I have T1D , retinopathy , high blood pressure ( controlled by 4 meds ) cholesterol ( controlled by med )
hypothyroid ( controlled by med ) and prostate cancer.

I got a 2 week policy for my wife and I for a total of £351

admittedly I don't have as much activity going on with my eyes as you seem to be having -- but I am seen every 6 months at opthamology clinic -- have had laser in 2002 and 2012 , followed by lucentis injections in 2013

 

[DavidGrahamJones]

Don't fancy going to Cuba and taking a risk at all. Thanks for the info

Very understandable, no matter what country, although Cuba actually has a very good health system. I saw a Michael Moore documentary about those in the 9/11 rescue and clear up who are now struggling with respiratory problems and find their health insurance no longer covers them for those "injuries". He took a bunch of them to Cuba and just turned up at the hospital to get drugs prescribed etc. for free. I wouldn't doubt that the Cubans were treating it as some sort of PR exercise and an opportunity to have a go at the U.S. but it did show that they have some very good facilities.

Just a few suggestions, I note that you called around, have you tried some of the online comparison sites? There's one here which might help https://www.allcleartravel.co.uk/tr...2-2ky9zCEVpRUwVw15opv8oCwgtrxor7USBoCtQ_w_wcB. I've got travel insurance as part of my bank account package and they are aware of my BP (well controlled, thanks to meds) and type II (usually well controlled thanks to low carb, but problematic now).