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Travel insurance

mrburden

mrburden

Well-Known Member
Messages
288
Location
Deepest Darzet
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
Hi,
As a fairly frequent traveller to the USA with my family, I always shop around for good but fair priced travel insurance that will cover my T1 diabetes. This year the premiums have increased quite a lot and all of the companies I've had to quote are asking the same questions about my health. The insurance industry has now introduced a set questionaire which makes the quotes a bit easier to compare. For me (T1 for 32 years) and my wife & 2 kids the prices are mostly around £105 - £130 for 2 weeks. This is about £40 more than 18 months ago so I thought I would try the specialist insurers on the Diabetes UK site. The company that called me back would not insure me at all so passed me onto "Free Spirit", another specialist insurer who did offer me insurance at the amazingly excessive price of...wait for it...£724.60!!! HA HA HA :lol: :x :cry:
What is their specialist field? Daylight robbery??? Come on, is that really what we should expect from companies who offer to be of use to diabetics?
On the positive side, they were prepared to give me 10% off if it "made it easier" for me. Easier? It would be easier to come home in my wooden box!!!
 
Hi Mr Burden,

Well, thanks for sharing that with us! Having worked as a consultant for many years in the insurance field, I would say the quote you were given sounds very much like a "discourager" - a quote designed to make you go elsewhere. I'm surprised that the insurer recommended by Diabetes UK didn't seem to want to insure you. Perhaps you should instead have looked at our diabetes.co.uk insurer, who many of our members, myself included, have found to be very helpful and, in many cases, cheaper that the mainstream insurers.
 
Hi Dennis,
Ahh sorry about the mistake in my post, it was in fact via this very website, Diabetes.co.uk, not Diabetes UK as I stated, that I had the return phone call and quote. I will try the "other" one and see if there is a difference in price.
I do agree that the quote was a discourager, and it worked perfectly! But how does the insurance industry get around the anti-discrimination rules that came into force a while ago, particularly when they refuse to quote? Do they refuse every enquiry, I wonder? Or can they claim that they indiscriminately refuse a percentage of enquiries for no particular reason?

P.S. Diabetes UK just quoted £324.02 - better but still a "discourager"
 
Hi Mr Burden,

I'm afraid the insurance industry isn't covered by disability discrimination legislation. They are free to decide who they wish to do business with, as is any other seller of goods or services. If you are landlord of a pub, or run a shop, you can legally refuse to serve someone that you don't like the look of. In the case of insurance they assess the risk that you pose and decide whether to insure you and at what price. There is no law that can force them to insure someone who they think provides a high risk. Its the same as regards life insurance. A new policy becomes dearer as you get older and you can't claim age discrimination because the insurer wants to charge you a higher premium than he would a 20 year old.

In your own case I seem to remember you telling us not long ago that, as well as Type 1 diabetes, you have kidney disease and are on a waiting list for kidney and pancreas transplants and are also receiving Disability Living Allowance. So your own case is far from typical of a normal application for diabetic travel insurance, and the insurers obviously see your medical problems as posing a high risk of them having to pay out for a cancellation owing to ill health, or having to meet medical bills if you were taken ill on holiday.

I do sympathise with your situation, but I doubt whether you will get travel insurance that provides cover for all your conditions other than at a high price. The alternative is to go for one of the non-specialist insurers and accept the risk of having cover for everything except a health related problem. Is that a risk you would be prepared to take with your holiday? If the answer is no then that is just what the insurers are saying to you.
 
Hi again,
Thanks for the info, it does explain the problems I have been having. You are correct that I do have multiple complications of diabetes. Fortunately the kidneys have improved and I'm now no longer on the SPK list and my general health has remained stable for the last year. I have had a quote from a local broker, quoting Fortis, that seems to be prepared to cover my problems, for £101 all in. But I guess I will have to study the policy to be sure they will cover "everything". I think I had Fortis insurance when I was allowed to ride my motorcycle some years back and they were quite fair then.
Thanks again Dennis,
Regards.
 
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