Finding travel insurance after a heart attack

[Dreamer]

Hi everyone. Hope someone can help. My 45 year old husband had a mild heart attack five weeks ago. The blockage was cleared with a stent and he has made a full recovery, though he is now on various medications. The cardiologist has given him the go ahead for travel. Does anyone know of any insurance companies that will cover the pre existing condition of having a heart attack? We're quite happy to pay extra for premiums.

[beardoc]

Hi everyone. Hope someone can help. My 45 year old husband had a mild heart attack five weeks ago. The blockage was cleared with a stent and he has made a full recovery, though he is now on various medications. The cardiologist has given him the go ahead for travel. Does anyone know of any insurance companies that will cover the pre existing condition of having a heart attack? We're quite happy to pay extra for premiums.

I travelled with my partner that had a heart attack within the previous two years and was given the responsibility for finding travel insurance for them for the US, Canada and the UK. I ended up going through Travel Insurance Direct (Travel Insurance for Australians - Travel Insurance Direct Australia), and the process was relatively simple. Providing things are stable and well controlled, they only wanted a form which went to my partner's GP which was fairly straightforward, and it was only a couple of weeks that it was all approved, subject to the additional premium for my partner. The only drawback was that with one person needing cover for a pre-existing condition, we couldn't get a "family" policy, and had to apply for two "single" policies and pay the premiums separately which made it a little more expensive.

As an aside, if you book it through the link in the top bar of the Australian Frequent Flyer site you can support admin with the costs of running AFF!

[Dreamer]

Hi Beardoc,

Thank you very much for the speedy reply detailing your experience. Its been very helpful. My husband is planning a business trip to the US for mid May. His work does involve air travel. Everything is OK with him and his future prognosis is good. In fact, his cardiologist said he was now less likely to have a heart attack than the average person boarding the flight (that put my mind at rest ).

Thanks again.

[beardoc]

If he's going for business travel on a regular basis, he might find the annual policies more useful than the individual trip policies.

All the best. I will have to do the same as we're going to be travelling again later this year!

[JohnK]

The only drawback was that with one person needing cover for a pre-existing condition, we couldn't get a "family" policy, and had to apply for two "single" policies and pay the premiums separately which made it a little more expensive.

What was the final premium if you don't mind mentioning it?

I have a dilemma on my upcoming RTW trip with my father as he had a valve replacement 3 years ago and turned 71 today. I priced a travel insurance policy with Travel Insurance Direct with no existing medical conditions and it was ~$350 for the 5 week trip which is the same as my yearly policy.

I assume you are covered for the existing medical condition when declaring the existing medical condition on a travel insurance policy. Would be interested to see how much the premium changes by declaring a previous medical condition.

The other option would be not to take out a travel insurance policy for my father or take a travel insurance policy and not declare the existing medical condition. He has the OK to travel from his cardiologist but the high cost of the travel insurance is the worry.

Any advice would be appreciated and please no replies on the moral issues of declaring or not declaring existing conditions on a travel insurance policy. I had a mild heart attack ~6 years ago which I do not declare on travel insurance policies as I did not officially have a heart attack after the angiogram and the other tests came up clear....

[beardoc]

From memory it was about 30-40% more with the premium loading. You can do a dummy booking the TID website and say "yes" to one of their "automatically covered subject to the premium loading" conditions - it's the same loading for everything, as I understand.

Another option might be an American Express Platinum Charge Card - I was looking at that today and the pre-existing medical condition clause was a lot more generous than other travel insurance policies:

"Pre-Existing Medical Condition means any medical or mental condition existing

prior to the booking of Your Trip affecting You or any travelling companion
without whom Your Trip cannot be taken. This means any condition causing You
pain or physical distress or severely restricting Your normal mobility, including
(but not limited to):
(i) a condition for which You are on a waiting list for hospital in-patient Treatment;
(ii) a condition referred to a medical specialist or the cause of hospital in-patient
Treatment within six (6) months prior to booking of Your Trip (excluding regular
ongoing check-ups where there has been no significant change in condition);
(iii) pregnancy within eight (8) weeks of the estimated date of delivery; or

(iv) a condition for which a Doctor has provided a terminal prognosis."

Under this definition, neither you nor your father would have a pre-exisiting medical condition and therefore would be covered for everything.
In other ways, the Amex Platinum Charge Card insurance is very generous, too. The policy does seem to exclude terrorism, though (as far as I can work out this is the only drawback.

But for $900/year (they might have a $600/first year special), with the ability to list four supplementary card holders (including your father) and they ALL get the travel insurance benefits, etc.

Just another thing to consider.

[beardoc]

I have a dilemma on my upcoming RTW trip with my father as he had a valve replacement 3 years ago and turned 71 today. I priced a travel insurance policy with Travel Insurance Direct with no existing medical conditions and it was ~$350 for the 5 week trip which is the same as my yearly policy.

I assume you are covered for the existing medical condition when declaring the existing medical condition on a travel insurance policy. Would be interested to see how much the premium changes by declaring a previous medical condition.

Just another aside, if you declare it and they accept you (subject to additional premium) then yes, you're covered even for the condition that is pre-existing.

You would find that your father would pay a small age loading as well, too.

[JohnK]

Under this definition, neither you nor your father would have a pre-exisiting medical condition and therefore would be covered for everything.
In other ways, the Amex Platinum Charge Card insurance is very generous, too. The policy does seem to exclude terrorism, though (as far as I can work out this is the only drawback.

I must have a look the details of the Travel Insurance Direct policy but it would appear that the definition of existing medical conditions is not the same as I originally thought.

Just another aside, if you declare it and they accept you (subject to additional premium) then yes, you're covered even for the condition that is pre-existing.

You would find that your father would pay a small age loading as well, too.

The age loading is the one that shocked me totally. The original quote was ~$175 for anyone under 49 years of age and as soon as I changed the age the quote shot up to ~$350 which was ~100% on the original quote. I am quite happy paying ~$350 for an annual policy but not that much for a 5 week policy.

Is there a way my father can be included in my yearly travel insurance policy?

[beardoc]

Is there a way my father can be included in my yearly travel insurance policy?

Not directly, I believe. One of the things about that annual policy is that their quote is based on an age limit. Adding your father would put him outside of that age limit. You'll have to pay the excess.

Other companies may have a different age limit, so maybe contact them and look at their policies.