Travel insurance for +65, 'medical conditions'

[sanne]

This is my research..hope it’s useful.

This was for an annual policy, start date 1 March 2027.

My husband 84 and myself 79. Both with pre existing medical to insure.

Max length of trip 45 days, unlimited cancellation, cruise cover.

Area insured.. Domestic Australia and NZ ( we no longer travel the world , did that for 30 odd years for 5- 9 months of the year, so we’re happy to stay local now)

As I stated about, any policy with Allianz as the underwriter will not insure annual over 75.

Every year when I’ve researched my policy I have found that some of the policies have changed their underwriter so therefore their T&C.

Any policy with Zurich as the underwriter will insure our ages with an annual policy.

These are the companies I compared prices ( did not included the extra for PEM )

Insure and Go……$10,000+
Medibank Private ….$10,000+
Qantas ……$10,000+
Covermore …..$8,500
Australian Post….$8,500
Blue…..$5,600
Bupa with code ….$6,000+
AHM….$3,300

I’ve sent numerous emails clarifying details to Medibank, Bupa, AHM and Blue. All replied within a day or so answering satisfactorily.

Covid cover is different for each policy. If you catch COVID before you leave home and are certified by a doctor as unfit to travel, some will not cover your cancellation costs, some only pay out max $10,000. One will pay out 100%.

Considering all these policies are underwritten by Zurich I’m amazed how their ‘fine print” varies. Buyer beware.

Having spent considerable time trying to find out why AHM is so much cheaper than the rest ( and I can’t) we will most likely go with them. Each year I have found one insurer for our annual TI is so much cheaper than the rest..for 3 years we’ve had Medibank Private since they included unlimited cancellation in their quote for no extra cost ( this usually bumps up the quote by thousands)

 

[tgh]

When shopping for travel insurance I allow a lot of time to studying the fine print ; and it is a pita..
In this brave new world perhaps one of the AI servers could be tasked with generating a detailed comparison.

 

[Pushka]

When shopping for travel insurance I allow a lot of time to studying the fine print ; and it is a pita..
In this brave new world perhaps one of the AI servers could be tasked with generating a detailed comparison.

I run the pdf through chatGPT for specific concerns. It’s excellent.

 

[sanne]

I run the pdf through chatGPT for specific concerns. It’s excellent.

What a great idea. Will try that. But it doesn’t beat having an email addressing your concerns from the policy provider.

 

[Pushka]

What a great idea. Will try that. But it doesn’t beat having an email addressing your concerns from the policy provider.

Yes indeed. And have done exactly that but chat helped me find the relevant clauses etc to Quote.

 

[Seat0B]

I am using Easy Travel. They cover the leukaemia and several other pre-existing conditions like knee replacements, osteopenia, high cholesterol etc. They are good to deal with although I haven't made a claim. But I have needed to amend my conditions list (left something out) and add in additional desitnations. The policy is a Covermore one. Covermore bizarrely refused to cover me when I approached them directly - WTF???

Easy Travel will not cover me on an annual policy though - it's because of the leukaemia as they define it as too high a risk over a full year. Probably fair enough, the remission will eventually end. They offer annual policies, so it would be worth asking them about yoru own situation.

They cover reconsider your need to travel and do not travel on the basis of claims that do not relate to the reason for the do not travel. So, injured in a car accident, covered. Injured when you car got shelled or fell into a shell crater, not covered. But be sure to read teh PDS.

 

[Seat0B]

I run the pdf through chatGPT for specific concerns. It’s excellent.

I have also done this, but still feel the need to triple check what it's telling me as it does sometimes make mistakes. I actually just did this recently to work out if it was possible to, plus worth incurring the fx fees and trouble of prepaying expenses to activate various credit card insurance options (Westpac, ANZ, CBA) before the big changes. It was very helpful for that. So I have sucked it up and paid $500 per traveller for UAE/Europe and Japan trips as the old Westpac insurance fills in a few gaps from my Amex and paid cover via Easy travel. Westpac card insurance won;t cover my leukaemia, but that's the only thing. I will miss this insurance when it goes off line on 30 Sep.

 

[Pushka]

One thing with regards to pre existing, and not sure how general this is, is that with SCTI there is no need to declare anything if you haven't received any medical advice or treatment for over 3 years.

 

[Seat0B]

One thing with regards to pre existing, and not sure how general this is, is that with SCTI there is no need to declare anything if you haven't received any medical advice or treatment for over 3 years.

Unfortunately for me, everything except the knee replacements necessitates regular medical check ups, prescriptions, blood tests, scans etc. The knees just do their own thing and so far (23 years for first one, 11 for the second) have not caused me a moment's trouble once I got over the surgery.

 

[Pushka]

Unfortunately for me, everything except the knee replacements necessitates regular medical check ups, prescriptions, blood tests, scans etc. The knees just do their own thing and so far (23 years for first one, 11 for the second) have not caused me a moment's trouble once I got over the surgery.

Yes what reminded me was your mention of osteopenia. This showed on a dex scan, but that was over 3 years ago and no doctor has ever mentioned anything further so no treatment. No broken bones etc that might spark an issue.

 

[Seat0B]

Yes what reminded me was your mention of osteopenia. This showed on a dex scan, but that was over 3 years ago and no doctor has ever mentioned anything further so no treatment. No broken bones etc that might spark an issue.

I'm the same, no broken bones, but I am on treatment so I think it has to be declared. Annoying as the treatment is to prevent it turning to osteoporosis...