pni and holiday insurance

[TinaC]

Hi folks


Help I have a problems and wonder if anyone else has any experince of the same thing?

I have today tried to book holiday insurance to go to Malta in october. Unfortnately I was refused insurance on the ground of having suffered/ing for pnd. I was told that I would have to go to a consultant for confirmation that I was no longer suffereing for any form of PNI, depression or anxiety!!

I explained that I had never been on any drugs or even had a consultant. I was told that I must be refered by my doc and they would require a report from him and the consulatant. I asked if they would cover me for my other health problems( I had a stroke and a heart attack when I had my son and had major asthma problems during my preg) I was told that they would not consider them until I had a consultants report for pni!

If anything going to set you back this so called gentlemans attitude would. I am now going to have to look for another insurance company with a more liberal attitude towards pni ect. Any suggestions from anyone.

Also anyone else booking a holiday be warned I was told none declaration would invalidate the whole policy!!!

Hoping for any suggestions


Tina C

[deborah]

Hi Tina,
Yes this is insurance companies making sure they take your money and don't pay out!
If you haven't seen a specialist your GP will do the report for you. Its normally around £20 or so.

Its the company making sure you dont claim. Covering their arses I believe its called -this will be quicker to do if you are waiting to go away soon.
Love
Deborah XXxxXX

[susie]

Hi everyone,

Thanks for highlighting that Tina, I am going on hoilday in September and hadnt even thought about the implications, I guess I had better get my bum in gear and sort out the insurance if its not going to be straight forward! I can't believe I will have to get a report from my gp, I have hardly had anything to do with the gp as I am not on any medication but I go for counselling once a week, so the gp will really only have my word for it that I am feeling much better.

I hope this isnt going to cause problems

take care and hope you get your insurance sorted out!

Susie
x

[newwie]

Hi
Can i ask if you dont mind why they think having pni is a issue with going on holiday?
And do you have to declare it when you get insurance?
Newwie

[deborah]

Newwie,
Insurance for your holiday and PNi have no relation to each other.

The insurance companies 'make you' declare anything which to them may be a risk of them having to pay out for something.

For example,
say you went on a 'plane and became very very anxious and got all panicky and had to come home.
The Insurance company would have to pay out the costs of the holiday, having the aeroplane land somewhere other than its destination (which costs the airline alot of money tens of thousands i believe)
get you home and in hospital.... etc etc

So they need to assess your ''risk'' of your illness becoming worse on holiday or during travel -
(as this is a stressor and can in some cases make you feel worse if your PNi is not controlled)
- so they don't have to pay out.

So by getting a reprt from your GP/consultant they are in a better position to weigh up the liklihood of your symptoms getting worse and the chances of you making a claim.

It will come to nothing. It is in part ignorance- PNI is (in my view and quite wrongly) a 'mental illness'
therefore if you don't declare it and the example above happens, the insureres can turn around and say..
'you didn't tell us about this so we don't pay out because the insurance is invalidated (not valid)so the costs are yours'

Just to reassure- i went on holiday to a safe far away place when i was pregnant at 5 months with a very 'bad' back (after a car accident) and a 16 months old toddler!! I told my insurance company and there was no problem. No claim either thank fully!
Love
Deborah XX

[Vonda]

I couldn't believe it!!! How ignorant is that!! I have had to have a letter from my doctor about my asthma for holiday insurance but I haven't gone abroard since having pni. Thanks for the warning. It makes you think about what else they will want to know about in the future. Scary that they want your whole life history just to go on holiday!

Vonda

[monica]

I found this out too, to my financial detriment. I declared my PNI as a sort of side line as I'm waiting to see a specialist about my eye prob which may be conected to PNI. Inadvertently I mentioned the PNI and that I'm on antids and in spite of the fact I've not been hospitalised or seeing a psychiatrist etc the premium was jacked up. It was explained they take the worst case scenario, so even though the depression part of it is (almost) fine I still am on meds.

Anyway, many insurers would cover me but the PNI/eye probs would be excluded from the cover. However, as I don't know what the eye prob is I wanted to be covered for it and Tescos and Natwest would cover these probs but at higher premium.

[Vikki]

This is my biz unfortunetly.

If you have had a condition, any condition, before the inception date of the policy, they will either, not cover that conditon, or will make your premiums sky High.

You are right though, if you don't declare a condtion, and they later find this out, you could be liable for the costs.

If you have never seen anyone about your condition, but you suspect that you have something, because it is not on your notes you don't have to declare it.

If you consider yourself to be recovered, or you have not had any treatment for a while, I beleive you can get a repoirt from your Gp to tell the Insurance Company that this is no longer a problem and they will underwrite this opinion.

Insurance companies are a nightmare, and I would recommend going direct to an insurer rather thana broker, they will have their own underwritng team and you will prob get a better descion.

[rach]

hi

thought i would let you all know that i have just come back from my holidays i took my travel insurance with thomas cook and they were great they did ask alot of questions such as

have you been hospitalized
have you been on medication
if yoy have in the last 2 years have you had any spell with out tablets

are you under specialist

i also have asthma

they charged an extra 30 pounds because of these illness and advised that if any treatment or action was taken whilst on holiday i would have to pay the 1 st £100

i know that you are all being honest otherwise you would have written here but it is def worth being 100% honest as my father in law died of a heart attack in augest last year whilst on holiday in florida, he did not have a heart condition and was otherwise well, however the insurance would not pay for the costs of bring him home etc as he was prescribed calestrol tablets which he hadn't told anyone about and therefore the insurance was void.

i dont mean to be a missery and i know this is a worse case senorio but my ma in law was charged for everything from the ambulance through to the flight home for herself and him as she of course came home early.

at present this stands at around £9,000

anyway once again sorry for going on and hope that the above helps.

love rach