Booking a holiday involves many considerations, and travel insurance can often be overlooked until the last minute. If you’re planning an overseas trip – or have already booked one – it’s crucial to secure travel insurance as soon as possible. This ensures coverage both prior to and during your holiday.
Travel insurance isn’t just for the duration of your trip, it also provides protection before you depart. Therefore, securing a policy at the time of booking means you’ll be covered for any cancellations should something prevent you from travelling.
Travel insurance covers aspects like medical expenses, repatriation, luggage and personal belongings, and cancellations if you’re unable to travel. However, it doesn’t cover undeclared pre-existing medical conditions. It’s vital to declare these when taking out a policy, or you risk invalidating your insurance, reports the Express.
Understanding what constitutes a pre-existing medical condition can be complex, especially for women undergoing Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT). HRT is prescribed to alleviate menopause symptoms, but whether this counts as a pre-existing medical condition that women need to declare remains a grey area.
Aviva defines a pre-existing condition as “when you’ve had symptoms, medication, advice, treatment, or tests for something before taking out health cover”. At first glance, it might seem like HRT would qualify as a medication that needs to be declared. However, Aviva clarified to The Express that this isn’t the case.
An Aviva spokesperson stated: “We consider the menopause to be a normal part of ageing and we do not require customers to disclose it to us. Likewise, if a customer is taking HRT solely for the menopause, it does not need to be declared.”
The spokesperson further explained that Aviva’s policies require customers to inform them of any diagnosed illness, disease, or injury for which they have been prescribed medication, received or are awaiting tests, been under specialist care, or have been admitted to hospital or had surgery.
Similarly, Admiral also does not consider menopause – whether requiring HRT or not – as a medical condition that needs to be declared on insurance.
An Admiral spokesperson told The Express: “This means that if it was identified at claim stage that the customer was experiencing menopause or taking HRT, it wouldn’t invalidate their insurance and would have no impact on their claims settlement.”
The spokesperson continued: “Generally, we need to know about all medical conditions someone currently has. With some medical conditions, such as heart problems, we need to know if someone has ever been diagnosed with them, even if they have now recovered and are no longer being treated for these. At Admiral, we ask about these when someone gets a travel insurance quote.”
They added: “It is always best to include all medical conditions you’ve had or check with your insurer before you take out cover, if you’re not sure.”
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