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Can I get travel insurance with a serious medical condition?

September 27th, 2017  |  Travel Insurance

The travel industry has boomed these past few decades. More competition in the airline industry and a culture that encourages travel means people are taking vacations to destinations previously unimaginable or unaffordable a generation ago.

Older Canadians aren’t standing around watching the younger generation—seniors are one of the largest demographic of travelers in Canada. The big issue for many older Canadians though, is if they can get travel insurance with a serious medical condition.

What’s covered?

As a general rule, fill in your travel insurance paperwork correctly to make sure you’re covered. Everyone’s heard one horror story or another about a couple checking or not checking a box, or telling a little white lie on an insurance form to get affordable travel insurance coverage, only to later have their claim denied. Would you rather be truthful, get denied coverage and not be able to take a vacation, or tell a small lie, get coverage and then get denied because of a serious medical condition?

Usually, most stable medical conditions will be covered by a travel insurance policy. You may have to provide a doctor’s note stating when your condition stabilized as proof that you are healthy enough to get travel insurance, but that’s a small price to pay for coverage.

What is stable? That word means different things to different insurance companies and can depend on your condition. Stable can mean no change in medication, no new medication or treatment or no progression of the condition. The stability period required (usually between 60 and 365 days) also depends on your condition and the policy.

What’s not covered?

People who are in unstable condition—perhaps on oxygen machines or who have recently suffered from a heart problem—are generally denied travel insurance coverage for the unstable or pre-existing condition. That means that if you’ve recently had heart surgery and are still trying to get your medication right to be in stable condition, you can buy travel insurance to cover you if you break your leg while on vacation.

Some travel insurance policies will consider pregnancy a pre-existing condition. Again, while this doesn’t bar you from buying and making a claim on a travel insurance policy, claims that can be attributed to a pregnancy could be denied.

How much will all this cost?

If you want to get travel insurance with a serious medical condition, you will most likely need to pay more than a similar, healthy person would pay. The cost of your policy will depend on many factors including your destination, your age, your health and the duration of your trip.

In this day and age, traveling is as commonplace as owning a car. Everyone knows someone who’s been abroad and most Canadians dream of taking an expensive, long-term vacation every winter. Unfortunately, Canada’s population is getting older and some people are suffering from health problems. Although they’ll find it more expensive than if they were healthy, most Canadians can get travel insurance with a serious medical condition, provided the condition is stable, or is specifically excluded as a pre-existing condition.

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