Mrs

[donald]

Ok 21 year old diagnosed and awaiting treatment for a heart arrythmia, told to continue playing sport etc as normal...goes to the gym etc v fit. Just finished police special training with no problems etc.

 

Told it wont affect him once treated with cardiac ablation.

 

Just tried to get him holiday insurance without any conditions £62 per year but they will only cover his heart too for another £300+. Otherwise nothing heart related will be covered. So a heart attack and SVT are two different conditions but they wont cover heart without such a high fee. Am astounded. Can anyone recommend any insurance companies..........is this normal for a treatable condition?

 

Also in Europe will EHIC card cover him? without private insurance for heart?

[Chicken shack]

Insurance firms only really want the fit and healthy, no challanging sports or drinking. My son and 9 other young men went on a 18-30 holiday unfortunatly 9 had to be flown home early last Monday evening as one of their freinds died in the pool. Post-mortem stated accidental death by drowning however the insurence company wont pay to bring his freind home and have assumed he was drunk. This has been a very stressfull week for my son and his freinds. Thomas Cook were quite happy to insure them through the AA even though the likely hood of any pay out is unlikely. The cost to bring the lad home is £10.000 The 9 remaining boys have raised over £4.000 to date to help with the cost of the international undertakers.

 

My husband who had a heart attack several years ago has to pay a fortune when we go to France.

[mollyripkim]

Chicken Shack, I am so sorry about your son's friend, what a terrible thing to happen.

 

With regards to travel insurance, my father has a heart condition and is in his 80's but still travels regularly and don't think the premium was that much. In his case he has been advised that unless he covers the heart condition nothing else will be covered, in fact he was taken ill in Florida and hospitalised for ten days two years ago and the insurance company paid for everything including taxi fares for Mum to visit him.

 

What about trying the British Heart Foundation, they may have insurance company's who are heart friendly.

[Ain't Nobody Here]

Sorry I can't help with advice, just wanted to say what a terrible tragedy and how awful for them all, ChickenShack . My son recently came back from a similar trip, thankfully with no mishaps but it shows how easily it can happen .

[Shirl]

Chicken shack £10,000 sounds a lot of money. For my brother we were charged £12,000 but that included a private plane, 2 specilaist Drs and an ambulance transfer at both ends.

 

DP has a condition which meant when we took out travel insurance they wouldn't cover him for that but would for everything else. I think the EIHC gives you the same cover as anyone else in that country. Generally this is emergency treatment that is free. My brother spent 5 1/2 weeks in a Spanish hospital and we didn't have to pay a penny for his treatment.

[donald]

Chicken shack that is terrible. How distressing for them all. I think if an insurance company stated if you drink drugs then we will not insure you as no doubt the amount of people that have accidents on holiday or even at home due to alcohol is probably quite huge due to alcohol. But then on the otherhand if hotels etc are serving and dont say NO MORE etc then perhaps they should be liable for poisoning their clientele.

 

But you are absolutely right for example in Surrey a lot of the community NHS services are now being run by Virgin. One of the questions that got asked by the nurses was " how come Virgin can win a contract and make profit when the current NHS doesnt"!

 

So we are slowly drifting to privatisation on everything.

 

Should I be surprised at all of this greed no.

[Chicken shack]

Chicken shack £10,000 sounds a lot of money. For my brother we were charged £12,000 but that included a private plane, 2 specilaist Drs and an ambulance transfer at both ends.

 

DP has a condition which meant when we took out travel insurance they wouldn't cover him for that but would for everything else. I think the EIHC gives you the same cover as anyone else in that country. Generally this is emergency treatment that is free. My brother spent 5 1/2 weeks in a Spanish hospital and we didn't have to pay a penny for his treatment.

The cost of repatriation has now been revised and the amount needed is £5,500.00 They have raised £4,795.00 now so they are nearly there. My son is now 26 and I have not heard him cry like he did last Tuesday since he was a child and even then it was only over minor childhood ups and down. This was heart rendering.

[Shirl]

It must be heart breaking for all concerned. I hope all the lads have parents as supportive as you.

 

I'd be looking at challenging the insurance if the lads know he hadn't had any alcohol. It should state in the post mortum if it was present. The insurance can't base payouts on assumption rather than fact.

[Bramble]

Donald, I would shop around, shop around, shop around and then shop around again, especially if that is the first quote you have had.

 

All of that said, I would think that if all of the quotes come in about the same, I would pick one, take it on the chin and pay the premium - the consequences of travelling without A1 insurance are just too dire to contemplate. I wouldn't rely on the EHIC - there's no substitute for good insurance.

 

Good luck and let us know if you find a better deal!

[Lydia]

I'm afraid £300 is probably about right to cover a medical condition although you should shop around. I was quoted £756 for a 4 day trip to New York last month! We eventually got it for around £250 which is par for the course for travel to the US).

 

He's probably also being affected by the fact that he is awaiting treatment. Unfortunately it won't matter that he is fit and goes to the gym etc as all insurance companies work off a set criteria and if there's a problem with any of the major organs, regardless of individual circumstances, then the costs spiral upwards.

 

Also bear in mind that anyone travelling with the lad whose own holiday may be affected if anything was to happen with his condition, and for which they may want to claim, must also take the same insurance (i.e. get his condition covered and mentioned on their own insurance). Otherwise they will not be covered either.

 

i have used Freedom, All clear and Free Spirit in the past all of which cover most medical conditions. Thankfully though I've never made a claim so I cannot say how well any of them would handle it should a claim be made (or whether they would try to wriggle out of it). Try googling "travel insurance medical conditions" and you'll get links to lots. You'll also find that they all ask the same questions.

 

Good luck!

[donald]

Thanks for the replies

 

He has an appointment with the cardiologist the day before he goes so will ask him what he thinks as it must be common in young etc. It makes me realise that if you are ie diabetic at a young age etc that this is going to impact on you for rest of life etc.

 

He wants to go into the police and just done his special training and its not a problem. The cardiologist said its just annoying heart rhythm that can be corrected. Anyhow I will let you know how we get on.

 

We are looking now rather than insuring for a year just to do it for the duration of the holiday which seems to make the premium lower etc and more affordable.