One in four travel insurance customers see premiums rise due to medical conditions
Which? found seven in 10 customers had declared a medical condition when buying cover, while older travellers can face significantly higher premiums
The UK-based consumer organisation Which? has found that seven in 10 of its members who bought travel insurance in the past two years had declared a medical condition.
The findings, shared on Which?’s X account on Wednesday, showed that while most respondents said disclosing their medical history had little impact on finding an insurer willing to provide cover, one in four said their condition significantly increased the cost of their travel insurance.
Data from Compare the Market, cited by Which?, highlighted the impact on older travellers, with customers aged over 65 paying roughly twice as much for cover once medical conditions were taken into account.
Which? also highlighted differences in how insurers assess medical risk, noting that 80% of the policies it assessed used Verisk for medical screening, compared with 12% using Protectif.
Dean Sobers, Senior Researcher and Writer at Which?, said the different approaches used by screening providers could result in different assessments of a traveller’s risk, even where insurers are asking similar health-related questions.
“While the insurer makes the ultimate decision about how much to charge you, the different approaches of the screening companies can lead to a different picture of your risk,” he said. “Verisk, for example, asks you to state the name of your medical condition, while Protectif begins by asking you which medications you’re taking and works backwards from that.”
Sobers added that customers having difficulty finding cover should consider getting quotes from different insurers, noting: “No particular screening company is necessarily going to deliver a cheaper quote, but if you feel like you’ve hit a brick wall with one, trying another could be worth it.”
Which? also assessed specialist policies for travellers with medical conditions, highlighting several as ‘Best Buys’. Saga’s Plus annual multi-trip policy achieved the highest score, at 82%, while its Plus single-trip and Standard annual multi-trip policies also ranked highly. Staysure Signature, AllClear Platinum and Insurancewith Platinum were also named among its Best Buys.
Recent data from Protect Group found that uptake of refund protection among travellers had nearly doubled this summer, with ongoing disruption driving demand for greater financial protection when booking trips.