Travel Insurance Updates November 2022
When Husband was first diagnosed with blood cancer 7 years ago we would never have dared to hope that we would need travel insurance to cover both of us 7 years later. But we do!
By God’s grace and Ibrutinib, Husband is currently feeling really good and he’s very active. If we didn’t have a diagnosis we’d never guess that he has cancer. Yet on paper he looks a bit of an insurance nightmare: splenectomy for lymphoma, followed by two courses of chemo and now on ongoing cancer medication.
This often means lots and lots of questions when trying to get travel insurance. In our experience insurers are less concerned by Ibrutinib than by chemo but they do charge an additional premium because the person is currently on medication for the cancer.
What follows are the positive results from our latest searches.
Nationwide offer worldwide travel insurance with their FlexPlus current account for £13 per month. If you have a joint account you are both covered for £13 per month. This includes cancer patients in remission as long as they haven’t had treatment in the last year (please check that – rules may change) but not if they are currently on treatment, even if it’s not chemo.
CSSC Travel 50 Plus Insurance Cover is £295 per year for the member and a spouse can be added for just £80 (you also need to be a member of the CSSC, which is £4.50 per month, £4.05 if you’re on a pension). We decided to go for this since it looks pretty comprehensive and it works on a fit for travel basis so we don’t have complicated questions to answer. Husband is delighted to be the inexpensive ‘plus one’ on my policy 🙂 .
The CSSC is a Civil Service organisation open to anyone working in the public sector, Royal Mail BT or carrying out ex civil service work or who is a past employee and receives a pension from them. Friends and family can also join by being ‘linked’ to a qualifying member. They have a detailed list of eligible professions on their site.
Staysure will cover cancer patients on Ibrutinib but there is an additional premium.
Eurotunnel will insure cancer patients along with everyone else on a ‘fit for travel’ basis so there’s no detailed medical screening but everyone in your car has to be insured with them too and they only offer insurance for that particular trip. When I spoke to them they explained that they now only provide insurance for their passengers on a per trip basis. You simply select the insurance when you make your booking.
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