Cancer is brutal. He deprives many victims of years of life. The disease tears families. Fortunately, medical science has considerably improved the chances of survival. However, cancer can have a lasting effect on travel – even after being beaten.
The problem is travel insurance. Some insurers simply refuse flat people who have had cancer, regardless of the patient’s doctor’s forecast. Fortunately, there are excellent specialized companies that do their business to provide policies to cancer patients. They generally provide coverage to anyone who is deemed more likely than the others to make a complaint – whether due to advanced age or pre -existing medical conditions. You can find an expert through the Travel medical repertoire From the British Insurance Brokers Association. But politics could end up costing more than travel.
You may have read on Josh CullDe Bournemouth – who, in 2021, received the new devastator that he had a brain tumor. He was only 25 years old. At the start, Josh was informed that he only had three months to live, but fortunately, a combination of surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy meant that he was, in his words, “healthy and completely recovered”.
A certain number of people who have recovered from cancer told me that a new literal breath then expanding to want to discover the world. It was therefore with Josh: 30 months after the end of his treatment, he planned an adventure of Southeast Asia with his brother and his fiancé.
“The trip was supposed to be a reward for everything we had experienced,” he says. “However, I could not obtain an insurance quote for less than £ 3,000.”
Josh could have abandoned the trip. This is what the Ministry of Foreign Affairs would advise. He says: “If you travel abroad, you should take out appropriate travel insurance before leaving.”
It could have been tempted not to disclose cancer and treatment and simply take a cheap policy. It could have ended badly. If you fall ill after a preexisting return condition, an insurer will immediately investigate your medical history. If there is a related condition that you have not disclosed, the policy can be canceled and you could end up with medical invoices reaching tens of thousands of pounds.
Instead, Josh took a risk calculated to go there anyway. Like many other young travelers who have no insurance, he got out.
But for people who recovered from cancer to face such a choice – travel without insured or stay at home – is far from ideal.
Some say that bonuses reaching thousands of books show that travel insurers take advantage of people who have had an extraordinarily difficult experience. However, travel insurance is a competitive business. Unfortunately, this is due to severe arithmetic. The subscribers hang on the figures for relationships with travelers who have gone through cancer. Their conclusion: there is more chances of complaint than for most travelers, and the cost of a complaint is likely to be higher.
Sometimes, the concerns of travel insurers are not founded – and there is welcome evidence that insurers are now taking a closer look at the situation of an individual rather than refusing to ensure patients with cancer at all costs or apply too high premiums. But any traveler who has improved medical problems can expect to pay more.
For example, I have osteoporosis (brittle bones). I like trekking in the Himalayas. But because I am more likely that most of brewing a high altitude bone, I paid £ 228 more to cover an expedition to Nepal last year.
Fortunately, there is another option for people faced with astronomical bonuses: stay in Europe. The UK’s World Health Insurance Card (GHIC) gives coverage for free or reduced treatment in public hospitals in the EU and Switzerland. Some travelers with cancer or other conditions make a positive decision to rely on this asset rather than staying at home.
Simon Calder, also known as the man who pays his way, written on Travel for the Independent since 1994. In his weekly opinion column, he explores a key travel problem – and what it means for you