Hi all,
Havent been on for a while, as had tantrums when couldnt use new site. Have missed you all though.
Planning a half term trip to Dubai. No hope in getting travel insurance. (Ive tried them all !!!) Sorry to be thick, but has anyone had travel insurance without the cancer cover???
I know most will tell me not to do it, but I still want to have adventures and I have been offered free trip to Dubai staying in 5* Hotel on beach for a week with my boys. I would like to feel the sun on my face!! Consultant has told me to risk it. Travel insurance from the 2 who would do it would be over 1,500. I dont have that money. As I feel well, I still have desires to see places and have fun. I’m not content with the Cotswolds!!! All this travel isnurance stuff makes me so so so cross. It’s so unfair.
Gxx
Since being diagnosed, I’ve always taken out travel insurance without cancer cover. If you’re feeling good and your consultant has given you the green light, why not?! It’s only a week - how high a risk is it that things will suddenly take a turn for the worse in that time? I know we’re all different, but if it was me, I’d be packing already! Go and have a wonderful time with your boys - a trip like that is just what wonderful memories are made of. Enjoy!
I travelled in Europe with insurance that specifically excluded breast cancer but covered eveythign else - so lost bags, delays, etc. Most big firms would not touch me but I got mine, online, from Sainsbury’s for, I think £58 for the year (same as anyone one else is charged). If your consultant is happy then I’d say find someone who will give you the other bits of insurance (your bank may do, for example) and go for it. You could try Insure Pink if you want a specialist company, lots of poeple seem pleased with them.
Hi Gemdancer,
I went to the USA in July. I’d had a total hip replacement in May, because of a spontaneous fractured neck of femur and I tried most if not all the Insurance companies that say they will cover secondaries. I was knocked back by most and the ones that would cover me, wanted over £4000! In the end, I got travel insurance which excluded the SBC, but covered me for my hip and any other thing, like accidents, lost baggage etc. It cost £40. I decided to take the risk, because that’s what life is about and it’s all about your attitude to risk.
Isobel
I’m off to Madeira at Xmas and using just EH111 card and a ‘off the peg’ luggage / delay policy where they don’t ask health questions - due to having chemo strong drugs and seeing onc too often, my quote is about 3/4 K!!! Tho thats better than the quote we had to Mexico which was 12K!! I wasn’t prepared to go on a 11 hour flight home with no health cover as I am now, but if I stabilise I probably will - I still have Mexico and another safari in my bucket list!! My problem will be my husband who has zero tolerance to risk!!
One thing - did you try insure cancer? They don’t use that standard questionairre everyone else does but go on individual circumstances so might do something for you.
Nina
Hi Gemdancer,
I went to NY for two weeks with no travel insurance, i was insured for everything else so took the risk. It was not through choice I tried so many Insurance companies and no one would touch me I was so upset by the whole experince. felt well and so I went and enjoyed the time with my family; something that was so irreplacable.
Life’s a gamble so make the most of it is my philosophy I know it’s not for everyone and if I could have got insurance I would but it was all booked and paid for as you can’t get a quote until 3 months before you travel; nightmare isn’t it.
I hope you really enjoy the sun on your face with your lovely boys.
Take care
love
Chris xx
I managed to get a quote for £500 from insurecancer for week in canary islands! this was after ringing about 20 different places who refused me or quoted £3,000. I was so upset, and was fully prepared to go without cancer cover, good luck to you all, it’s awful what wehave to endure! Xxxx
I sat next to the MD of insure cancer a few weeks ago at a macmillan conference (have his mobile no !) and he took quite an earbashing from us.Actually the reason his company covers cancer is because his young daughter had cancer. he said it was impossible to do blanket screening and that is why they look at each case individually. He seemed quite a genuine person,but we shall see next time I need insurance as he said there was no reason I would not get cover at a reasonable rate-define reasonable!
L xx
Hi Gemdancer
As us secondary ladies know its a completely different ball game when it comes to insurance. Unfortunately the underwriters set questions that don’t always relate to your specific case. At no point over the years since dx have I ever been asked if my mets have changed or got worse. I’m sure that would be a better indicator than some of the other questions. I got a huge shock a couple of months ago when InsurePink suddenly wouldn’t insure me for USA. I had used them twice earlier this year but their underwriters question regarding were my bones mets in more than one place now, not two as it used to be, excluded me from being insured. Obviously they have no idea that bone mets are almost always in more than one place!
I shopped around and got horrendous quotes but I wouldn’t travel to USA without insurance despite being stable as if I broke any bone by having an accident say, I’m sure the insurance company wouldn’t pay up as I have bone mets, even if the break was not to my affected areas. The costs of healthcare are horrendous so we couldn’t afford the risk. I eventually got insurance through AllClear. It wasn’t cheap because it was USA (and we’d already paid for the trip assuming InsurePink would have covered us as before). However it’s worth going through their online quote, I know they are much cheaper for the rest of the world and, surprisingly I also got an annual policy from them that cost less than the single trip price! Their questions do relate to the number of times you have seen your onc which would affect the quote but the only question they ask about mets is has it spread beyond the breast, no questions about where or how many places.
As to Europe I use the EHIC and an annual policy that comes with our bank account that covers everything except BC to cover us for delays, luggage and all other health issues. I would take out a general, non BC policy for any trip especially further afield like Dubai even if I chose to travel without BC cover.
Good luck getting a quote and enjoy the trip either way.
Nicky
Not sure about canaries…but I have got cover from MIAonline (via a telephone call) for cruise from venice to barcelona including stop in croatia. I have bone mets and am on capecitabine. cover was less than £200 for both me and my husband who is an insulin dependant diabetic. As always they insist on using public hoaspitals/EHIC card first but does cover repatriation etc if necessary. Pamx
I did get cover for canaries with Mia provided used public hospital/EHIC card,I have exstensive bone mets.Cover for myself and OH (he has heart condition) was £140 for 10 days.Quite happy with that as it covered repatriation for both of us.
Will try insure cancer next time to see if they are as good as their word.
L xx
I tried all the named companies to get insurance for a 5-day trip to Las Vegas, in June. I have secondaries in liver and bones but have been stable for nearly three years. I can’t remember the last company I tried, after being refused by all the rest, but they originally quoted £4,0000 and then said that they couldn’t cover me. I took a risk and just got travel insurance (no medical cover). I must admit that I was a bit nervous - not of the cancer but in case I fell over or something similar. In fact, on the first night, I witnessed a girl who slipped and fell in the hotel lobby - she was surrounded by paramedics. I made a pact with my holiday companions - no medics! Luckily, all was well but I don’t think I’d chance it again. I fear that it is becoming more and more difficult for those of us with secondaries to find cover to the US, though I would love to hear from people who have been successful. The decision seems very random. For Europe I would just use the EHIC card as we have reciprocal agreements with countries within the EU. Indeed, my first holiday after secondary diagnosis was to Sicily (where I used to live) and was during the Icelandic Volcano. Flights were cancelled and I had only enough Capecitabine for my trip. Luckily I knew the oncologist there but they used the health card to check whether I was entitled to free medication - I was. Fortunately, in the end, I made it back on my original flight.
Hi lovely ladies,
Thank you so much for all your replies. It proved to me that I should not have given up on this site!! Well I went to Dubai without BC cover. Did get a few quotes in the end - for over £1500 from Insure Cancer and about £3000 from Bromley!!! Just got general health cover in the end. As Nicky and others have said, it is so frustrating. I have a couple of sites in my neck. No pain from them. No change in 6 months. But, many of the online forms class me as multiple mets ! They also dont care if I have a break from chemo! Insure cancer are the exception to this and are always lovely. They insured me for my trip to Disneyworld Florida in June (just over £1000) and were so so supportive. This time would have been more cos on IV chemo rather than tablet. (The current chemo makes me feel less ill than anything I have ever had, but never mind!!).
So… I have spent a week in glorious sunshine, kissed a dolphin, watched dancing fountains, played with my 7 year old monster in sea, watched same monster ride camel, had my beach butler bring me my mojito … Wonderful times and fantastic memories! facing a few hospital scans to check out the dreaded term… “suspicious areas” and back on chemo tomorrow…so break very worth it.
Now ladies - if you could just do something about this weather …
Gxxxx
Gxx
I’ve travelled with normal insurance cover (through our bank) which excludes BC. Quite happy with that as we only travel within Europe - incld. Canaries - and we always book last minute anyway. Obviously if I was n the middle of treatment or particularly unwell, we would not consider a holiday abroad anyway. Sofar I’ve had no problems.