Hi All
This insurance business is really hard work!
My diagnosis is Secondary Metastatic Stage 4 Breast Cancer with Mets to Right Lung.
I have been having chemo since March
Want to go for a week to New York and though its looking OK to go and exclude breast cancer. its clearly better to try and be insured IF its financially viable. We are looking to go 3rd Sept 13.
Does anyone know of any good insurers whilst in chemo?
Thanks x
PS> Oncologist says OK to go btw
HI El Katrano I hope you are able to get to NY - its something positive for you to look forward to. I myself am fortunate enough not to have secondaries, but I know there are a lot of ladies who are in a similar position on the forum who can help you / advise you so am replying to help bump you up! I know I have seen mention of Eurotunnel insurance? It has been on a previous thread. So I hope someone more knowledgable can assist with your inquiry. All best wishes and hope you have a great trip. Em x
I would think it would be very expensive to get insurance and will probably cost more than the holiday. When I go away I geisbn surname that excludes the BC and its still expensive. Really unfair how they penalise his ladies x
I wish I could say otherwise but I have an American friend with secondaries who has been living in the UK for many years now. She looked into insurance for a trip back to the U.S.A and it would have cost several thousands of pounds.
P.S. sorry to see you back here, I recognised your forum name from a while ago and hoped all was done and dusted for you. Just read your profile and see you’re on Xeloda. I came off this chemo last Autumn but I was on it for over 4 and a half years. I know others who have had a long time with it too and they have both liver and lung mets, mine are to bone with some random soft tissue mets…so I hope it works really well for you. x
Hi, you could try “Freedom Insurance” or “OktoTravel” - I have had insurance for bc with both of these companies while on chemo but only in Europe and I don’t have secondries whixh I think may make the insurance unfortunately more expensive.
Good luck and I hope you manage to get away. Xxx
Hi
I’m on chemo the TDM-1 trial. I am going to Lanzarote in 2 weeks and rang every insurance company recomended on this site. The first one I tried was Euro Tunnel who accepted me on the condition that my Doctor said I was fit to travel. I did ask a few times about my pre-existing medical conditions but she said as long as the Doc says I’m fit to travel that was ok. My insurance documents arrived and the same day I had a phone call from Euro Tunnel asking what my pre-existing conditions were, I am on chemo with secondary (one 2cm spot) to liver and they said sorry I shouldnt have been accepted, they would not cover me and refunded my money. I rang all of the others listed and the only one who would accept me was MIA who took all of my medical history and took it to their under writers who told me to ring back after my next lot of chemo so they could see how I was getting on. I had no side effects and they insured me for 9 days for £132. Give MIA a ring, they were very helpful. Hope you are able to travel to the USA.
Karen x
Hi El Kantro
this really is an expensive minefield for us with secondaries as its a totally different ball game to primary BC - or so the insurers believe! The only recent help seemed to come from Eurotunnel and there are a couple of threads about their offering. However, as Karen has said above it may not be as good as they have said and you may not get cover. There is also a long thread on insurance in the secondaries part of the forum, may be a few pages back but worth a look for names of insurance companies. The USA is notoriously expensive for health cover due to their high costs of healthcare, I personally wouldn’t go without specific cover for secondary BC as if you had any problems at all when you were out there it could be linked to your treatment and/or your BC. I have spent a fortune over the 5 years since my secondary BC diagnosis on insurance and luckily have never had to claim, which is what is so frustrating. However the underwriters now seem to be clamping down even more, with sky high premiums so the companies I’ve used in the past will no longer cover me for travel to US/Canada/Caribbean etc or anywhere where the treatment costs are high.
Hope you do manage to get something sorted and let us know how you get on, it may be useful for someone else. Also, good luck with the chemo, I’m on it as well and as Belinda has said there are many ladies on it for secondary BC for many years.
Nicky x
Hi El Katarano,
I have lungs mets to and I went to New York for 2 weeks last year, I was on Xeloda but my oncologist said it wouldn’t be wise to take the chemo while I was away so I had a 4 week break. I tried so many companies to try and get insurance for my secondaries but no one would insure me. But there was a lady on here who managed to get insured to go to Disney Florida with insurecancer.com she had to have a chemo break too, bloods and the okay from her oncologist.
I really hope you manage to get insurance and I hope they can help you.
Best wish
Chris xx
I also have secondaries. I must have called well over 100 insurance companies to try to get cover for a trip to USA. Of that 100 odd insurers only 2 would cover me. One was Eurotunnel, the other was All Clear. The premium from All Clear was £4250 for a 2 week trip, Eurotunnel under £200 for a year. Eurotunnel only asked that my doctor would say I was fit to travel. I went to the trouble of having both my GP and oncologist make a note in my medical records that we had discussed my travel plans and they were happy to say I was fit. I didn’t have to claim so can’t comment on what the service would be like in that event. I was just overjoyed to get cover at all.
Recently Eurotunnel seem to have become more picky and are refusing cover to some people, especially those with ongoing treatment. Aside from them I could not have got cover during chemo and I doubt I would have travelled at that time anyway. As it was I caught 'flu (probably on the flight out) which pretty much wiped me out for the whole time we were there and almost prevented me from getting on the flight home. I was 4 months post chemo then, my onc was happy for me to travel and blood counts were OK but my immune system obviously wasn’t quite up to the job. With hindsight it was probably too soon to be travelling long haul, I may have well underestimated my capabilities and it set me back a good deal in my recovery.
I would not have been happy to go uninsured or with cancer excluded, there’s too big a risk of them blaming the cancer or chemo for any claims and the sums involved if you end up footing the bill for medical treatment in the US could be enormous. I have heard some horror stories of the kind of tricks insurers have used to wriggle out of claims and cancer just seems to give them a ‘get out of jail free card’.
I hope you find a policy to cover you and get to go and enjoy your trip. I would try Eurotunnel first it may save you a lot of time on the phone.
I’m struggling too. I’m supposed to be going to Florida on 18th August with 12 family members but at the moment can’t find insurance. I’ve just been diagnosed with secondary breast cancer in the bone. We desperately need help x
Hi Jam,
Welcome to the BCC discussion forums where I am sure you will get lots of good, honest support from the many informed users of this site.
While you are waiting forreplies could I suggest that you give our helpline team here a ring, calls are free 0808 800 6000 lines open this morning at 9am (Mon-Fri 9-5 and Sat 10-2)
Take care,
Jo, Moderator
Hi Jam, do give Eurotunnel a call they have covered myself for trips to Florida and many of the secondaries ladies on here who struggled to get cover elsewhere. 08708 50 82 99
insurecancer.com/ - these guys ONLY deal with people in active treatment for advanced cancer. When I contacted them regarding travelling during chemo for my primary BC I wasn’t ill enough for them to cover me. I have no idea of the prices though and would be interested to know if you do decide to contact them.
I hope you both get your holidays.
Thanks for your support everyone. I’ve managed to get insurance from a lovely lady at ‘insurecancer’ that Sandytoes recommends. Its cost nearly £2000 but is worth it for me. She was the only one that I feel really understood my problem. The holiday was arranged when I only had primary breast cancer so although it was still going to be expensive compared to someone ‘fit and healthy’ we thought it was worth it for a great family holiday. We need the holiday more than ever now so why do the insurance companies have to punish us. Good luck to everyone give this company a try. Am now getting excited with the rest of the family. Here we come Mickey and Minnie.
I got insurance for my cruise to norway from cruise ship company…they were www.holidaysafe.co.uk
I have bone secs…declared the lot came back at £78 + 100 excess. Worth a check.