Quickfire FAQs:
Your Medical Declaration

What is a medical declaration?

There’ll be some conditions you might not even consider a ‘condition’. Maybe something like heartburn, which you’ve had medication for for years. You’ve got to be thorough, or a claim might be rejected if it comes to it.

Do all travel insurance policies need a medical declaration?

No, not all of them. In fact it’s quite common to find travel insurance policies which won’t ask you to declare any pre-existing medical conditions - but this probably means they’re just not covered. In this instance you’re likely to be covered for unexpected accidents or injuries but if you’ve already got a condition like high blood pressure, you won’t be able to make a claim if there’s an issue with that or a related complication while you’re on holiday. Make sure you know what you’re buying.

Do I need to fill out a medical declaration?

Yes, if you have already existing conditions. We can’t deliberately leave them off the policy, meaning you don’t have the choice not to declare them. If you skip this part of getting a quote, your policy becomes invalid and you won’t be able to claim under any part of it, even if it’s not medical.

Why do I need to declare my medical conditions?

You need to declare them so that we can assess the risk. The ‘risks’ we mean are the things that could go wrong with regards to that condition, things that you might never imagine to go wrong and the things that might. 

For example, you might have sprained your ankle at some point last year and gone to A&E. It’s healed and since then you’ve had no issues with it. But while you’re on holiday you could fall down a curb, trip in the sand, break a flip flop, and find yourself back in A&E with a worse sprain than last time. The fact you’ve already twisted it in the last year is likely to have weakened your ankle slightly, so the damage may be worse this time. You won’t be able to claim for the extortionate costs of x-rays or treatment if you didn’t let us know the same thing happened just last year.

What if my medical situation changes before I travel?

You just have to let us know. Regardless of if it’s a check-up, a short course of antibiotics or a prescription cream, or even if an existing condition has worsened, it’s really important you contact us. 

Usually, we’ll add the condition and there’ll be no change to your premium, or there’ll be a small premium to pay to cover the risk of the change. However there are the odd occasions where we can’t continue cover, or need to refer your change in medical to the underwriter of your insurance policy.

Well, I just won’t declare my medical then. I don’t need cover for them, nothing’s going to happen!

We know a medical declaration can sometimes take a moment to fill out, which isn’t exactly an incentive to do it properly. But the thing is, we can’t cover you at all if you don’t complete one and you’ve got existing conditions. It’s not just that we won’t be able to provide medical assistance if you need it, it means you’re not covered at all. Have to cancel your £4,000 non-refundable holiday? Need to return home while you’re on holiday due to the death of a loved one? Lose your passport and need to cover the cost of a temporary one? None of this is covered if you don’t do your medical declaration properly.