Tips on pre-existing medical conditions and Travel Insurance

Conceptual image representing Eastern Europe tension generated by Ukraine and Russia. Stethoscope and Medicines against Europe map.
By Kate Webster


There is a lot of confusion, fear and misunderstanding among travellers when it comes to declaring pre-existing medical conditions to travel insurers.

According to Australian travel insurer Go Insurance, some confusion is legitimate as certain conditions cannot be insured, however many are insurable depending on how they are managed.

Go Insurance Founder Kim Murchie said approximately one in three of their callers asked about cover for pre-existing medical conditions.

Murchie said by disclosing pre-existing medical conditions and incorporating them into travel insurance policies, travellers could be provided far better medical cover if they needed to make a claim.

So what is a pre-existing medical condition?

A pre-existing medical condition largely depends on the definition within the travel insurance policy you purchase. Each insurance company has a different definition of the term so you need to know how that applies to you.  A pre-existing medical condition can be;

  • A medical condition (eg illness, disease, injury etc) which was treated shortly prior to purchasing a policy
  • A medical condition which was treated in hospital within a nominated period prior to purchasing a policy
  • A medical condition for which you take medication
  • A medical condition which has been treated with surgery
  • A medical condition for which you consult a doctor
  • A complication attributable to a medical condition.

According to the Financial Ombudsman Service’s 2015/16 Annual Review released this week, 12% of domestic insurance disputes for the 2015/16 financial year were for travel insurance.

Traditionally a high percentage of these were about pre-existing medical conditions as disputes resulted from confusion about policy terms and whether or not a condition was a pre-existing medical condition as defined in the policy wording.

Do you have a pre-existing medical condition?

These scenarios will help to clarify this for you:

  1. You take medication to control blood pressure. 

You have a pre-existing medical condition – high blood pressure – and the medication is controlling the condition. Ms

Murchie said at Go Insurance they were often advised by travellers who take blood pressure medication that they no longer had high blood pressure. This is incorrect because if you stopped taking the medication, you would again develop symptoms of high blood pressure and this applies to any similar conditions.                 

  1. You had a coronary artery stent inserted a few years ago and this “fixed the problem”. 

This is a pre-existing medical condition. Insertion of a stent is a surgical intervention designed to treat a heart condition. The stent does not automatically translate into the condition having disappeared. Your travel insurer will want to know about any surgery to determine whether it is relevant to their decision to offer cover to you.

  1. You have a terminal prognosis.  Are you ineligible for travel insurance?

Not necessarily. Travel insurance would generally exclude pre-existing medical conditions where you were travelling against medical advice and / or after a terminal prognosis had been given. However, you could insure against unrelated losses – eg flight cancellations, loss or damage to personal property and travel disruptions.

Remember, all pre-existing medical conditions should be disclosed to your travel insurance provider whether they were actively being managed in consultation with your doctor or not.

Pre-existing medical conditions are a fact of life for so many travelling Australians. With medical costs overseas soaring and the logistics of ensuring safe transit home, failure to disclose a pre-existing condition could be both frightening and costly.

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