need urgent insurance help for a friend.

[mackay_j]

Hi friends of mine are booked to go to disney on 1st july. Unfortunately, the husband/dad has just had an bad knee injury and has had to have an opp this week, and will require a further small procedure in a few weeks- They travel in 6. They did not yet buy their travel insurance , so if they doc says no to travel they will just have to bite the bullet and loose out.

However, luckly they still plan to go, so my question is, has this sort of thing happened to anyone else and if so did you get insurance that would fully cover you including any problems that my arise from the recent surgery? If so which insurers did you use

They know they will have to modify there plans to accommodate the injury, but I can prob assist with that info (wheelchairs/scooters etc)

Thanks for any help.

 

[Portugal1000]

Its probably a long shot but might just be worth checking that they do not have annual insurance connected to their bank account. I only say this because my best friend went and bought an annual policy for £150 and then 2 weeks later realised she had annual insurance with her Halifax bank account because I happened to mention that I had that. We laugh about it now.
Most policies will let you pay to have pre existing conditions so just make sure they mention it because unless they do, they would not be covered for anything remotely connected. The US is one place you don't want to get sick without insurance!

 

[mackay_j]

They don't have cover via a bank acc, but they are going to check out the credit card the used to book- fingers crossed. I know that policies will accept pre conditions (I have a fair few on mine ) I'm just not sure how it works for something that will still be in the process of healing/treatment. As you said they deff don't want to be in the US without full cover! My MIL throat infections set her back a few thousand dollars and that was without an overnight stay in hospital

 

[jtlover]

I don't know who to insure with but might be worth talking to an insurance broker as they will be the best for knowing who to go with.

But it might be worth them checking their home insurance as some do include travel insurance for free

 

[queendisney]

my husband has recently had a hip replacement op and was due to have the other one done at the end of June which we canx until after our hols in Sept. His consultant said that they would not allow him to fly until at least 8 weeks after the op because of the risk of blood clots, which you are at high risk of when you have had ops on your legs!..He would also not have been and could not have got insurance because of this, so it was a no go for the other op just in case he didn't recover as well as the recent one, too risky not to be covered while in the USA...!

 

[zippy99]

Funny thing insurance - we have our cover with our Halifax account and I remember getting cross with our friends last year when I found out they did not get their insurance until a month before we left (despite booking 10 months before that). It's not just about cover in the US it also covers what happens before you leave, redundancy, illness and all sorts.

A couple of trips back we were on a 3-3-3 BA flight, DH sat with dd and DS and I sat across the aisle with a lovely older couple - we chatted throughout the flight and it transpired that her and her husband due to medical conditions and age (both in their seventies) have not been able to get travel insurance for the past 7 years - she joyfully told me that they just go without now and love Florida and have done 9 trips to the USA without it - she said we have enough savings and whilst it may eat into their children's inheritance if one of them did fall I'll she said 'we are still alive and want to enjoy ourselves - we worked hard and now it's time to play hard' she then asked the air steward for another bottle of wine and I had to smile at her spirit!

 

[london75]

As some may remember I broke both of my arms 4 weeks before a trip last year and then had an ulcer bleed due to the wrong drugs being given and I couldn't reasonably insure them (I assume if I'd paid enough I could but not in my price bracket) so we were covered for everything else and they were declared on the policy which bumped the price a little. I just assumed that I wasn't going to break them again!

It's important to declare even if you don't expect to be covered though, be warned, they'll use anything to get out of paying.

 

[catherine]

Has your friend checked with his consultant to make sure that it's alright for him to fly? If not he needs to. If it's 6 weeks till they fly and he still needs another op then that puts him in a high risk category for developing a DVT. I think that if he's in a high risk category then it will be difficult or at least very expensive to get insurance at this point. Hopefully like PPs have suggested he has some coverage with his bank or CC. Good luck to your friend with both his op and his trip!

 

[Lady Lowe]

insurance aside is there anyway they can change their dates? Yes they might incur a cost with that but surely it's better than loosing out althougher or him not fully enjoying it with an injured knee?

 

[mackay_j]

Its a package and is too close to dates of travel for them to allow any changes.