Travel Insurance - Cancer

[Wazzo]

Has anyone had any experience travelling with someone who has cancer?

My Mom is a cancer survivor and is currently undergoing chemotherapy. She still has tumours, but she is doing very well. She really wants to plan a trip next year to look forward to, and to celebrate life with the family.

The problem seems to be insurance... it seems pretty much impossible to get any kind of trip insurance for people with any serious pre-exisiting condition. I understand this, but there must be a way!! We can't be the only ones in this situation. Any advice or suggestions? Thanks!!!

 

[Disney Ontario]

My dad just died last Dec. of two different types of caner, and a couple of years ago, he wanted to go to a huge cow show in the States. No one would give him insurance. The show ment so much so my family took him over, but they knew if he became ill, they would make the trip back over to Ontario for medical help.Now we still have the pictures of his trip, that means so much to us.

 

[Hooked On The Mouse]

Our youngest dd was born with cancer and spent nearly the 1st year of her life having multiple surgeries and 6 months of chemo. She finished her treatment last June and in September we took her to WDW. At that time she still had her central line inserted. No, she of course wouldn't remember the trip, but we needed to see her in a happy wonderful environment for once. To be honest, we went with only our regular travel insurance through our work, and whether or not it would have covered her, I don't even know. If she became ill, we would have had to return. Your mom has had a lot to go through and if this trip is important to her, I would say take the chance and go. Also I would suggest talking to her doctors and see what they advise. If her condition is relatively promising, the risk of travelling would be low.

 

[casper_jj11]

We pay annually for travel insurance through Meloche Monnex (TD bank). Its about $125 a year for the whole family. When DD was 1, she had surgery for neuroblastoma (cancer of the sympathetic nervous system). About a month later, we got permission from her doctors to take her to Disney (and yes, like the other mom above, we knew she wouldn't remember but still...). I called the insurance company. We were covered for everything EXCEPT something occuring as a result of the cancer/surgery. She needed to be a certain number of months from 'an occurence' in order for it to be covered for that but she was covered for anything else that may occur. We knew there would be no recurrence during the short timeframe we would be there that would require hospitalization, etc. Rather than ask for coverage related to the cancer, ask if you can get coverage for everything except the cancer or cancer related illness... you may be surprised. (Now, if you are concerned about medical expenses resulting from the chemo or tumors, that's a different thing)

 

[GrtWtNorth]

My dad has issues with his heart rate and his doctors (a whole bunch of them) struggle to find the optimum medication and dosage for his condition. His medical insurance is explicit. He isn't covered for anything related to his heart (pre-existing condition) unless he gets doctors approval and has avoided hospitalization for a minimum of 90 days. However, what's happened is over the last two years, any time there's a slight adjustment to his dosage, things go 'out of whack' and he spends a couple days in hospital under observation while they adjust his meds.

Of course, different policies will have different rules, but the 90-day rule has frustrated my parents travel opportunities several times in the last two years. They love to travel, but they can't afford to travel without medical insurance.

 

[Kat&Dom]

Has anyone had any experience travelling with someone who has cancer?

My Mom is a cancer survivor and is currently undergoing chemotherapy. She still has tumours, but she is doing very well. She really wants to plan a trip next year to look forward to, and to celebrate life with the family.

The problem seems to be insurance... it seems pretty much impossible to get any kind of trip insurance for people with any serious pre-exisiting condition. I understand this, but there must be a way!! We can't be the only ones in this situation. Any advice or suggestions? Thanks!!!

My mom is a breast cancer survivor (3 years now) - when she was first diagnosed - I told her that when she beat it and felt up to it, I would take her to Hawaii to celebrate. We just went to Hawaii 6 weeks ago. She was able to get insurance coverage through a travel agency. She told them that she was a cancer survivor and had been cancer free for 3 years. They asked a few health questions but gave her coverage - it was $178 for the 10 day trip. I believe that there was a clause in it stating it would not cover a pre-existing condition if any medication had been recently changed.

All the best to your mom and congrats on her beating cancer and wanting to celebrate by travelling!

My mom enjoyed the trip to Hawaii so much that when I invited her to join us in November to Disneyworld - she said YES! I got an awesome deal on flights and am getting all the Disney tickets, Universal and Sea World tickets through AirMiles, we are staying in a timeshare so I am able to completely treat her which she totally deserves. My son and I are so excited to have my mom join us. It is going to be a great vacation.

 

[disneyfreak89]

Call your local CAA office and ask if they still offer "Individual Medical Underwriting" insurance. It provides coverage for pre-existing medical conditions that you disclose to them, with no required stability period. You will be required to answer questions about all of your medical conditions to get a quote.

 

[Alderbrook]

Yes you need to get underwritten or be stable for a period of time to get insurance. It may be difficult to get & they may exclude anything to do with the cancer.

My dad had heart trouble last Sept just before we were to go to Disney & they had to cancel because he couldn't get insurance. He has to be stable for 12 months before he qualifies for insurance becuase he's over 65. He's now probably going to have to have a biopsy for prostate cancer this summer & we are scheduled to do Disney again in Sept. but the way the disclosure is worded thru CAA only asks if he's received treatment, not a diagnosis so he's going to opt for treatment if he has cancer after we come back in order to get insurance.

 

[Kat&Dom]

Yes you need to get underwritten or be stable for a period of time to get insurance. It may be difficult to get & they may exclude anything to do with the cancer.

My dad had heart trouble last Sept just before we were to go to Disney & they had to cancel because he couldn't get insurance. He has to be stable for 12 months before he qualifies for insurance becuase he's over 65. He's now probably going to have to have a biopsy for prostate cancer this summer & we are scheduled to do Disney again in Sept. but the way the disclosure is worded thru CAA only asks if he's received treatment, not a diagnosis so he's going to opt for treatment if he has cancer after we come back in order to get insurance.

My dad was diagnosed with prostrate cancer last year. He is just taking a hormone pill for it. Apparently, prostrate cancer is typically very slow spreading and fairly easy to treat so I hope that is the case with your dad that he will just have to take a hormone pill too if it turns out he has prostrate cancer. The doctor told my dad that it would likely be at least 10 years before they need to worry about any agressive treatments like chemo or radiation if even then. I hope the trip to Disney is awesome for all of you!

 

[ferris198]

I have been through this issue twice recently.
My uncle had prostate cancer but was told he was cured after treatment. He and my Aunt went down South, he took illl in the States, his cancer had come back and ravaged his body he was flown back and my aunt is still fighting the insurance company.
The second issue is my neighbour is 4, she has leukemia she can't travel because of medication.
If your medicatiom hasn't changed for 3 months you should be okay

 

[Alderbrook]

My dad was diagnosed with prostrate cancer last year. He is just taking a hormone pill for it. Apparently, prostrate cancer is typically very slow spreading and fairly easy to treat so I hope that is the case with your dad that he will just have to take a hormone pill too if it turns out he has prostrate cancer. The doctor told my dad that it would likely be at least 10 years before they need to worry about any agressive treatments like chemo or radiation if even then. I hope the trip to Disney is awesome for all of you!

Yes, that's the good thing about prostate cancer. He is at the urologist on Thurs & they will probably schedule a biopsy for him as his PSA levels jump all over the map, right now they are at 14, but he has been at 11 (the lowest it's been) & he has been at 29 (the highest) over the last year & they are confused as to why they jump all over the place so the only way we'll know is with a biopsy. If he does have cancer he will probably have his prostate out but it will be done after we get back. My dad has no symptoms at all except frequent urination but it isn't that frequent. He's up once a night usually. They don't feel any tumors from a rectal exam so it's probably contained if he does have it. He's had 3 rectal exams by 2 different Dr's & neither of them feel anything. It's very puzzling as when he started seeing the urologist they felt the high #'s were from the catheder he had in when he was in the hospital with heart trouble last September but when his #'s didn't come down to normal levels they started to get concerned. They were 29 when he got out of the hospital from having a pacemaker put in. He's been on 2 rounds of antibiotics because they felt it was infection & while his levels dropped while on the antibiotics, they didn't drop enough, so now we are in limbo until a biopsy.

Thanks for the hug. We just have to make it to Disney this year, last year having to go without them was heartbreaking, we just can't go thru that again.

 

[siobhan1997]

My DH had a heart attack in Nov 2007 and in March 2008 we went on our yearly vacation to Disney. At the time of our vacation he was still in cardiac rehab. We are CAA members and he got an insurance underwritten through a company that CAA recommended to us. Cost $600.00 for 3 weeks of insurance but it covered everything for him. We paid the price without question as it gave him complete piece of mind. It was the best decision we made to go ahead with our vacation and he got a great rest.